lillloyd
Third String But Playing on Special Teams
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2010
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3 years ago I posted a thread here about Goodell. It was an earnest attempt to understand his escalating, seemingly arbitrary brand of NFL 'justice'.
My conclusion was this: under Goodell, the NFL's current agenda and public relations efforts were "baked into" any punishments that were doled out. So to understand the severity of a given penalty, you had to understand that the actual underlying 'crime' was only a modest part of the equation, subordinate to whatever message du jour the NFL was currently trumpeting to its player base/ fan base /ownership /potential claimants. Goodell was a sheriff, and his policy was to 'hang 'em high' -- essentially to make every punishment simultaneously a P.R. statement, for everyone to see.
The key point here is that, under Goodell, the punishment levied depends as much on whether the offense has relevance to a hot button league issue, as the underlying offense itself.
And this is where I think the Pats and Brady may be in significant trouble (and I say this as someone who believes the underlying 'offense' is pretty laughable). Under Goodell we've now seen four dramatic policy enforcement changes, with the severity of the penalty depending largely on whether it occurred before or after the change:
So here comes TFB, committing a misdemeanor-level offense -- something that probably warrants only a warning or fine under a different climate....But it's committed by the premier player of the NFL's dominant franchise, on the largest stage the league has to offer. The public outcry is huge -- something the NFL and Goodell surely notice, because they are as concerned with 'optics' as any politician. And it occurs in the midst of The Sheriff's latest policy push -- this time, for between-the-lines 'integrity' (something signaled a few weeks back with the unusually severe punishments of NFL execs for texting (!) and pumping crowd noise.)
So I do think the penalty will be severe, and frankly unfair for the 'crime'. Basically, Brady is caught on the wrong side of the NFL punishment timeline for this kind of issue. (To make the point another way: if Mike Tomlin wanders near Jacoby Jones in 2015 rather than 2013, he's suspended, not fined). Note I don't buy the arguments that the NFL is biased somehow against the Patriots -- I'm just not a conspiracy guy, and there are a lot of reasons why the NFL should NOT want this sort of black eye (and frankly I feel most of the NFL moves are more easily explained by good old-fashioned incompetence.) This is just how Goodell and the league do business: they enact policy changes based on the way the wind (i.e. public opinion) blows.
If you're looking for a silver lining, consider this: the NFL and Goodell will be *hammered* publicly in the leadup to the season. They've finally painted themselves into a corner they can't escape from, after years of inconsistent and reactionary policies. Their complete butchering of the Ray Rice situation means that any fine or punishment levied henceforth will look absurd by comparison, and will repeatedly underscore how hamfisted and arbitrary the league's efforts at discipline have been.
The icing on the cake will be that the 2015 opener -- what should be a 50th anniversary SB season 'crown jewel' event -- will feature Jimmy G. and DeAngelo Williams...AND the following piece of uncomfortable trivia (one that will no doubt be included in *every* writeup and game preview leading into the season):
Number of suspended games:
Anyway that's my $.02, for all it's worth. Talk to you all around the opener...best wishes for a healthy training camp and preseason.
http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/threads/making-sense-of-goodell.916173/
My conclusion was this: under Goodell, the NFL's current agenda and public relations efforts were "baked into" any punishments that were doled out. So to understand the severity of a given penalty, you had to understand that the actual underlying 'crime' was only a modest part of the equation, subordinate to whatever message du jour the NFL was currently trumpeting to its player base/ fan base /ownership /potential claimants. Goodell was a sheriff, and his policy was to 'hang 'em high' -- essentially to make every punishment simultaneously a P.R. statement, for everyone to see.
The key point here is that, under Goodell, the punishment levied depends as much on whether the offense has relevance to a hot button league issue, as the underlying offense itself.
And this is where I think the Pats and Brady may be in significant trouble (and I say this as someone who believes the underlying 'offense' is pretty laughable). Under Goodell we've now seen four dramatic policy enforcement changes, with the severity of the penalty depending largely on whether it occurred before or after the change:
- An initial escalation of substance abuse-related penalties;
- An escalation of punishments related to on-field player safety (IMHO due largely to legal concerns);
- An escalation of penalties related to domestic violence;
- And currently, an escalation of penalties regarding 'between-the-lines' integrity issues.
So here comes TFB, committing a misdemeanor-level offense -- something that probably warrants only a warning or fine under a different climate....But it's committed by the premier player of the NFL's dominant franchise, on the largest stage the league has to offer. The public outcry is huge -- something the NFL and Goodell surely notice, because they are as concerned with 'optics' as any politician. And it occurs in the midst of The Sheriff's latest policy push -- this time, for between-the-lines 'integrity' (something signaled a few weeks back with the unusually severe punishments of NFL execs for texting (!) and pumping crowd noise.)
So I do think the penalty will be severe, and frankly unfair for the 'crime'. Basically, Brady is caught on the wrong side of the NFL punishment timeline for this kind of issue. (To make the point another way: if Mike Tomlin wanders near Jacoby Jones in 2015 rather than 2013, he's suspended, not fined). Note I don't buy the arguments that the NFL is biased somehow against the Patriots -- I'm just not a conspiracy guy, and there are a lot of reasons why the NFL should NOT want this sort of black eye (and frankly I feel most of the NFL moves are more easily explained by good old-fashioned incompetence.) This is just how Goodell and the league do business: they enact policy changes based on the way the wind (i.e. public opinion) blows.
If you're looking for a silver lining, consider this: the NFL and Goodell will be *hammered* publicly in the leadup to the season. They've finally painted themselves into a corner they can't escape from, after years of inconsistent and reactionary policies. Their complete butchering of the Ray Rice situation means that any fine or punishment levied henceforth will look absurd by comparison, and will repeatedly underscore how hamfisted and arbitrary the league's efforts at discipline have been.
The icing on the cake will be that the 2015 opener -- what should be a 50th anniversary SB season 'crown jewel' event -- will feature Jimmy G. and DeAngelo Williams...AND the following piece of uncomfortable trivia (one that will no doubt be included in *every* writeup and game preview leading into the season):
Number of suspended games:
- Brady 4+ games for deflated balls 1-2 psi
- Bell 3 games for weed
- Ray Rice 2 games for deliberately, unambiguously knocking fiancee unconscious (on recorded video no less)
Anyway that's my $.02, for all it's worth. Talk to you all around the opener...best wishes for a healthy training camp and preseason.
http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/threads/making-sense-of-goodell.916173/
