No-win situation
Deflategate decision puts Roger Goodell in difficult
SAN FRANCISCO With NFL owners converging for league meetings that begin today — against the backdrop of the overblown drama that is Deflategate — this is another good week for Roger Goodell to demonstrate why he’s being paid the big bucks.
All eyes will be on the commish, both in public and behind closed doors with his bosses, to gauge him on the leadership scale as another NFL mess rages on.
So part of this, like always, will be about perception.
Rather than appoint a designee to handle the case, Goodell has opted to hear Tom Brady’s appeal of his four-game suspension — which sends a distinct message in itself: The commissioner is willing to stand in the pocket amid the rush and take whatever hits might come from that decision.
You knew the objection would come from the players union — like clockwork — and in this instance I’d agree that the case should be, well, text-messaged to another party. Unlike a player conduct issue, where Goodell isn’t involved until it crosses his desk, he’s part of the equation in that the NFL commissioned the Wells Report and Goodell signed off on the hard punishment Troy Vincent put on the New England Patriots.
For that reason, Goodell, despite his belief that protecting the game’s integrity is a core responsibility of his job, should have passed on the appeal’s oversight. The NFL Players Association has threatened to call him as a witness in a case he is presiding over, which would thus add another awkward layer to this theater of the absurd.
Count me among those convinced the Patriots played funny with the footballs, although key details remain murky despite a 243-page report from Ted Wells and his investigators. Even with their history of Spygate and other suspected — but unproven — misdeeds, it’s stunning that the Patriots were slammed as hard as they were ... though they brought some of this on themselves by failing to fully cooperate with Wells.
But it’s the Patriots, the Evil Empire. So perception, right or wrong, tends to cover the gray areas with Bill Belichick and crew.
But the perceptions don’t end there. That’s why Goodell, even with power granted in the labor deal to make the call, should do the right thing and eliminate the risk that his decision on the appeal will look like a fix.
That’s certainly not a knock on Goodell’s integrity. As a person close to Goodell told me, the commissioner is also eager to look Brady in the eye — like he once looked Michael Vick and Gregg Williams in the eyes — while trying to get to the bottom of it all.
To assign the case to someone else, Goodell apparently thinks, would shirk his responsibility.
But on some levels it’s a no-win situation. If Goodell upholds the punishment, some will charge that his link to the case as the league’s chief administrator makes him biased. If he alters the penalty, it might come off as political, as if he’s trying to appease grumbling Patriots owner Robert Kraft, one of Goodell’s most staunch supporters through thick and (lately) thin.
In another vein, though, Goodell can indeed win.
I can sense Goodell’s thinking for deciding to hear the appeal. Kind of like, “So be it.” He’ll get hammered regardless. But his job — which for 2013, the last available tax-year information available, paid $35 million in salary, bonuses and pension payouts — calls for such truth-or-dare moments.
The great commissioners in any sport, such as Pete Rozelle decades ago in the NFL, are the ones who are able to command respect by doing what’s best for the game. That can be like walking a tightrope, given the wide range of constituents. There are many and different types to answer to: owners, players, fans, sponsors, coaches.
In this case, much for Goodell hinges on risking the support of Kraft. But that can’t influence how the commish rules, or he’ll really be cooked. As good as Kraft has been for Goodell, there are still owners of 31 other teams to consider.
If Goodell can salvage his relationship with Kraft and still maintain credibility as he weighs the facts — even while the players union attacks his every move — that might be the best proof yet of why he’s paid the big bucks.