Roger Goodell Outdoes Himself, Says He's 'Not Focused At All' On Brady Appeal
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- Can someone book Roger Goodell a meeting with the Bobs from Office Space, please? So they can sit the NFL commissioner down and ask him, point-blank, "What would you say, ya do here?"
Speaking to reporters Tuesday afternoon about the negative stories swirling around the NFL in recent days - namely, their shady behavior with concussion studies and Tom Brady & the NFLPA's latest appeal filing in the DeflateGate case - Goodell played dumb on just about all of it.
Among Goodell's jaw-droppers was that he has not seen the Congressional report detailing the NFL's supposed interference with a National Institute of Health study on concussions, which was first reported by ESPN's Outside the Lines and has dominated NFL coverage nationwide for much of the week so far. When asked about Brady's latest filing, he said he's "not focused on that at all."
You'd think Goodell would devote at least a smidgen of focus to one high-profile case against his league, let alone two? One of which that's been going on throughout his tenure? Either he is lying (it's more probable than not that he is), or he really is that incompetent of a commissioner (we're all generally aware of this at this point).
This is nothing new. Goodell and the league have been deceitful about concussions for over a decade now, and as DeflateGate marches toward day No. 500, they have been egregiously high-handed from the start regarding the investigation and punishment of Brady and the Patriots. But how much longer can this circus continue to have such a dishonest, incompetent leader at the helm? At what point do you say, "Enough is enough?"
As long as the NFL is making money hand over fist and bringing in record ratings, which it is, there's not much reason to expect a change in the league offices. The owners, after all, need a commissioner to take punches for them. Does it have to be Goodell at this point? Could they at least employ a man who wouldn't be so blatantly obtuse over matters which he should absolutely know about, if not understand completely?
The longer DeflateGate rages on, and the longer the league can continue to brush aside accusations of disregarding player safety - and, most importantly, as long as the league continues to be the most popular ticket in sports - the nonsense will continue. But Goodell should not be this ignorant. It would be appreciated if he and the NFL could at least stop insulting everyone's intelligence.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Have a news tip or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.
