Around The NFL - 2015

[ice grillin you]

For most of this week I've resisted delivering a steaming hot take about this "deflategate" story because I could not force myself to give even the slightest of fargs. It's been difficult to care about the bereaved and aggrieved Patriots nation of fans who are in full froth over their Super Bowl winning team being branded as cheaters. I also wasn't overly concerned with the tarnishing of quarterback Tom Brady's legacy. If anything, this story only mattered to me insofar as I truly wondered—since the NFL believes that the Patriots swindled their way through the playoffs—why they didn't have to just give up their precious Lombardi Trophy. After all, forfeiting the championship was the brutal judgment delivered unto the USA Little League Champions Jackie Robinson West. I wanted to challenge Roger Goodell to go to the South Side of Chicago and hold a public lecture on why a billion-dollar football entity and their jet-setting golden boy quarterback was not being held to the same standard as the first all African-American Little League team.

But then something about this story burrowed under my skin like an inch-sized tick: the financial penalty levied against the Patriots. While Boston wept over Brady's four game suspensions and howled over the team's loss of draft picks, that one million dollar fine stuck in my craw. I know a million bucks seems like piffle for a franchise with a market price in excess of 2.5 billion dollars. But like nothing else, this one million dollar fine signifies the rebooted and refortified arrogance of Roger Goodell. After a year when the commissioner's job was on the ropes as he stood humbled over his historic bungling of domestic violence issues in his league, Goodell is feeling his oats. This fine represents an audacious, "Empire Strikes Back" level of self-regard. He might as well find an aircraft carrier to land on, with a Mission Accomplished banner in the background.

So what makes this seemingly small fine such an act of hellacious hubris? According to the collective bargaining agreement, the NFL cannot issue any fine in excess of $500,000. How did this become one million bucks? Well, according to "Goodell logic" the Patriots are fined $500,000 for deflating the balls and another $500,000 for Tom Brady's "refusal to cooperate" with the investigation. Like Kuato from Total Recall, it's a fine within a fine! In other words, Brady would not disclose his phone records and assorted affects that could tie him to the conspiracy of the flaccid balls and Goodell is sending a message that not coming clean is a punishable as well as unpardonable sin.

My goodness. Roger Goodell punishing people for not disclosing data would be like Mike Huckabee criticizing people for intolerance. This is the same Roger Goodell who refused to open the NFL's financial books during the lockout out of 2011 when the union asked for proof about his laughable contention that some teams were losing money. This is the same Roger Goodell who has refused to disclose the NFL's treasure trove of medical data and scientific theories regarding the long-term affects of the head traumas that take place during every game. This is the same Roger Goodell who made sure that when the 2013 concussion lawsuit, involving over 4,500 former players, was settled, a condition of that settlement would be that these records would forever remain under lock and key.

This is the same Roger Goodell who claims a historic drop in the number of concussions in the 2014 season without disclosing the data or methodology that emboldens him to assert this, even as the league's numbers are scoffed at by medical professionals. This is the same Roger Goodell who does the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge while issuing denials that there is any connection between football and ALS. This is the same Roger Goodell who says that his soccer playing daughter has a concussion risk "almost greater than" a pro football player. This is the same Roger Goodell who has done nothing to disclose to NFL families the new data that suggests bruising to the frontal lobe of the brain could affect temper and impulse control among players, putting families at risk of intimate partner violence. We are talking about a man who lives in an igloo of secrecy but wants players to open up their lives or risk sanction and humiliation. This is the person in charge of the NFL: A man who wants full disclosure for the benefit of the league but won't disclose a thing for the benefit of the general public.

It was announced today that the Patriots would be appealing the fine and suspension levied by the league. The person they are appealing to? That would be Commissioner Goodell. Everyone is talking about Tom Brady but honestly we've been looking in the wrong direction. It's not Tom Brady we should be worried about. It's Roger Goodell. The balls on this guy...

[PhillyPhreak54]

Impressive takedown. Wow

Who wrote that?

[ice grillin you]

dave zirin

[Eagaholic]

Report: Rams almost drafted OT La'el Collins

The agents for offensive tackle La'el Collins claim that the St. Louis Rams almost drafted the former LSU prospect with one of their seventh round picks before eventually passing on him according to Robert Klemko of Sports Illustrated.

Actually, the agents didn't specifically name the Rams as their client's potential landing spot.  "There was a team that had drafted four offensive linemen and they said, 'We're taking him.' And I texted back, 'You're going to embarrass yourself. You're going to waste this pick.' And they passed. And now he's a UDFA." agent Rick Smith said.  It does not take a lot of high-level sleuthing to realize the Rams are the team in question as they were the only NFL team to draft four offensive linemen before the start of the seventh round.  Despite the warnings that Collins would not sign with any team that drafted him after the third round and would instead try to enter the 2016 draft, the mystery team (Rams) texted the agents, "we're taking him".  Agent Mike McCartney texted back, 'You're going to embarrass yourself. You're going to waste this pick."

[PhillyPhreak54]

Conor Halliday retired

He was in rookie camp with Washington

[PhillyPhreak54]

Justin Smith retired

SF keeps getting hit with retirements

[QB Eagles]

Justin Smith retired

SF keeps getting hit with retirements

Was first reported two months ago but he made it an official announcement today.

[MDS]

PATs are moving to the 15....2 pters still from the 2....I think the defense can return all live balls now like in college

chip's tebow rule failed. jesus cant get no love.

i like it, but ill bet the sports republicans here hate it because its different and Not The Way Things Used To Be

[ice grillin you]

or no one cares because its basically meaningless

[hbionic]

PATs are moving to the 15....2 pters still from the 2....I think the defense can return all live balls now like in college

chip's tebow rule failed. jesus cant get no love.

i like it, but ill bet the sports republicans here hate it because its different and Not The Way Things Used To Be

I like the term "Sports Republicans". What exactly was Chip's tebow rule?

[PhillyPhreak54]

I hate it. It's stupid and didn't need to be changed.

Wanna fix something? Start with the fargin atrocious penalties

[General_Failure]

What exactly was Chip's tebow rule?

You know those videos of junior high games where they put the special needs kid on the last play and the defense trips all over themselves getting out of his way?

[QB Eagles]

This is a good evolution of the game.

Now, if they do away with the fair catch kick, I riot.

[MDS]

or no one cares because its basically meaningless

we live in a twitter age where opinions fly around like candy....look at your man. he lives on it.

PATs are moving to the 15....2 pters still from the 2....I think the defense can return all live balls now like in college

chip's tebow rule failed. jesus cant get no love.

i like it, but ill bet the sports republicans here hate it because its different and Not The Way Things Used To Be

I like the term "Sports Republicans". What exactly was Chip's tebow rule?

sports fan who want everything to stay the same way things were when they were 12.

chip proposed moving the 2pt line to the 1 as it influence teams to go for it more often.

I hate it. It's stupid and didn't need to be changed.

Wanna fix something? Start with the fargin atrocious penalties

how did i guess ol tex would have a #hotsportstake on this one? 99% of PATs are good...its a meaningless thing....the game has evolved past needing to put them so close. when you started watching football in the 60s the FG jawn was at the goaline. they moved that back. OMG outrage.

the reffing isnt perfect....it never will be....but do me a favor and google andre waters and get back to be about helmet to helmet hits.

This is a good evolution of the game.

Now, if they do away with the fair catch kick, I riot.

exactly.

they never will do away with that....ever.

[PhillyPhreak54]

I am not even talking about the helmet to helmet stuff...I am talking about the stupid pass interferences, illegal contacts and "roughing" the passers.

Stick up for the refs some more, buddy