11/21/24
November 17, 2017
ESPN: NFL On Brink of Civil War: How did Jerry Jones take it when Roger Goodell told him about the decision to suspend Ezekiel Elliott for six games? ESPN quotes the phone call: "'I'm gonna come after you with everything I have,' Jones said. Then he mentioned Deflategate. 'If you think Bob Kraft came after you hard, Bob Kraft is a ----- compared to what I'm going to do.'"
Never thought I'd root for Jerry Jones
posted by tron7 at 02:53 PM on November 17, 2017
Sure. Get rid of Goodell and bring someone in who will just yield to the 2 owners who feel they and their players are entitled to special treatment and are therefore above any form of league enforced punishment.
The NFL doesn't need to spend large sums of money, or create any "law enforcement branches", if it is allowed to enforce it's rules. It does if it needs to defend itself against the few franchises that feel they are above the rules that all others abide by.
posted by cixelsyd at 03:06 PM on November 17, 2017
The NFL didn't create a law enforcement branch because it wasn't allowed to enforce its own rule. Goodell did it to make the public think it took player discipline seriously after Ray Rice.
But I don't think it does take this seriously. Do fans have more confidence or less after DeflateGate and this Elliott suspension? It seems half-assed and capricious to me.
posted by rcade at 03:44 PM on November 17, 2017
Cixelsyd, thank you. I'd venture Mr. Kraft and Mr. Jones would not have had the guts to go after Pete Rozelle. They have made Roger Goodell into a weak duck; now they want to go for the kill.
Would this conversation be occurring had the key suspensions been a second- or third-string quarterback or running back and not Tom Brady or Ezekiel Elliott? The owners would have had the lesser names serve their suspensions, then force their releases.
A final note: remember Lucky Whitehead? The Cowboys' wide receiver was released after reports of an arrest warrant in Virginia surfaced ... except one day later authorities stated the warrant was based on a false identity. Was he reinstated ... nope. It seems Jones' current whining makes him a hypocrite.
posted by jjzucal at 07:25 PM on November 17, 2017
Would this conversation be occurring had the key suspensions been a second- or third-string quarterback or running back and not Tom Brady or Ezekiel Elliott?
I don't see that as hypocrisy. I see it as picking your battles. Losing a top talent is a big deal. The Cowboys could miss the playoffs because of Elliott's suspension. It makes a lot more sense for Jones to go to the battlements over that than if he lost the team's third-string QB.
Incidentally, Lucky Whitehead plays a role in the Elliott case. He either exchanged texts with Elliott's girlfriend (her story) or had sex with her while she was dating Elliott (Elliott's).
He was a good returner. It was a shame he got cut.
posted by rcade at 12:46 PM on November 18, 2017
The story says the NFL spent $22.5 million investigating Deflategate!
The Elliott case shows that Goodell can't run investigations competently. Kia Roberts, the NFL's director of investigations, interviewed Elliott and his girlfriend six times and concluded that the girlfriend was not a credible witness. Roberts was then excluded from an advisory board that met to decide what action to take and Goodell allegedly wasn't even told of Roberts' conclusion before deciding on a punishment.
What's the point of hiring investigators if you're going to intentionally ignore their findings? The NFL's decision to create a shadow law enforcement branch inside the league headquarters is a mistake. It will make player disciplinary matters a bigger issue not a smaller one.