There’s a lot going on right now in sports, and if you sleep you might miss a landscape-altering trade. It’s easy to overlook important things, like the one time a year Roger Goodell lets the bothersome media ask him questions.
And since this is the internet, where everybody must consume content in list form, I thought it might just be easier to rattle all the dumb shit Goodell said than try to condense it into a cohesive, thoughtful column. Also, Carron Phillips already did that, but seeing as he examined the important topic that wasn’t broached, I’ll focus on what was said.
All Cincinnati Bengals fans wanted to talk about after the AFC championship game was the zebras, and after Goodell’s comments, they’re out for vengeance.
“I don’t think it’s ever been better in the league. There are over 42,000 plays in a season. Multiple infractions could occur on any play. Take that out or extrapolate that. That’s hundreds if not millions of potential fouls. And our officials do an extraordinary job of getting those. Are there mistakes in the context of that? Yes, they are not perfect and officiating never will be.”
While I agree that calls were missed, it happens. It sucks, but it’s better than sitting through penalty reviews. The one thing you can’t say though, is that it’s never been better. He admits that it’s flawed and should’ve led, and stopped, with that.
I’m not sure how getting sued by Black coaches, one of which was bypassed by Carolina and listed in the lawsuit, counts as progress. The question of hiring practices came in the form of a softball that he clearly had prepared an answer for, including touting new programs that haven’t made progress yet.
“We’re gonna continue [the accelerator program]. Our commitment’s strong to that. But that’s just one. We had a number of other programs that we’ve put in that I think are going to produce long-term results. Now we all want short-term results, but it’s important to have it be sustainable for the future, and we believe diversity makes us stronger. It’s about attracting the best talent and giving them the best opportunity to be successful. To me, that’s at the core of what we do. We want the changes to be really fundamental and sound and sustainable.”
Ahh, the promise of progress from an organization that, well, go to the next slide.
When you only open the room up for questions once a year, you give reporters a lot of time to think of really good inquiries, like this one from Jim Trotter of… NFL.com.
Goodell responded by saying that he’s not in charge of hiring at the league he is the commissioner of, and questioned Trotter’s data. It elicited audible laughter in the Deadspin newsroom, but who doesn’t love Goodell getting Joan Callamezzo’d by a member of NFL media?
When Goodell was asked why Thursday Night Football games are so putrid, he denied that they are, and lauded the league’s partnership with Amazon even though the company had to reimburse some advertisers because it failed to hit viewership projections, and ratings for TNF dropped overall. He even went as far as to hint that the TNF product could be opened to flexing, which is the case for Sunday Night Football and, starting next season, Monday Night Football.
“Not today, but it’ll certainly be something that’s on our horizon,” Goodell said.
The issue, Rog, would be hitting teams with a surprise short week, and I’m assuming the players association would have something to say about it as well. That said, the NFL has already doubled down on a bad idea, so why not continue to do so?
Goodell was of course asked about concussions, specifically the increase of head trauma this season, and thought it was a good time to point out that injuries as a whole dropped six percent. OK, but we’re focusing on ailments that can’t be cured. That’s like saying “STDs are down six percent, but herpes has risen by 18 percent.” One is for life, the other needs some penicillin.
The Sultan (court jester?) of spin even went as far as to credit the NFL for the rise in head injuries.
“I think that’s a reason why concussions went up this year, because we had a broader definition. If you have more evaluations you’re going to have more concussions. Any time we can change the protocols to make it safer for our players, we’re going to do that. We’re not afraid of having them diagnosed. That’s important to us and why we encourage players to come forward when they have symptoms so we can make sure they are handled properly.”
Umm, did he just admit that the league hasn’t been properly evaluating head injuries? The NFL should be terrified of having more concussions diagnosed and any line of thought that tries to lessen their significance is patently absurd.
The BM on top of Goodell’s shit sundae was a new suit brought against the NFL on Thursday over benefits. Ten retired players, including Willis McGahee who was giving his body to football even before entering the NFL, alleged that the NFL used a “disturbing pattern of erroneous and arbitrary benefits denials, bad faith contract misinterpretations, and other unscrupulous tactics” to wrongfully deny claims.
(“They’re a small fraction of the players who have been wronged by the NFL’s disability plan. These former players deserve far more from an organization worth billions of dollars than a sham process in which there’s no chance of success,’’ said lawyer Chris Seeger, who separately has been class counsel in the $1 billion settlement of NFL concussion claims.)
Alrighty then. Super Bowl on three?
