The NFL Has Dropped Its Facade Of 'Integrity'
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- In NFL parlance, "THE SHIELD™" can mean a number of different things. In Roger Goodell's ideal world, THE SHIELD™ represents unwavering honor, dignity, and above all else -- integrity.
In the real world, THE SHIELD™ is exactly that: A means of protection for the billionaires who comprise the NFL whenever there's a risk of major wrongdoing being exposed. Though NFL executives always seek to protect THE SHIELD™, they know that THE SHIELD™ is there to protect them whenever protection may be convenient or necessary.
Now, after the NFL swiftly and wholly discredited and diminished every allegation and accusation made by Brian Flores in his lawsuit on Tuesday, the league has quickly entered protection mode.
Hide behind THE SHIELD™. Hire the lawyers. Nobody brings us down.
It may well prove to be a successful strategy. When a multibillion-dollar corporation puts its unlimited resources behind an effort, that endeavor rarely fails. So, even though the lawsuit does not seek money but instead requests the league to accept its history of discriminatory practices and make actual changes to improve the situation, the odds are in the league's favor to come out on top yet again. There's nothing the NFL values more than winning.
While the racial discrimination aspect of Flores' suit is the more serious matter, we also must explore the issues Flores exposed within the Miami Dolphins organization regarding team owner Stephen Ross. And when we do, we all must demand that the word "integrity" never sidles out of Roger Goodell's mouth for as long as he holds the position of NFL commissioner.
If "integrity" mattered to Goodell and the NFL's billionaire owners, then the claim that Ross offered bribe money to Flores to intentionally lose games in the 2019 season would have already launched a massive investigation into the validity of those claims. Simply put, the NFL is nothing if it does not have the trust of the viewing -- and betting -- public.
The league suffered a massive dent in that trust when an obvious pass interference penalty was not called in the 2018 NFC Championship Game, thus advancing the Rams (fresh off their relocation to Los Angeles, America's second largest city, a land of opportunity and increased revenue for the league) to the Super Bowl while ending the Saints' season. That, though, was small potatoes compared to an owner offering his coach an extra $100,000 for each loss, in an effort to tank for the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
Such an accusation could -- and should -- rock the sport to its core.
(Flores' claim that Ross tried to set up a meeting with a not-yet-available "prominent" quarterback -- reported to be Tom Brady -- in violation of the tampering rules is likewise something that the NFL and its owners would want investigated if "INTEGRITY" was more than just a convenient buzzword at 345 Park Avenue.)
Yet instead of investigating the claims, instead of analyzing email and text communications from the owner and the coach and anyone else who may have been involved, instead of spending millions of dollars to hire a law firm and pore over every aspect of the case the way that it would if a player had been accused of misconduct in such a significant way, the NFL ... has simply said it's not true. None of it.
Within an hour of Flores' lawsuit making waves across media outlets, the NFL released a 59-word statement saying that nothing -- not a single thing -- in the 58-page filing was true or accurate.
After stating that the NFL and its 32 teams are "committed" to increasing diversity in "everything we do," the league summarily dismissed Flores' claims.
"We will defend against these claims," the league said, "which are without merit."
Of course, we don't know which of Flores' claims do or do not have merit. Neither does the NFL. Yet the NFL has concluded that everything in the lawsuit is a lie.
The league sees this as a moment of crisis, not as a moment for self-reflection and improvement. And even though a massive, massive accusation that undermines the very heart of the NFL -- honest competition -- is included in that lawsuit, the league's instant reaction was to overlook a potential case of conspiracy to deliberately throw games.
That, quite obviously, runs contrary to everything the league has ever claimed to believe about "the integrity of the game" and "the integrity of THE SHIELD™." It goes against Goodell's commitment in 2020 -- when the NFL faced a different crisis of potentially losing players in the wake of the George Floyd murder -- to be a part of positive change.
"We are listening. I am listening," Goodell vowed in June 2020. "And I will be reaching out to players who have raised their voices and others on how we can improve and go forward for a better and more united NFL family."
That is easy to say when lawsuits aren't involved. Once the stakes are raised ever so slightly, the NFL's story changes.
That's the case, of course, with Flores' claims of discriminatory hiring and firing practices -- both involving himself and a half-dozen other coaches.
But the naked hypocrisy is also evident in the league showing absolutely no interest in a bombshell claim of an owner incentivizing his coach to intentionally lose football games.
There will be no monthslong investigation. There will be no Wells Report. Cell phone records won't be demanded. Security camera footage won't be collected. Interviews won't be conducted.
A fraction of a PSI measurement in a football is a more significant threat and affront to the National Football League than claims of historic and present-day racial discriminations. That fraction of air pressure in a football imperils the "integrity" of the sport more than an owner possibly trying to throw games.
Why? Because the league has determined that nothing -- nothing -- in Brian Flores' lawsuit has merit.
That the NFL owners want to operate in this manner is their prerogative. As stated earlier, they may end up "winning," which is always their goal.
But let's all agree on one thing: Roger Goodell and every NFL owner has forever forfeited the right and privilege to ever utter the word "integrity" again as it relates to the dealings and desires of the National Football League. For Goodell or any other owner to ever speak the word again? It would be without merit.
You can email Michael Hurley or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.