Jared Max: NFL Deflected Attention From Itself By Throwing Book At Brady, Pats
By Jared Max
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Q: Why were Tom Brady and the Patriots penalized so strongly?
A: Because the NFL was embarrassed publicly.
Whose fault is this?
While most are pointing fingers at Brady and the Pats' organization, my focus is on commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL's duplicity. Again, the league has proven itself to be reactive — not proactive. Again, the league has tried to absolve itself from blame or wrongdoing by levying draconian punishment against those whose bad behaviors it had enabled.
Like bounties on players, robberies of sideline signals and fists pounded against women and children, the NFL was not blindsided by this latest scandal. The league knew about deflated footballs long before Brady comfortably squeezed the Colts in the AFC championship, 45-7.
After their matchup in week 11, the Colts contacted the NFL to alert them to their suspicions about the Patriots using under inflated balls. The league did nothing. Maybe they figured the Colts were just complainers. Maybe, they said, "Everybody deflates the ball a bit." Within days of the word "Deflategate" joining our lexicon, multiple former NFL quarterbacks said they employed similar ball-deflating practices. This did not help Brady or the Patriots because it embarrassed the NFL
Goodell reminds me of a father who allows his children to behave badly at home, but turns into Adrian Peterson when the kids act out in public, exposing his poor parenting. Only when dad's boss comes over for dinner does dad go ballistic when his four-year-old sings explicit rap lyrics — the same words that drew laughs from dad at dinner, one night before. Only when dad is embarrassed personally does he take action against his child, believing that he is making right from wrong. The punishment is truly a referendum on himself, unfairly taken out on his offspring.
Eighty-plus cases of domestic abuse by NFL players from 2000 to 2014 — documented by USA Today — went seemingly unnoticed by the league or its consumers until Ray Rice knocked the daylights out of his fiancée in a casino elevator. Eighty-four cases — many more severe than Rice's — served as wallpaper in a dark corner of the basement of the NFL offices until TMZ acquired damning surveillance video that forced the league to address one of its epidemics. Had these images not surfaced, I believe that the NFL would be as soft on domestic abuse today as it was pre-Rice.
Now that Brady and Patriots Nation has been smashed for Deflategate, I wonder if Goodell will allow himself to be photographed with Robert Kraft — let alone be seen rubbing shoulders with him at a pre-AFC championship party hosted by the Patriots' owner.
Now that Kraft's Patriots are convicted cheaters, I assume that Goodell will emulate other weak leaders who, in situations like this, turn their backs on those who largely helped build their careers — and mansions.
Of course, the Patriots deserved to be punished. Brady deserved to be punished. He knew that he broke the rules. When questioned by NFL authorities he lied, according to the Wells Report. Further, I believe that Brady's legacy is tarnished, beyond repair. Since the release of the Wells Report, I have wondered if Brady is as good as I had believed. Sure, he knows how to engineer a football game. But does he live in an unfair comfort zone? Is he an NBA player using a WNBA-sized ball?
Had the NFL addressed previously reported concerns of cheating with deflated footballs, the league would likely have not had to overcompensate for failing to police itself by issuing this unfair punishment.
When the next sizable league scandal comes to be, ask yourself how the NFL could have prevented it.
Jared Max is a multi-award winning sportscaster. He hosted a No. 1 rated New York City sports talk show, "Maxed Out" — in addition to previously serving as longtime Sports Director at WCBS 880, where he currently anchors weekend sports. Follow and communicate with Jared on Twitter @jared_max.
