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Roger Goodell “Textgate” Punishment Sets Up the Gauntlet for “Deflategate”

By Alan Schechter

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The embattled commissioner of the NFL, Roger Goodell levied punishment on Ray Farmer and the Cleveland Browns for “Textgate”, as noted by NFL Insider Adam Schefter:

So Browns GM Ray Farmer suspended four games and team fined $250,000 for Text-Gate.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 30, 2015

So for the texts, the Browns lose their general manager for four games and are fined $250,000.

The more I look at this discipline, I realize that the gauntlet has been set for Goodell on the “Deflategate” issue. Roger Goodell must act strongly against the Patriots on this, if ANY balls were delated, whether he wants to or not.

Now, before all the Patriots fans that stumble upon this article go off, read the entire article first. This is based solely on what we know so far, and on Roger Goodell’s words.

Whatever is going to happen with “Deflategate” now is slated to be very, very interesting. It will also tell us where Roger Goodell stands on really enforcing the rules for “all 32 teams”. Look at Goodell’s statement regarding the Browns violation:

There of course are mitigating factors that you have to consider,” Goodell said, “but the violation of the rule and the integrity of that rule is not necessarily whether you got an advantage or not, it’s the fact that you broke a rule. And that’s a more general comment and we don’t want anyone breaking the rules. The 32 clubs want to be operating under the same rules.

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“The 32 clubs want to be operating under the same rules.” Doesn’t that apply to the New England Patriots? If the Patriots are found to have broken a rule, namely the weight of the footballs, doesn’t the previous quote demand that they receive severe punishment for it? I am not, I repeat, not saying they did. I am saying that if the investigation reveals that they did, Goodell must give out severe punishment.

He even acknowledged that the rule doesn’t have to have a direct impact on the game, simply that the rule was broken. That is very telling, isn’t it? If Roger Goodell is going to hold one team to that standard, he must hold all teams to that standard.

Now you might say, “Well OK, Ray Farmer was directly responsible for the violation, so he was punished. Who would you punish on New England?” Let’s talk about that.

Go back to “Bountygate” for a few minutes. Remember that? I think we all do. The Saints were found to have set up rewards for taking out other players with injuries. Players received suspensions, although they were eventually overturned. But, also the head coach received a year-long suspension. The kicker is, he was never have found to have had direct knowledge or participation. The theory was that as the head coach, he should have known and taken steps to stop it from happening.

By that theory, if footballs were deflated, shouldn’t Bill Belichick have known, and taken action to stop it? No matter who actually performed the act, he is the man in charge, right?   If Payton was suspended under that theory, why shouldn’t Belichick?  It’s an exact parallel.

Roger Goodell just made the “Deflategate” situation even more interesting. Your move Roger.

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