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Roger Goodell is probably the worst commissioner in history at handling punishments for his players. The four-game suspension he levied upon New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady for his role in Deflategate is laughably ridiculous, and makes him look like the weak leader he’s been painted as recently for the NFL.
Goodell did a good job of coming down on the Patriots — losing a 2016 first-round pick, a 2017 fourth-round pick and a $1 million fine is serious business. But four games for Brady, the guy who was implicated in the Wells report more than anyone? Players who get caught with a joint for the first time get four-game suspensions. Players who take prescribed medication from their doctors and forget to clear the drug with the league before taking it get four-game suspensions. Four games for deliberately and directly affecting the outcomes on the field is just a sharp scolding, if anything.
The problem is that this situation was all-or-nothing for Goodell. Remember, Brady had never been conclusively linked to any wrongdoing with any real evidence; the implications were strong, but there was nothing tangible to back it up. So that left Goodell two choices: Either let Brady off the hook for lack of direct evidence, or decide the implications are enough and drop the hammer on Brady in a way where this indiscretion never happens again. There was no middle ground to consider; he needed to make a decision and act decisively.
And a four-game suspension is the best he could do? It’s a disgrace.
Whether Brady is the darling of the NFL doesn’t matter — Goodell had the chance to make a real statement about his ability to protect the integrity of the game. And instead of rising to the occasion, he lays up like this. A year-long suspension for Brady is what needed to happen here. A punishment like that sends the kind of loud message Goodell should have desired; four games is weak sauce.
The irony is that the two parties more directly linked to the franchise, Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft, weren’t found nearly as culpable as Brady and they’re taking the brunt of the pain here. The franchise is hurting a hundred times worse than Brady is. If Kraft and Belichick really didn’t know this was going on, they have to be furious with Brady right now. And if they did know, they have to feel somehow that justice really wasn’t served if Brady’s skating away from this while the team suffers.
This is such a swing and miss from Goodell that he’s managed to make himself look just as bad as Brady does. But Brady’s day is going to come in the court of public opinion; the asterisks are just itching to be put next to every major accomplishment he’s ever had. Goodell’s will come when the game has been so badly tarnished that the dollars he’s trying to protect aren’t there anymore.
Doug Green is a Featured Writer for www.RantSports.com covering the Philadelphia Eagles and the NFL. Follow him on Twitter @DGreenNFL.
