Roger Goodell has more to lose in Tom Brady’s appeal than the Patriots quarterback
COMMENTARY
This may be Tom Brady’s appeal, but Roger Goodell is the one on trial.
Brady’s endgame is clear: He wants his name exonerated from the accusations laid forth by the much-debated, NFL-commissioned Wells Report and will likely demand that the four-game suspension handed down to him by an iron-fisted power-hungry commissioner be eradicated.
Goodell has more at stake.
It’s Appeal Day in New York City, and the gang will all be together. For the first time since the NFL commissioner awkwardly handed the Patriots quarterback his Super Bowl MVP trophy the morning after New England’s victory over the Seattle Seahawks in Glendale, Ariz., Brady and Goodell will meet face-to-face to discuss the parameters of an NFL “scandal’’ that has escaped the boundaries of the absurd and traipsed its way into fictional irrationality.
Brady’s lawyer, the NFLPA-appointed Jeffrey Kessler will also be on hand, and according to reports, so too will Ted Wells, the author and head investigator of a document that showed little proof of the Patriots’ involvement in Deflategate, but delivered enough questionable exchanges to prompt Goodell to suspend Brady for the first four games of the 2015 season, in addition to fining Bob Kraft’s team $1 million and taking away a first-round draft pick.
Brady’s camp, which will also include the quarterback’s agent, the once-omnipresent Don Yee, has the recent report from the American Enterprise Institute, which called much of Wells’ findings foolhardy earlier this month, on its side. Who wouldn’t pay for a webcast to watch Kessler, Yee, and Brady grill Wells on his methods and those of the disgraced Exponent firm, which the NFL hired to spearhead the scientific aspects of the case?
Will it matter?
In the NFL’s eyes, Brady’s appeal has to be seen as the second step to its long, drawn-out victory in the Deflategate soap opera. Goodell already won the first battle against his longtime friend, newly-appointed lackey in Kraft, who sheepishly accepted the punishments handed down to his team last month at the NFL owners’ meetings. The theory floated by some then was that Kraft was laying on the sword in exchange for a reduction in the Super Bowl MVP’s suspension.
Please.
Brady’s legacy may be the one being portrayed as at stake here, but when it comes time for Brady’s induction into Canton, Ohio, cooler heads will have to prevail, reducing Deflategate to a footnote on the four (Five? Six?)-time Lombardi Trophy winner. There will be the doubters in the Meadowlands, Orchard Park, and somewhere in the midst of all the self-worth in Indianapolis. Always doubters. Goodell wiping out the suspension won’t ever change that.
Story continues after photo gallery
Photos: Tom Brady Career Timeline
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But the commissioner’s legacy is indeed in the balance as Brady sharpens his tools and gets ready to attack. Never mind the pathetic fact that the most-anticipated appeal in history to be heard at NFL offices doesn’t involve domestic violence or something else of an illegal ilk, but deflated footballs. Thirty-one other owners will be watching the proceedings just as closely as we will, waiting to see if their commissioner, once roundly criticized for being in Kraft’s back pocket, and vice versa, will stick to his guns when it comes to doling out sanctions against the New England Patriots, the most polarizing and successful franchise in the world’s most powerful sports league.
Goodell can’t win by relenting. If he reduces Brady’s suspension, it can only be because new evidence — such as the AEI report — came to light. But if he admits to the validity of that, then he also admits that the NFL’s hiring of Wells and Exponent was a colossal disaster. And to do that, he’ll also have to tell the Patriots to keep their million bucks and first-rounder, right?
How do you think, say, Woody Johnson will feel about that?
“This is a strange deal, really, because the Patriots quarterback is guilty unless proven innocent,’’ wrote WTHR’s Bob Kravitz, our ol’ pal who blew the whole whistle on this bloated affair in the hours after last January’s AFC title game at Gillette Stadium. “It’s much like the penalty phase of a trial. He’s already been ruled guilty, but now must plead down his punishment from four games to maybe two, to possibly, but not likely, full exoneration.’’
Not likely at all.
In the four-game suspension, the NFL has created a cute little soap opera for itself, the sort of canned drama that NBC has proven it salivates over with its endless Olympic charades. In securing the season-opener, the network gets an even wider attention-grabber if Brady’s not there. “How can the Pats survive for four games with Jimmy Garroppolo or Matt Flynn under center? Oh, and did we mention we also have Brady’s return, four weeks away? In primetime? Sponsors, the ad rate has been risen by 35 percent.’’
That may sound conspiratorial, but it’s also too delicious for the NFL to pass up in the name of decency.
Who said anything about decency?
All eyes will be on Brady v. Goodell on Tuesday, but most of them will indeed be watching Goodell, following a league year during which he was vilified in every barroom in America, only to try and recapture some semblance of faith from football fans across the nation for nailing the New York Yankees of the sport.
This is the New York Giants in the Super Bowl all over again. It is one battle that Brady cannot win.
This is Brady’s legacy vs. Goodell’s legacy.
We’ll see you in court.
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