Things are moving fast in the Ray Rice scandal, and from the direction of things it seems to be getting worse mostly for the NFL and the man in charge of it, Roger Goodell, who with every decision, twist and turn in this saga gets himself closer to losing all credibility and finding himself out of a job.
In an interview with CBS, Goodell was asked how was it possible that the NFL couldn’t get its hands on a video tape from the elevator which TMZ was able to reach? Goodell’s answer was that the NFL relied on law enforcement and not other less reliable sources.
According to the AP Source, the NFL was sent and received the tape, something they’re claiming never happened. If TMZ could have gotten the tape from the Casino, so could have the NFL, which employs former officers and FBI employees as part of its security-investigation department. Money wasn’t the issue I believe as well, as the NFL could have actually bought the Atlantic City Casino which shut down by now.
There was also nothing illegal about trying to get the recording from the Casino directly, bypassing the police. When he really wanted to do certain things, Goodell had no problems obtaining it himself, via his arm of the law.
When Spygate exploded, the NFL confiscated the tapes from a Patriots employee directly. When Bountygate came up, the NFL got the recording suggesting the pay-for-injury policy from NFL films. A lot of mystery surrounds both tapes: The Spygate tape was destroyed. There are a lot of questions about what actually happened behind the scenes, inside the New Orleans Saints locker room.
Back to Bountygate: When Sean Payton was suspended for a year, Goodell said of him that even if he didn’t know about what Greg Williams and the defensive players were doing, he still should have known. The same policy and rules should apply to Goodell himself. There’s an investigation about what the exact procedure in the Ray Rice case was, and even if it will show that Goodell acted with a clean Conscience and didn’t try to cover anything up, it still points to unique incompetence. He should have known.
NFL players and especially former players are having a field day with what seems to be a colossal embarrassment for Goodell. Roddy White tweeted (and later deleted): Rodger should just come out and say we messed up and drop the ball on this one. But he won’t to much pride and it’s a lot of that in the NFL.
An NFL owner, speaking anonymously of course, suggested that he and the other owners in the league don’t believe Goodell is lying. However, if the AP source turns out to be truthful about the video being available for the NFL since April, it’s going to be very difficult seeing Goodell keeping his job. Politicians are already getting involved.
James Harrison, no longer in the league, found it difficult to hide his joy.
@nflcommish ain’t no fun when the rabbit got the gun huh?
— James Harrison (@jharrison9292) September 10, 2014
Being a leader is not a part time job. If Goodell holds the players to a high standard, he should be held to that same high standard!
— Brian Westbrook (@36westbrook) September 10, 2014
Be quite sure these two are not alone in their feelings, and a lot of current and former players will be very happy if Goodell turns out to have known all along, which means he’ll no longer be a part of the NFL.