The Part of "Colt Seavers" will be played by Roger Goodell

[JayMags71]

Huge win for Pats/Brady. I still think losing the 1st round pick is a bigger punishment but Brady and the NFLPA just humiliated Goodell like I've never seen a commissioner made a fool of. Maybe Bowie Kuhn in 81? Paul Tagliabue vs. Al Davis?
 
This has to be end of Roger Goodell, right? With really smart guys like Manfred and Silver running the shows, Goodell looks even dumber than he would have 20 years ago.

 
 

On ESPN,
 
Andrew Brandt: "This is a major rebuke for Roger Goodell"
 
Bob Ley: "The latest of many!"

I've seen a lot of different opinions expressed about Goodell and how this has been handled. A lot of them have been, on the surface, contradictory. For instance.
 

• Goodell is a stooge and/or a puppet. He's pursuing this matter at the behest of certain owners within the NFL (namely Mara, Rooney, Irsay, and Bisciotti). They are putting Goodell out in front of this, so that when it goes south, he takes the PR, not them.  He can stay, because the owners, deep down in places they don't talk about at parties, they want him on that wall, they need him on that wall. 

The other argument goes:

• Goodell is out there operating without any decent restraint, totally beyond the pale of acceptable human conduct. He's drunk with power and his quixotic crusade to ruin Brady and Belichick's reputations, along with his mishandling of the Saints, Dolphins, Rice and Adrian Peterson issues has caused massive PR problems. Not to mention the continued bungling of player safety. They need to terminate his command.

Do I have it correct? Are these points in opposition of each other? Is there a middle ground?

 

[AB in DC]

How about: he's a politician trying to consolidate his power while doing everything he can to keep his constituents happy.
 
(See Washington Post article today on this.)

 

[AB in DC]

Here's the best snippet from that article:

The son of a former U.S. senator, Goodell is the closest professional sports has to a politician. He is versatile and talented and stubborn, and he learned as a young man in Washington — a city driven by the wielding of power and distribution of favors — that higher office is only as secure as his supporters’ faith in him. In Goodell’s case it is the owners of the 31 privately held NFL franchises. Indeed, Goodell runs NFL ownership like a politician works an unwieldy caucus: There are those he can count on and others who will cause headaches. Some are more engaged and influential than others. The real trick is keeping everyone happy — and in line.