Goodell's a tone deaf power tripping asshole, this isn't news. To go arm chair psychologist for a minute, I could see him also using this as an opportunity to hammer Belichick. Goodell came down on him over Spygate and Belichick remains unrepentant and is still doing things his own way, pushing the boundaries in every direction. Belichick is probably one of the more recurring pains in Goodell's ass, so he may look at this as an opportunity to "bring Bill to heel".
Of course it's cheating, it's always been cheating. Big fucking deal, it's scuffing baseballs or watering down the infield near first base to slow down a basestealer. When I catch my seven year old being less than perfectly honest I could call that lying (and sometimes do) but generally call it fibbing. Belichick annoys the shit out of me. Big deal.
I also could see the QB backlash being strong enough that the NFL goes the opposite direction on control of the balls. "Fuck it, so many people complained, chicks dig the long ball, no one was actually following the rules, the hell with it. Footballs will be the responsibility of the team that supplies them and will only be tested if the opposing team complains, minimum 7 psi no maximum. You bitches deal with it."
