I heard the Herm Edwards conversation on M&M as well this morning. They kept piling on about why the Patriots had so much to say at the beginning, which they said was so uncharacteristic of them. I wanted to jump through the windshield ... "It's because the LEAGUE kept leaking information and they had to get past this to prepare for the SUPER BOWL!"pappymojo said:It is funny that the media and ESPN while talking about this stupidity blames someone else for the fact that the media is talking about this stupidity.
The other thing they kept harping on was that the NFLPA has no leg to stand on -- this was with Steven Smith bit earlier (what a complete idiot BTW) -- because in the CBA they never fought Goodell being the ultimate judge for discipline. There's just nowhere beyond optics and the superficial that the media is capable of going. In any legitimate, professional standard setting or disciplinary process, there HAS to be one body for the equivalent of a trial and a different body for the appeal. It is part of the bedrock for due process. Goodell is going to claim that Vincent handed down the discipline, which is separate from himself, so he is capable of providing a fair appeal. He relinquishes this power and someone with real independence looks at the Wells Report -- in particular the two gauges -- and the suspension evaporates ... Goodell can't let that happen. That's why I think the NFLPA suggesting that Goodell can't hear the appeal was the best chess move yet -- not "check mate," but at least "check" -- because when this goes to court after that, Brady's team is going to tear the NFL apart. "So, Mr. Goodell, what precedent or standards are you relying on to oversee a process that suggests or states that sufficient independence exists by a subordinate to hand down sanctions in such a manner that his supervisor then can independently judge and rule on an appeal?" "Further, Mr. Goodell, are we supposed to believe that you played no role in the initial discipline, that the commissioner of football had no oversight or collaboration in handing down the single most punitive punishment on an NFL team and a four-game suspension for one of the most successful players in league history?" "Finally, Mr. Goodell, you felt no need to recuse yourself from the appeals proceedings after learning that the NFPLA intended to call you as a witness?"