When we found out yesterday that Roger Goodell was upholding the 4 game suspension of Tom Brady, it was just a matter of time before Robert Kraft would come to the defense of the face of his franchise. Who had less than 24 hours?
Today, Kraft pulled no punches with his displeasure with (Old Buddy) Roger Goodell and his decision. Kraft said. "I was wrong to put my faith in the league," stating he accepted what he called “the harshest penalty in history of NFL for an alleged ball violation" in hopes that Tom Brady’s suspension would be reduced. Kraft went on to say "The decision handed down by the league yesterday is unfathomable to me. It is routine for discipline in the NFL to be reduced upon appeal. In the vast majority of these cases, there's tangible and hard evidence of the infraction for which the discipline is being imposed.” I guess that means Kraft doesn’t think Brady destroying evidence (cell phone) doesn’t count as “hard evidence”.
A few media outlets have stated that Goodell viewed the cell phone as the smoking gun. There has even been some speculation that if Goodell knew of the phone being destroyed prior to Brady getting 4 games, he would have given him the entire season as a punishment.
My contention is that the Brady punishment is not alone about the deflated balls. If Brady cooperated with the NFL in the investigation, chances are his suspension may have been reduced to as little as a fine. I think the fact that owners like Jim Isay, Jerry Jones and Steve Bisciotti have been very public in their support for Goodells decision is very telling to the fact that NFL owners were in the Commissioners ear to make sure Brady didn’t walk with a slap on the wrist.
If Goodell reduced this suspension, what kind of message would that send? If Brady was allowed to get away with not cooperating in the NFL investigation, why would any future player cooperate? Goodell had to set this example or he would have set the wrong precedent to the rest of the league?
Roger Goodell in my opinion has not gotten a lot of discipline situations right since becoming Commissioner.., in this case, I think he got it right and I think he set the right precedent.. Finally