OK, the former Commissioner had the spine to do what the current Commissioner was supposed to do, and that was to finish the job. Regardless of what you think or how you feel about the outcome of this entire ‘’bounty’’/pay for performance situation, you would have to be glad this is over.
I have enough law talk to last me a lifetime. Paul Tagliabue vacated the players’ bounty suspension and went on to lay more of the blame on the coaches and the organization than on the players. So why couldn’t Roger Goodell do this himself?
“He should have done this himself and not handed this over to Paul Tagliabue,” said Gabe Feldman.
Feldman is the Director of Tulane University’s Sports Law Program and he has been the top analyst when it comes to breaking down the ‘’bounty’’ case.
Now, all the talks of this whole saga will amp back up…and with the Saints out of the playoff picture, I fully expect to see more frustration and anger in Saints fans, perhaps even more than we have seen or heard at any other time.
It seems like to me this decision could have been made a long time ago, but it is what it is, and I’m surely glad it’s over. Did the decision of Roger Goodell hurt the Saints this season? Did Roger Goodell use his power in the best interest of the league and its players? And did Roger Goodell punish the Saints organization, its coaches, and the GM for the pay-for-performance program, or was this seemingly too harsh of a sentence handed down with an agenda?
I can’t sit here and tell you that the Saints would be 8-5 right now, or 9-4, instead of 5-8. I can’t say that the Black and Gold would be the first team to host and play in the Super Bowl in their own back yard. Could the Saints be a playoff team? Could the Saints be the first team to play in the Super Bowl they were hosting? Possibly!
What I can tell you is that Roger Goodell is not on solid footing as Commissioner in the National Football League. Folks, we are witnessing a man that has no idea of how to use the authority he has been given.
From the time Mr. Goodell went after a young man (Terrell Pryor) who was not even employed in the NFL yet, to the fines levied on players, to the way he handled the officials before his hand was forced to pay the refs after the most embarrassing Monday Night in the history of the NFL…Yes, Roger Goodell and his job performance has been questionable, to say the very least.
We will never know how good the Saints would have been if Sean, Mickey and Joe had been here the entire time. Yes folks, the New Orleans Saints and their fans are not the only losers here. The rest of league should be cautious because Roger is still in charge.
