ESPN's "Outside The Lines" last night devoted a primetime special to domestic violence in sports, but NFL Exec VP/Football Operations Troy Vincent noted there has not been much progress made with the NFLPA on a new domestic violence policy because the two sides "see things differently on when we should take a player off the field." Vincent said, "No one wants to falsely accuse anyone, but when we start talking about women and children, we have to make a swift decision. We can't allow the court system, what we've seen in the past, fail us. So we have to have the ability to make a decision, to make sure families and children and women are protected as the due process is taking place.” Vincent went out of his way to label the talks with the NFLPA as “discussions” and not a current negotiation. He said, "There are discussions on education -- how we educate, how do we protect our players. ... The discussions have been, 'When do we take a player off the field? What should be the discipline? How far should we go? How do we support the families? Where is that local and national support?' So there's been a bunch of dialogue but we have to continue to advance progress.” However, NFLPA Special Counsel & Deputy Managing Dir Teri Patterson disagreed with the notion that progress was not being made on a new policy, saying talks with the league have been “very, very productive and I thought we did make a substantial amount of progress." Patterson: "We not have a personal conduct policy imposed upon us. Collective bargaining historically has been the best way for us to come to the best outcome.” ESPN's Bob Ley noted it sounds like the league and union were “painting drastically different pictures of where you stand here.” Patterson: “The Ray Rice appeal is the way that I do believe that we should have handled any situations arising out of the personal conduct policy. ... We just want everybody to remember that we don't defend behavior and misconduct" ("Outside The Lines," ESPN2, 11/11).
PLAN OF INACTION? USA TODAY’s Nancy Armour notes two months after the Ray Rice video went public, the NFL “still doesn't have a plan for what to do if one of its players is accused of beating his wife, girlfriend or child.” Suspending players “may have appeased disgusted fans and soothed concerned sponsors, and it gave the NFL a quick and easy way to claim it was doing something.” But it was “never going to be a permanent solution, and the snail's pace with which the NFL has tried to find one is further proof that, for all those experts it has consulted, the league still doesn't have a clue” (USA TODAY, 11/12).
