ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Thursday appeared on Boston-based WEEI-FM’s “Dennis & Callahan” to discuss the NFL Deflategate issue, saying "beleaguered" is a “very good word to describe” Commissioner Roger Goodell right now. Schefter: “I think the league has taken a lot of shots. I think this is another shot. It shows the lack of unity, security, organization, just basic things involved in such a key game. In that particular case, that falls under his umbrella. I don’t know that he is directly responsible, even though there will be people that say he is, and so I think he has lost some support among ownership. I don’t think it is enough to topple his regime at this time, but you wonder how many more of these Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, Greg Hardy, Deflategate, piping-noise-into-the-stadium incidents there will be before people begin to lose patience amongst NFL owners." Meanwhile, Schefter said he would imagine the relationship between Goodell and Patriots Owner Robert Kraft "is not exactly as it once was, and that is not to say it wouldn't get back to what it once was." Schefter said of Kraft, "I still think he supports (Goodell). I still think Mr. Kraft is happy Roger Goodell is his Commissioner. I don’t think it is this unwavering support that once existed, I would guess" ("The Dennis & Callahan Morning Show," WEEI-FM, 2/19).
WHAT A MESS: In Boston, Ben Volin writes Goodell "owes an apology to all 32 NFL owners," because the "whole Deflategate mess has been badly mishandled by the league office from the start." And it makes the NFL leadership "look like a bunch of people who can’t keep their own house in order." The key "issue with Deflategate no longer is, 'Did the Patriots cheat?' but instead is 'Why did Goodell and the NFL launch a full-scale investigation into this matter in the first place?'” By "treating it like the Warren Commission, and not as a minor procedural incident that had no effect on the outcome of the AFC Championship game whatsoever, Goodell and the NFL have exposed to the world that the league is, well, kind of a clown show when it comes to following its own rules" (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/20). Also in Boston, Ron Borges writes the NFL's investigation into the Patriots is "another example of the utter ineptitude of a once proud organization." But the league has "proven over the past year that common sense" is in "short supply on Park Avenue, but the arrogance of power and money is not." Borges: "You can’t really put anything past them anymore." The more the NFL "became obsessed with escalating already massive profits ... the more problems of malfeasance, ineptitude, blindness, mischief and mayhem have occurred" (BOSTON HERALD, 2/20).
ANYTHING NEW HERE? In Boston, Chad Finn writes he has "no idea what ESPN was trying to achieve the past few days with its coverage of Deflategate -- especially the strange sidebar" about Patriots locker room attendant Jim McNally "supposedly attempting to introduce an unapproved game ball to the AFC Championship." ESPN reporter Kelly Naqi’s story Tuesday was "bereft of much detail beyond that bit of information." But it was "played as a major development despite very little detail, none of which incriminated McNally beyond that fact that he -- dramatic pause -- handed someone an unapproved football" (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/20).
SOURCE CODE: CSN NEW ENGLAND's Tom Curran posed the question, "Where would the McNally information have originated?" Signs -- "actually, a blinking neon arrow -- points to NFL headquarters." Naqi is the wife of Jaguars Senior VP/Fan Engagement Hussain Naqi, who had previous stints in the league office, MetLife Stadium and with NFL outside counsel Covington & Burling, where former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue is a partner. But "just because Kelly Naqi's spouse worked for and with the NFL for much of his career shouldn't preclude her from reporting on the league." However, in a story "this explosive," an investigative report "from someone whose spouse has been closely aligned with the NFL for much of his professional life is going to raise suspicions that the league just keeps dropping nuggets and undermining the integrity of the process." Naqi's integrity "isn't in question." It is the "integrity of the respondents -- and from whom they draw their paycheck -- that’s the bigger concern" (CSNNE.com, 2/19).
