While U.S. District Judge Richard Berman was preparing his ruling on vacating Tom Brady’s four-game suspension, attorneys for the NFL and NFLPA met Tuesday in N.Y. "to discuss the league’s personal conduct policy," according to sources cited by Tom Pelissero of USA TODAY. Sources said that "any potential compromises on the changes formalized to toughen up the policy in December are hung up on the union’s demand for neutral arbitration and the NFL’s use of the commissioner’s exempt list to take embattled players off the field" (USA TODAY, 9/4). On Long Island, Bob Glauber notes "rather than taking a sledgehammer" to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell the way others have since Berman's ruling, NFLPA President and Bengals OT Eric Winston "offered a way forward for the beleaguered commissioner." Winston in a statement said, "It is a victory for all players. However, this whole ordeal has highlighted the need for players and owners to work together to make all policies fair and transparent for everyone in our game. I welcome an opportunity to have open and constructive dialogue with the league in the near future for how we can best accomplish that." Glauber: "Goodell ought to take note of that olive branch" (NEWSDAY, 9/4).
TIME FOR CHANGE: In N.Y., William Rhoden writes regardless of how Berman ruled, it was "already clear that the discipline process had to change." There "had to be a major overhaul in the administration of fines, punishments and discipline, and the power surely needed to be taken out of Goodell’s hands." Thursday’s ruling "must be the catalyst for change" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/4). THE MMQB's Andrew Brandt wrote in the "distrusting and biting relationship between the league and the union, there may finally be a leverage shift here, albeit perhaps one that won’t play out until the next CBA negotiation." As to the league, there will be "changes" across the "organizational structure." Incoming NFL COO Tod Leiweke "likely has a mandate, and it may include some deletions." Meanwhile, in the four years since Goodell and NFLPA Exec Dir DeMaurice Smith "put their signatures to the CBA, we have had a labor agreement but certainly not labor peace." The league-union relationship "has been characterized by a lack of trust and palpable dislike among several of the principals." And no area "has drawn more conflict that this area of continuing discord: player conduct and discipline" (MMQB.SI.com, 9/3).
SEEKING NEW COUNSEL? ESPN.com's Jim Trotter wrote there "have been whispers for weeks that changes are coming in the league office." An anonymous NFL owner said that Patriots Owner Robert Kraft "clearly had" NFL Exec VP & General Counsel Jeff Pash "in his cross hairs" (ESPN.com, 9/3). In N.Y., Michael Powell writes if Goodell’s "slack-jawed and blandly handsome countenance is the face of the league," Pash "is described as the true Wizard of Oz, pulling the levers and pushing the buttons on deeply lucrative deals with television networks, marketers and the like" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/4).
VIEW FROM THE TOP: In Atlanta, D. Orlando Ledbetter reports Falcons Owner Arthur Blank "was not pleased with the ruling against the NFL" on Thursday. Blank: "It’s not healthy for the NFL to be in the kind of litigious position that it’s been for last several years. I think that the commissioner is working hard to hold up the respect and integrity of the game, the competitive balance of the game and the shield. Having said that, I think we have to find ways to get to a better place sooner with the NFLPA than the process that we’ve gone through.” Blank "didn’t seem [to] agree with the notion of the league appealing the matter" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 9/4). FOXSPORTS.com's Jesse Reed wrote it appears Blank has "thrown down the gauntlet, and his statement could be taken as a challenge to Goodell's role as the judge and jury" (FOXSPORTS.com, 9/3).
OWN WORST ENEMY? In Boston, Ben Volin in a front-page piece writes it was the NFL’s "failure to cooperate with the rules" of its own CBA "that led to Brady’s getting his entire suspension vacated." The NFL "ignored its own agreement and made up the rules as it went along," and it "cost the league a victory" (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/4). GRANTLAND's Charles Pierce wrote it is "impossible to read Berman’s decision as anything other than a statement of complete disgust that this alleged petty gamesmanship ever wound up in his courtroom -- and his disgust is focused almost exclusively on the NFL" (GRANTLAND.com, 9/3). In K.C., Sam Mellinger writes the "ridiculous waste of energy and oxygen that’s come to be known as Deflategate should be remembered as the quintessential example of the NFL’s arrogance working against it" (K.C. STAR, 9/4). In Jacksonville, Gene Frenette wrote it is a "travesty this story has stayed on the media radar this long" (JACKSONVILLE.com, 9/3). In Boston, Adrian Walker writes "make no mistake about what a beat-down this was" for the NFL and Goodell (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/4).
SEASON'S GREETINGS: In L.A., Sam Farmer writes for the second consecutive year, the NFL "is opening the regular season under a cloud of controversy" (L.A. TIMES, 9/4). In N.Y., Ken Belson in a front-page piece writes the NFL now "may brace for a nationally televised hero’s welcome for Brady accepting adulation from hometown fans not just for winning last season’s Super Bowl, but for winning what at times has seemed like a personal showdown between the commissioner and one of his most marketable players" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/4). ADWEEK's Tim Baysinger wrote a "winner in all of this is NBC." Brady is starting in next Thursday's season opener, "which will likely mean blockbuster ratings" (ADWEEK.com, 9/3).
TOO PROUD TO BEG? In Detroit, Terry Foster writes, "Goodell should lick his wounds, admit defeat and move on. But he won’t." Goodell "cannot and will not back down." This is Goodell’s cause "but it is not his call." The NFL is a league where Goodell "represents the owners," and they "want blood." They "are tired of the cheating Patriots" (DETROIT NEWS, 9/4). YAHOO SPORTS' Dan Wetzel wrote Deflategate was a case "born of ignorance and lost through arrogance." All Goodell "had to do was the gentlemanly thing," and "make a global settlement offer that included dropping Brady's conclusion of guilt and four-game suspension." Goodell's NFL, however, "has the tact of a falling safe, a strange cowboy culture where it must push for every last drop of blood, no matter how imprudent it is to continue the battle" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 9/4).
PRAISE FOR KESSLER: ESPN.com's Lester Munson wrote the Brady victory "was a fine bit of leadership from the union and a stunning piece of lawyering" from NFLPA outside counsel Jeffrey Kessler. Munson: "This was not an easy case" (ESPN.com, 9/3). In N.Y., Gary Myers writes Kessler "has been kryptonite to the NFL’s Superman" in Goodell. The league "gave him too many areas to attack and he was a bulldog in court" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 9/4). USA TODAY’s Jarrett Bell writes the “bread-and-butter call in the NFLPA playbook” is to “dial up Kessler.” It is “a costly strategy, considering the billable hours.” Yet with Thursday's victory, “which had to feel like a huge upset on the NFL’s home field (in its preferred court), momentum is on the union's side” (USA TODAY, 9/4).
WHEN WELLS RUNS DRY: In West Palm Beach, Dave George writes if anybody “needs to be suspended from participation in NFL activities in the wake of today’s vindication of Tom Brady, it’s Ted Wells.” The man hired by Goodell to “conduct investigations of two touchy topics” -- the Dolphins’ bullying scandal and Tom Brady’s alleged involvement in cheating -- “has produced nothing worthy of the time and money invested in his sleuthing powers” (PALM BEACH POST, 9/4).
