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Goodell Addresses NFL's Domestic Violence Policy As Josh Brown Fallout Continues

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell over the weekend reiterated that the league "takes the issue of domestic abuse ‘incredibly seriously’ and is ‘not going to tolerate it’” following the controversy that landed Giants K Josh Brown on the commissioner's exempt list, according to the BBC. Goodell said “new information” surrounding Brown’s case led the league to evaluate its domestic violence policy. No criminal charges were brought against Brown in ’15 when he was charged with domestic violence against his now ex-wife, and the NFL originally suspended him for one game to start this season. Goodell said he understands the public's “misunderstanding” of the league’s domestic violence policy and “how that can be difficult for them to understand" considering how the league clamps down on other issues. Goodell: "Those are things that we have to do. I think it's a lot deeper and a lot more complicated than it appears, but it gets a lot of focus." The NFL has also been “condemned for imposing one-game bans for domestic abuse when players have been fined for excessive touchdown celebrations” (BBC.com, 10/21). CBSSPORTS.com's Jason La Canfora noted execs from several NFL clubs have "voiced their displeasure privately about how the Giants and the NFL handled" Brown's case, "noting what they believe is a cozy relationship" between the Giants and Goodell. The execs speculated "as to whether Brown's small suspension was an indication" of that relationship. League officials "dispute that notion strongly." A source was "adamant that Goodell had no discussions with Giants officials about Brown's investigation while it was ongoing." However, it has "presented a perception problem for the league" (CBSSPORTS.com, 10/21). Sources said that one NFL owner "questioned how the situation reached this point." Two league officials "believe the NFL was disinterested in Brown's case when compared to the fervor with which it pursued" the Patriots and Tom Brady over Deflategate (ESPN.com, 10/22).

IN THEIR EYES: CBSSPORTS.com's Will Brinson wrote Goodell "thinks the fans are at fault for failing to understand the difference between why an off-field incident isn't treated as aggressively as on-field issues." Yet fans "look at what's happened with these investigations, and they can't help but wonder just how diligent the process for looking into domestic violence really is." Brinson: "So often it feels to many like reactionary lip service than it does the NFL doing its full duty to try and find out everything about a particular case" (CBSSPORTS.com, 10/22). In DC, Cindy Boren wrote Goodell has been "doing some rather epic fansplaining in a tone-deaf attempt to lessen the anger being felt by fans as well as other owners and players" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 10/23). ESPN N.Y.'s Jordan Raanan noted the Giants "have decisions to make," as Brown is "still part of their team." He is "due $72,058 each game and is allowed at the team facility on a reasonable basis for meetings, individual workouts, therapy, rehabilitation and other permitted non-football activities with the team's permission." The Giants "wouldn't say whether Brown would be at the facility early this week before the team takes time off during their bye week." Giants President & CEO John Mara "did not address the subject during" the team's three-day trip to London (ESPNNY.com, 10/23).

MASS FALLOUT: In N.Y., Belson & Pennington in a front-page piece noted the "fallout from the case points to the league's scattershot approach to deciding whether a player should be suspended, and for how long." The police files in Brown's case "show that members" of NFL Special Counsel for Investigations Lisa Friel's department contacted the police in King County, Wash., "but were largely rebuffed." It was "unclear what other steps she or her office had taken." The case has in particular "stung the Giants, a team that had been seen at the forefront of raising awareness of the domestic violence problem" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/22). Also in N.Y., Gary Myers wrote Mara "could have taken a stand in August and cut Brown to make up" for Goodell suspending him one game. Mara is an "honorable man, but he's been so misguided with Brown." Myers: "It is hard to understand why Mara lost his sense of right and wrong with Brown" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/23). In N.Y., Mike Lupica wrote Mara "should simply say this: I was wrong." Lupica: "Goodell should say the same thing. They both got this wrong. Dead wrong." This is about "judgment and common sense and ... learning from history" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/23). ESPN.com's Ian O'Connor wrote Mara's "standing as the league's moral compass" looks "as if it had been hit by a truck." Mara has "always been very good at cleaning up Goodell's messes," but this time he "made the mess" himself. NFL owners "might've learned a useful lesson" in the Brown case. They "saw what happened" to Mara and the Giants, and if they "can get shredded for suiting up an abuser, anyone can get shredded for it" (ESPN.com, 10/21). On Long Island, Tom Rock notes Annie Apple, the mother of Giants CB Eli Apple, "detailed an abusive relationship" with her son's biological father that "ended before Eli was born." In an article for SI.com, she wrote, "The comments made by John Mara ... were insensitive, dismissive and callous" (NEWSDAY, 10/24).

SOMETHING'S UP: ESPN.com's Mike Reiss wrote the Brown scandal is a "stunning failure by the NFL which makes one wonder" if the league's hires to bolster how it handles off-the-field incidents was "just window dressing" (ESPN.com, 10/23). In Boston, Ben Volin noted Brown's initial one-game suspension "seemed fishy from the start." The league is "suffering yet another PR embarrassment because of its lack of diligence, and is trying to justify its incompetence with excuses about non-cooperation." This is the Ray Rice situation "all over again," though the NFL has "learned nothing." Volin: "Where was Friel, the former New York City sex crimes prosecutor who was specifically hired to lead domestic violence investigations?" Mara also "should be ashamed that the team didn't cut Brown in August, and for not doing so immediately on Thursday." Goodell "continues to dig his own grave with his consistent mishandling of these important issues" (BOSTON GLOBE, 10/23). YAHOO SPORTS' Eric Edholm wrote, "What should stop an owner from calling out Goodell or the league office for the way they have handled the Brown case from the beginning?" It is "not as if Goodell can fire them." There is a "belief in league circles that owners have quietly been asked to refrain from calling out Goodell publicly in recent months and years amid his low approval ratings" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 10/22). In Boston, Steve Buckley wrote the Brown scandal provides "yet another reminder that the NFL's get-tough policy on domestic violence needs to get tougher." Buckley: "Enough with the fiery speeches and suspensions. Try throwing somebody out for good" (BOSTON HERALD, 10/22).

LESSON NOT LEARNED? In Toronto, Damien Cox noted "between the actions of the NFL, and its willingness to give Brown the benefit of the doubt, and the vigour with which the league relentlessly pursued" against Brady "for deflating footballs is mind-blowing." Cox: "To say the NFL appears tone deaf on the issue of domestic violence would be an understatement" (TORONTO STAR, 10/22). In Hartford, Jeff Jacobs wrote, "Here we are again with a league with incapable leadership, men incapable of keeping their word and men incapable of keeping their angry hands off women" (HARTFORD COURANT, 10/23). THE MMQB's Peter King writes the NFL "needs to make an absolutely uniform policy about domestic violence." The NFL "needs to make the six-game suspension plateau in issues of domestic violence boilerplate" (MMQB.SI.com, 10/24). The AP's Rob Maaddi wrote it "doesn't appear the league learned its lesson" (AP, 10/22). In Philadelphia, Matt Breen wrote the league's domestic violence problem "surfaced again," and again, the NFL "failed to deal with it." Breen: "Maybe the real problems will go away if we close our eyes and focus on touchdown spikes and twerking" (PHILLY.com, 10/21). PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio wrote the league's initial one-game suspension of Brown "suggests more incompetence than design." However, that is unless the "incompetence flowed not from the efforts to obtain the necessary information but from the belief that the team would be able to brush this matter under the rug and that no one would ever know or care about the truth, especially since it involves a kicker" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 10/21). In N.Y., Juliet Macur wrote the league has "shown that it could not care less about women and really, really doesn't want to call out its players for doing bad things to them" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/22).

NO GRAY AREA: Patriots President Jonathan Kraft yesterday said that the organization's stance on domestic violence "has always been clear." Kraft, appearing on Boston-based WBZ-FM, said, "We've been pretty stringent about it and I think ahead of the curve when it comes to the seriousness of this issue. ... There's nothing more serious than what's going on in the domestic violence and the sexual abuse area. It's something that we have felt strongly about since we've owned the franchise." He added, "For us, there literally is no gray area. It's a very definitive and clear situation" (BOSTONHERALD.com, 10/23).

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