NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Wednesday defended former Giants K Josh Brown's one-game suspension to start the season and "crowed about how the league has 'made tremendous progress' on the thorny issue" in the two years since some "badly bungled" domestic abuse cases, according to Christian Red of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. Goodell on WFAN-AM's "Chalk-Talk" said, "What you see here is a policy that's evolved. We've learned a lot, but these are complex matters. ... You have rights, you have families that you have to be concerned with, privacy issues. Yes, you want to make sure you're doing everything possible to address these (alleged incidents) when they happen, but you also want to deal with them to prevent them from happening." Goodell said of Brown: "The discipline that occurred on the one game was for the event on May of 2015. That was the only one that we were able to get of all the different things that we've heard. The decision was made by our team after we had the evidence to be able to support the one game." He reiterated that the NFL "didn't get a lot of information" from law enforcement when the league was investigating Brown. Goodell of the new NFL domestic violence policy: "2015, the number of arrests for NFL players went down 40%. This year, we're seeing another similar decrease. So what we're seeing is the policy is working. Is it perfect? No. But we're dealing with very imperfect circumstances. Very complex circumstances. You strive to get it right in every opportunity" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/28).
CAN'T HIDE: USA TODAY's Tom Pelissero notes four prosecutors "reviewed the case against" Brown before deciding "not to file domestic assault charges, stemming from an alleged incident between the embattled kicker and his now ex-wife" in May '15. However, "lost amidst renewed furor at the NFL is the fact the overwhelming majority of American women (and men) abused by an intimate partner ... don’t have a football league to expose their abusers when the system doesn’t." Pelissero: "Armed with little more than a police report, the NFL did something, suspending Brown one game for an arrest that had gone unreported and triggering events that have almost surely ended his football career" (USA TODAY, 10/28).
PLAY BY THEIR OWN RULES? Seahawks CB Richard Sherman in a column for THE PLAYERS' TRIBUNE wrote, "While it's difficult to apply discipline in cases of domestic violence, it's impossible to do so when there is no clear policy or standard, which the league does not have. The reality is that the league says that there is no place for domestic violence in the NFL. Its actions in the most recent cases, however, simply haven't reflected that. This is just another reason why players don't have a lot of trust in the league" (THEPLAYERSTRIBUNE.com, 10/27). National Organization for Women President Terry O'Neill said that Goodell "deserves a failing grade" when it comes to how he has addressed domestic violence in the NFL. O'Neill said, "Goodell has learned nothing in two years. To me, the most distressing aspect of his failed leadership is that in the so-called NFL family, for Roger Goodell the men are the only ones that matter." She added, "The only time (Goodell) mentions women who have been subjected to domestic violence in the NFL is to chastise them, to treat them like children. A healthy relationship is one that is grounded in equality. But Roger Goodell doesn't see women as equal. He sees them as children to be controlled" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 10/28). SI’s Phil Taylor said Goodell is a “terrible league commissioner” and the “actions of the NFL have made it clear they still don’t get it on the domestic violence issue.” CSNBAYAREA.com’s Ray Ratto: “The problem is that they’ve addressed it as a PR problem and as a player control problem rather than work with the domestic violence experts." Taylor added, “The NFL doesn’t really want to know the full extent of these things because then they really have to deal with it” (“Sports Talk Live,” CSN Bay Area, 10/27).
UNDER REVIEW: NFL VP/Communications Brian McCarthy said that the NFL investigation into alleged violence allegations against Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott "remains an open case" (FT. WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 10/28).
