Patriots President Jonathan Kraft last night downplayed a Bleacher Report post that speculated no discipline was handed out to either the Giants or Steelers after they used footballs not up to air pressure specifications "because of the longstanding good relationship" between the Maras and the Rooneys, according to Mike Petraglia of WEEI.com. Kraft said the Maras and the Rooneys "have been in that room for generations and are a big part of the league." Kraft: "If there's a competitive issue, I don't think the personal relationship (affects discipline). I do think the Rooneys and the Maras, there's a close relationship there" (WEEI.com, 12/12). Meanwhile, in DC, Sally Jenkins writes a "conspicuous hush is emanating from the NFL office on the subject of those soft footballs" the Giants retrieved from the field against the Steelers last week. Compare the "screams of scandal" NFL execs emitted toward the Patriots to this "smothered, pillow-over-the-face reaction." Jenkins: "It’s a guilty silence, and it leaves NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell beached and exposed." Any "serious examination of those footballs from the Giants-Steelers game might well show that Goodell owes the Patriots and Brady an apology and material recompense" (WASHINGTON POST, 12/13).
