ESPN's Sal Paolantonio yesterday clarified comments he made over the weekend, noting he was "wrong to say" that Ravens Owner Steve Bisciotti had pushed NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to uphold Tom Brady's four-game Deflategate suspension. Appearing on Baltimore-based WJZ-FM's "The Norris & Davis Show," Paolantonio said Bisciotti was "100% right to put the statement out (denying he had pressured Goodell) because he hasn’t put any pressure on Roger Goodell, and he hasn’t talked about Deflategate at all, publicly or privately, from what I was told.” He added, "I never said owners were pressuring Goodell, but what I said about Steve Bisciotti, I shouldn’t have even said that, because it is pretty clear when you read his statement that it sounds like he doesn’t care what the commissioner does. He just wants the commissioner to act." Paolantonio added the comments he made on Friday to a San Diego radio station "was not a report, it was just me talking on a radio station, it was my opinion and it was speculation." He said, "All I was trying to do was offer some opinion about why the commissioner has taken four weeks to deliberate this appeal, and try to put into perspective what kind of difficult spot he is in. ... I was speculating that he would have to mollify those people around the league who believe that the Patriots ‘get away with murder.’ But clearly I was wrong about the last part of it because -- having subsequently talked to people about it -- I don’t believe that is the case. I believe that people out there in the league believe that the Patriots have been punished already, and they view the Brady punishment separately.” Paolantonio called Bisciotti an owner "who I respect very, very much." Paolantonio: "Of all the owners I’ve dealt with in the league, Bisciotti’s at the top of the list, and I was wrong for even putting him into this position" ("The Norris & Davis Show," WJZ-FM, 7/27).
IRSAY ALSO DENIES PRESSURING GOODELL: Paolantonio on Friday noted Colts Owner Jim Irsay also was urging Goodell to uphold the suspension, but Irsay yesterday said that he "has had no contact 'at all'" with Goodell regarding the Brady decision. Irsay said, "That's not true at all. I haven't talked to Roger Goodell about DeflateGate since late January. Not true. That's not the way things work involving someone else's business and someone else's team. It's not something I've ever seen, and I've been around ownership (in the NFL) for half a century." In Indianapolis, Zak Keefer notes Bisciotti "has also denied" involvement following last week's report by Paolantonio (Zak Keefer, INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 7/28).
