Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones "is furious" with the NFL for the six-game suspension it gave RB Ezekiel Elliott, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. Jones had been "very public in saying he did not expect any suspension at all." After reading the "report that the league had come up with, ... he could not see any traces of domestic violence in that report." Jones did not attend a team function on Friday night in Malibu where team officials "usually get together with the media people in the organization, a sort of end of training camp get-together." ESPN's Bob Ley noted the Elliott suspension coupled with Tom Brady's four-game ban last season means NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has "now suspended the principal player on each of the league’s marquee teams, fronted by the NFL’s two most powerful owners" -- Jones and Robert Kraft ("E:60," ESPN, 8/13). In Minneapolis, Patrick Reusse noted Elliott's suspension has "set up a battle for supremacy" between Jones and Goodell. Jones prior to Friday's announcement had been leading a "pro-Elliott campaign" on various media outlets. Reusse believed that is the reason Elliott "wound up with six games, rather than four or fewer." Jones "basically was challenging Goodell with this over the past month: The Cowboys had done an investigation, there was no real evidence against Elliott, and thus no reason for a suspension" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 8/13). CBSSPORTS.com's Jason La Canfora wrote it has become "increasingly clear" that Jones and the Cowboys "should have conducted themselves with significantly more grace, sensitivity and aplomb." Jones' comments over the past six-plus months "look even more foolish and heartless now." He has been "basically telling the world 'nothing to see here, my running back's going to be ready for Week 1, they got nothin' on him' for months" (CBSSPORTS.com, 8/11).
TEST OF FRIENDSHIP: In N.Y., Gary Myers noted Jones was "reportedly livid with Goodell’s suspension decision on Elliott, which will likely put an end" to their friendship. Goodell was "one of the invited guests" in Canton to Jones’ HOF "celebration extravaganza ... following the Gold Jacket dinner" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 8/13). ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert wrote Jones "might find sympathy from some other powerful owners, notably the Patriots' Robert Kraft, who have also vehemently disagreed with NFL discipline in recent years" (ESPN.com, 8/11).
BITING THE HANDS THAT FEED YOU: In DC, Mark Maske wonders if Goodell, politically, can "survive having Jones incensed at him on the heels of the commissioner’s relationship" with Kraft? (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 8/14). THE MMQB's Peter King noted Goodell during his first 11 years as commissioner "has had -- in my estimation -- five major influential owners as the cornerstones of his power base" -- Kraft, Jones, the Steelers' Dan Rooney, the Panthers' Jerry Richardson and the Giants’ John Mara. Rooney "died this year," while Richardson "has declining influence." Jones is "furious" over the Elliott suspension, and Kraft is "still wounded over the Brady suspension and verdict." Mara remains "in Goodell’s corner -- rock-solid, I believe." King: "That’s quite a change in the Goodell power base. How much will that factor into Goodell’s long-term future? We’ll see" (MMQB.SI.com, 8/14).
CULTURE CHANGE? In Dallas, Tim Cowlishaw wrote if Elliott’s suspension is not reduced, the Cowboys "will have 16 players suspended for 108 games since the start" of the '14 season. It was a "league-leading total even before the NFL finished its lengthy investigation into Elliott’s alleged incidents of domestic violence." Cowlishaw: "At what point does Jones change how he pursues high-risk players, now that we have seen things come unraveled at the start of the 2017 season?" Jones "always points to the success the Cowboys had" in the '90s with Pro Football HOFers Michael Irvin and Charles Haley as "justification for his rolls of the dice." However, that success "came a generation ago, long before cellphone cameras, before social media, before the NFL even thought about having a 'personal conduct' policy." One has to "look at today's developments and ask if the Cowboys are not only living on the past but living in the past when it comes to doing business." Jones "needs to think about whether 21 straight seasons without an NFC Championship Game have anything to do with the kinds of players the Cowboys seek without hesitation" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 8/13). In Austin, Cedric Golden wrote the Cowboys "have become the modern-day version of the Oakland Raiders, and Elliott's suspension does nothing to diminish that growing perception" (AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN, 8/12).
