The Crystal Ball 2014 Week 3

Before his post-game press conference, Robert Griffin III was asked by the Redskins to turn his shirt inside out, as it had a specific religious message. The NFL just cannot stop shooting itself in the foot, and in this case once again is missing the forest for the trees. The team and league are too worried their quarterback’s spirituality would offend some people rather than be concerned that the team’s racist nickname is offensive to most people. They are too concerned that allowing the shirt would show a tacit endorsement of a particular religion and exclude those with differing beliefs rather than address their poor track record in dealing with and ending domestic violence committed by players and how their inaction to date has shown tacit endorsement of domestic violence and excludes and alienates over half the population.

Opening Kickoff

Remember when NFL fans, sports talk radio and the sports pages used to talk about football?

The Way It Was

To paraphrase a classic line: No one expects Kirk Cousins!

You can argue the Chiefs didn’t score because of their inept offense and multitude of injuries. But their time of possession was wicked. I thought the Denver defense was retooled and threatening to be Orange Crush 2.0? Looked more like Orange Smear to me.

The Bengals 76 yard touchdown was thing of beauty, defeating an 8 man blitz while And Dalton took a big hit in the pocket to complete the pass. Just outstanding recognition and execution. The Falcons never had a chance.

They obviously did not have to worry about such things on Thursday night. Woof, does Lovie Smith have his work cut out for him.

The Chargers became the first team this season to defeat the defending champs, and trashed talked the Seattle defense in response. To his credit, Richard Sherman just laughed it off. He sure is fun, although with the amount of commercials I’m seeing, he may be headed for over saturation. Focus on the field Richard, hubris always comes before the fall in the NFL. Just ask Roger Goodell.

Nice opening of your new stadium there San Francisco. Could that be karma coming back to bite you for your horrible handling of the Ray McDonald situation? Or karma biting you for such ridiculous faith in Colin Kaepernick, who looks less and less like a franchise quarterback with each passing season.

The Steel Pit

Not much to report here this week, so I’ll touch briefly on one aspect of the Ravens game that should not be overlooked, the questionable officiating.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I hold Ed Hochuli in high regard, and I understand the NFL is trying to enforce and emphasize a host of rules this season to emphasize offense and continue the NFL’s push for an 18 game season, I mean player safety.

But so far this season, officials are erring on the side of caution, yet still managing to do so unevenly. The Steelers were flagged with personal fouls for helmet to helmet hits, yet on replay player were leading properly with the shoulder and aiming away from the head. Even Baltimore got flagged for such on a roughing the passer call. While that hit was ferocious, and I hated it, it did appear on replay the player was attempting to lead with the shoulder.

I know the officials in the NFL have a difficult job trying to ascertain what happened on every particular play and make the correct calls, often with only one look with players moving at top speed in a manner of seconds. But if we have a robust replay system because we insist on getting things right, and then let’s do more.

Again, officiating in the NFL should be a full time job. I know the argument is going to be what happens during the off season, or during the week between games. But this is a multi-billion dollar industry and those in charge of enforcing the rules should be dedicated full time. Players and coaches spend time year round learning, improving, training, practicing and focusing on their craft. Should not the same be expected from the officials?

Considering the current spate of issues facing the NFL, I understand this is a minor issue. But if league executives really want to earn back public trust, working to improve the on field product would go a long way.

Only In Faux NFL Reality…

League executives have voiced their support for the beleaguered commissioner. Of course they have, if he goes down, their jobs are on the line too.

The White House is displeased with the NFL and their current handling of multiple off the field incidents, and their stance on domestic violence. President Obama, if you’re really displeased with the NFL, then revoke their antitrust exemption, and you’ll see rapid, sweeping changes come out of the league offices. I guarantee it.

The Falcons mascot tackled a wayward Buccaneers fan on Thursday night. Sadly, considering Tampa Bay’s performance, this was probably the highlight of this fan’s evening.

In other despicable news, Aaron Hernandez and his legal team are working to paint him into the victim. How very classy of them.

Proctor and Gamble backed out of a breast cancer initiative partnership with the NFL due to the recent spate of domestic violence cases involving NFL players, and the leagues continued and systematic bungling of each and every case. This is a good start, but we need more than a couple sponsors to back out if real change will happen. We need Pepsi, McDonalds and Anheuser-Busch to do more than rattle sabers. But it’s a start.

Well, the Ravens managed to finagle a public relations move and held their Ray Rice jersey exchange this week at M&T Bank Stadium. I don’t know what I found more disturbing, that this many people owned a Ray Rice jersey, or that most of those people will probably exchange the Rice for a Ray Lewis jersey.

Upon Further Review

Roger Goodell finally came out of hiding to blow a gigantic cloud of smoke up everyone’s ass. The Commish spoke in excellent buzz words, claiming transparency from the NFL, stating how the NFL will make changes, how the mistakes the league made are many, and they start with him. Yet he still avoided giving any real answers, continued to cover up aspects of the NFL’s investigations, and had no details about what changes would be made or takes any punishment for his continued mistakes and bungles by his office and the league.

Goodell’s press conference is just the latest example of the arrogance and callousness that permeates the NFL. The stance and unstated message that continues to emanate from the NFL is that they still do not see that they did anything wrong, and their continued lying shows they are only taking just enough action to make the entire situation go away.

Think about what they’ve done to fix the situation this week. First the league allowed the Vikings to reinstate Adrian Peterson, because child abuse is trumped by a mediocre running game. When the inevitable backlash occurred, a surprise to no one, nothing happened initially. But when Radisson hotels pulled out from a sponsorship deal with the team, then suddenly Peterson was placed on the Commissioners/Exempt list, which basically made him suspended with pay until further notice. The NFL even doubled down and placed Panthers defensive lineman Greg Hardy on the list, trying to pour metaphorical kitty litter on that spill.

I’ll ask the $64,000 question: What?

Look, I’ve watched and followed professional football for a long time, and I’ve never heard of this list. If it existed before 1am Wednesday, then how come it’s never been used before? How come not even veteran journalists have heard of it? How come they didn’t unleash it with Ray Rice? Or Greg Hardy? Or any player that committed or was accused of some crime since Goodell’s tenure began?

So on Friday Goodell again reiterated that he believes no one from the league knew the full extent of the attack, nor had seen the video tape, yet the Ravens knew exactly what happened hours after the incident, Rice’s lawyers had the tape, law enforcement has gone on record and has proof the league was sent the tape AND someone watched it and TMZ called the commissioner out on Friday stating they made one phone call and had the video in an hour so how could the league not procure this before passing judgment.

Over and over this narrative from the NFL has been revealed as fictional yet continually Goodell, the league and the Ravens continue to play the ignorance card. Obviously all involved didn't think this was a big deal but sacrificed rice to placate the masses and get back to business as usual.

Now the league and Goodell are trying to sell the public a bill of goods that changes are coming and the league will earn our trust again, and Goodell will do better at his job and we’re supposed to just accept this, applaud the league for their new found honesty and efforts and move on.

Well I for one refuse to applaud Goodell and the NFL. No one has yet learned anything. They still operate as though they are above reproach and only changing and apologizing because they do not want to risk sponsorship dollars.

That’s the bottom line truth; all of these actions by the league are all based on money. It's sad those in charge of the league must be forced to make changes common human decency and compassion should already be dictating. But that’s where we are now.

If money never entered the picture, Peterson would play Sunday. So would Ray Rice and so would Greg Hardy. If the NFL felt domestic violence and child abuse were bigger deals, we would have heard about the Commissioner’s/Exempt list long before now. There would be a policy in place already to place players accused of felony crimes immediately on this list and take them off the field until the legal process was worked through. There would already be programs about domestic abuse in place. And there would already be a zero tolerance policy for players, personnel, coaches and league executives convicted of a felony.

The idea of heaping praise on the NFL for any action until Goodell is replaced is ridiculous. Essentially after bungling every humane decision put in front of them, Goodell and the league finally reacted to obvious, and financial, pressure, did what they should have done in the first place, and now want patted on the back.

We're paying customers. Every dime the league receives comes from us either directly from tickets and merchandise or indirectly through our support of sponsors and advertised products. We shouldn't have to force the league after much yelling, screaming and rending of garments to finally do the bare minimum, and then thank and reward them for almost zero effort.

If the NFL wants any praise, then show me a change in leadership in the NFL. Find me a new leader who will show a little more respect to the players, treat the fans as though they have a bit more intelligence than Goodell seems to feel we have, and act like civilized human being who knows committing violent crimes should be punished by more than a two game suspension, and doesn’t need to see a video to do the right thing.

He Said He Said

“Roger has determined that he will be a leader in the domestic-violence space.” – NFL league official to corporate shill Peter King

Sorry, too late. Goodell had that chance and blew it. If he really wanted to be a leader, Rice and Hardy would have never suited up for training camp this year.

"The same mistakes can never be repeated.” – NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on his and the league’s handling of the Ray Rice case

And yet, the league screwed it up with Greg Hardy, and Ray McDonald, and Adrian Peterson. If it weren’t for the Cardinals, the NFL would have went 4 for 4 since screwing up the Rice case.

"There is no reason we cannot be as transparent with these issues as we are in the game on the field. I believe in accountability. I understand the challenges before me and I will be held accountable for meeting them." – Goodell during his press conference

The best part is during this same press conference, when asked what was inconsistent with his interview with Ray Rice versus the video tape, he refused to answer based upon the current appeal process. Well, transparency didn’t last very long.

“Commissioner you mentioned Robert Mueller’s investigation as key to solving all of these issues. I’m not gonna sit here and discuss the integrity of the ex-director of the FBI, I can leave it as a given that he’s a man of integrity, but the law firm that he works for and will help him carry out that investigation is a law firm with extremely close ties to the NFL. You guys paid that law firm recently to help you negotiate some television deals, the president of the Ravens who will be key in this whole investigation worked at that law firm for more than 30 years. Why hire someone with even the appearance of impropriety and how do you expect this to affect everything?” – Rachel Nichols of CNN

Nichols kicked major butt at the press conference, didn’t let the commissioner off the hook once and kept at him. This particular question has been pondered by many, including us here. Where is the independent part of the independent investigation?

“Well Rachel, I would respectfully disagree because you now are questioning the integrity of the FBI. But part of the idea of this, I guess, is to restore public trust. So even if he does a flawless investigation isn’t there an element here of your leaving the door open to doubt?” – Goodell’s response

Wow what a cretin. He ignores her question, and despite her stating he considers Mueller a man of integrity, he uses that one aspect to throw her question into doubt and confuse the issue. She never questioned the integrity of the FBI, just the NFL, which right now had incredible integrity issues, and Goodell’s response only made those issues worse. And for this he makes $44 Million a year.

“I want a new commissioner to lead my league. I want a new commissioner to go out there and say the right things and be that leader because right now, Roger Goodell is not that and I don’t think he can ever be that. Roger Goodell needs to step down and move on.” – NFL analyst Tedy Bruschi

Tedy vocalized what many players, and an increasing portion of NFL fans, are feeling. And I could not agree with him more. Here’s a sampling of player responses on Twitter during and after the press conference.

“It’s easy to pass judgement when you are the judge. Commissioner Goodell looks like a contestant on dancing with the stars with his stances.” – Former Jet wide receiver Braylon Edwards on Twitter

“This dude is up here telling lies. . . . It’s unbelievable.” - Myles White, a former wide receiver Myles White on Twitter

“Question for the @NFL - If it took widespread moral indignation for you to even consider change, why are you keeping the same guy in charge?” – Former punter Chris Kluwe

“Let me be clear - Had Roger Goodell actually said anything of substance, I would not be currently ripping on him. However, here we are.” – Chris Kluwe

“The commissioner still didn't answer the question of " ignorance is not a excuse" – former wide receiver Derrick Mason

Idiot of the Week

Obviously Goodell deserves this, yet again. But in the effort of fairness, this week we offer the award to Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, President Dick Cass and general manager Ozzie Newsome.

Reports came out this week that indicated the Ravens not only knew everything that happened between Ray and Janay Rice that night in the casino elevator, they knew it within hours of the attack. Not months, not at all as they have maintained, but they knew in hours.

The report also went on to contend that Bisciotti, Cass and Newsome all pleaded with the NFL and Goodell to show leniency in suspending Rice. Obviously winning means more to all of these men than human decency.

And to further complicate everything, Bisciotti still supported Rice in the immediate aftermath. Bisciotti, the day after cutting Rice and throwing him to the media wolves in an attempt to separate the team and himself from the ever growing firestorm, Bisciotti texted Rice twice, wishing him and Janay luck in the future, and offering him a job with the team once his playing days were over.

This is just an unbelievably two-faced, scummy move by a scumbag of a person whose only concern is obviously for his own bank account. I have many stronger adjectives to describe all three of these degenerates, and the team itself, but for now we’ll stick with idiot.

On Tap This Week

My game is thrown off big time. It’s like some lying jackass continues to vex me and work to ruin a great game and product by continuing to cover up his misdeeds and it keeps pulling my attention.

Last week: 8-8

Thursday: 1-0

Season to Date: 18-15

Let’s try this again, maybe the actual game will sooth my jangled nerves.

Sunday

Tennessee (1-1) at Cincinnati (2-0)

Tune in, this is the cream of the AFC North playing today. Go Devon Still!

Bengals over Titans

Indianapolis (0-2) at Jacksonville (0-2)

Ok Colts, let’s pull this together. Come on now I know you’re better than this!

Colts over Jaguars

San Diego (1-1) at Buffalo (2-0)

Wow, what a win by the Super Chargers last week! But I don’t think they’ve ever seen the likes of a burgeoning magical Bills season!

Bills over Chargers

Washington (1-1) at Philadelphia (2-0)

Kirk Cousins will lead the Snyders to a 20 point halftime lead, and then Nick Foles will erase it in the second half. The Eagles are developing a pattern.

Eagles over Snyders

Oakland (0-2) at New England (1-1)

You know what’s funny? Tom Brady was teasing Oakland fans with a Facebook post of a picture from the Tuck Rule game and this message:

“Tomorrow is my 6th time playing the Raiders. What’s your favorite Patriots vs. Raiders memory? I know mine…”

That is tremendously funny, and a wicked Oakland burn. I have to pick that!

Patriots over Raiders

Houston (2-0) at New York Giants (0-2)

Potentially no Arian Foster for Texas, but I don’t think that’s going to be too much of an issue. How did Bill O’Brien get so lucky schedule wise?

Texans over Giants

Minnesota (1-1) at New Orleans (0-2)

Don’t let the records fool you. Minnesota is not better than the Saints. That will be abundantly clear today.

Saints over Vikings

Green Bay (1-1) at Detroit (1-1)

I just do not trust Detroit. At all.

Packers over Lions

Baltimore (1-1) at Cleveland (1-1)

Yeah, I’m making this call. Revenge to Art Modell!

Browns over Ravens

Dallas (1-1) at St. Louis (1-1)

I still don’t know what to think about either team. But if DeMarco Murray keeps running like he is, Dallas will have more than a chance in every game.

Cowboys over Rams

San Francisco (1-1) at Arizona (2-0)

Hmmm, the team that still starts a domestic abuser versus the one who immediately suspended one. I gotta go with the seemingly good team on this one.

Cardinals over 49ers

Denver (2-0) at Seattle (1-1)

A Super Bowl rematch! Oh how fun and not at all vexing for Peyton Manning! Yes, Seattle looked troubled last week. But something tells me they’ll bring it this week at home, just to stick it to Peyton once more. Safety anyone?

Seahawks over Broncos

Kansas City (0-2) at Miami (1-1)

I almost overthought myself on this one. But KC has too many injuries and an unimaginative offense. Miami at least has shown they can rack up a score at home.

Dolphins over Chiefs

Pittsburgh (1-1) at Carolina (2-0)

Yeesh. This has the opportunity to not be pretty at all. And while I am racked with fear, cannot turn my back on my boys. Crossing fingers and cringing slightly….

Steelers over Panthers

Monday

Chicago (1-1) at New York Jets (1-1)

Ummm, well it seems Chicago plays well on the road, so I guess that’s something…..

Bears over Jets