Home 2015 Off-Season My Letter to Roger Goodell, RE: DeflateGate

My Letter to Roger Goodell, RE: DeflateGate

by Steeldad

Enough is enough Mr. Commissioner. I don’t want to hear your excuses and your  double-speak and I don’t want to hear how the “integrity of the game” is the most important thing to you. I’m tired of it.

I want you to lead. I want you to stand before us and all 32 teams and I want to hear you say  “I’m done messing around.” We as fans need you to prove that you govern all teams of the NFL and not just those you aren’t “buddy-buddy” with either.

You have no problem governing over the Steelers and it was the Rooney’s who basically got you the job you have. So isn’t it time to rule over the Patriots?

The pattern of behavior is clear and you’ve used such words before. You’ve said the league must consider previous actions when considering discipline and nothing could fit those words more than what New England is now alleged (and basically proven) to have done.

From the “tuck rule” to SpyGate to this, the Patriots have clearly followed a “pattern of inappropriate behavior” that must no longer go unpunished. You don’t just have to come down on the Patriots’ organization but you must discipline the coach and the quarterback as well.

You have to have strong words for your friend Robert Kraft as well. Remember him lashing out at the media prior to the Super Bowl? He’s eating those words today Mr. Commissioner and you have the opportunity stuff them even further down his throat.

You’ll hear that the Patriots didn’t need to deflate balls in order to defeat the Colts and those words are correct. But it’s also what makes what the Patriots have done even more alarming. They didn’t have to cheat but they did so anyway. So desperate were they to win that they had to go the extra mile to make certain their victory.

If you do as expected and take little to no action then any positive sentiment you even have left from fans will be gone. If you thought you heard booing in Chicago, just wait until the next time you go before a crowd.

The time is now Mr. Commissioner. You must finally tell the fans the very thing you claim to hold most dear to your heart. You must tell all of us that the Patriots have cheated, again.

But you can’t just slap them with a fine and a lost draft pick either. Your defending Super Bowl Champions cheated. There’s no way you can tolerate this any longer. Don’t worry about the images of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Those images already bare tarnish and now it’s even thicker.

It’s time for you to acknowledge what the public already knows; this organization has established a pattern of cheating.

Look around you sir, the walls are closing in. Sure, you’ll make 10 billion again next year and the year after that but where will the real fans go because they won’t stick around if you continue to do nothing rule subjectively.

It’s high time you put friendships aside and do your job. You can no longer condone these actions and punishment must be swift and it must be brutal. The Pats and all 31 other teams must know that cheating is not acceptable.

I don’t envy your position. Having been beaten to a pulp by the press in recent months must be difficult but you can change things immediately.
My question is Mr. Commissioner is do you have the balls to do what you know is right?

Are finally ready to say “enough is enough?”

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9 comments

bob graff May 7, 2015 - 2:45 am

Now let’s get some FACTS straight teams have been and have been allowed to doctor footballs for a long time. I believe we are talking about 1-2 psi, now 2 take a football inflate 1 to 12 psi then inflate one to 10 you are not going to tell the difference.BTW kickers have been using a different a different ball than the game ball forever. The point being this isn’t something the Pats dream up it’s been going on forever with every team [yes even the Steelers].

steeldad May 7, 2015 - 11:25 am

Every NFL QB is allowed to doctor the footballs in the days leading UP to the game. Once the balls are handed over to officials the QB may no longer come into contact with them until the game begins. Big distinction.

j. hackers May 7, 2015 - 2:54 pm

steeldad, loved your letter. the only problem i have with it is you sent it to the wromg person. you should have sent it to the boot licking rooneys i’ll never forget the chairmans reaction to the pats last cheating incident when he defending the pats taping. he said they are our partners nothing to see here. kraft and belicheat must have a good laugh when they knew they cheated two fantastic steeler teams out of 2 super bowls earlier.

steeldad May 7, 2015 - 2:58 pm

Thanks J. Actually, I’ve been told (by a pretty reliable source) that the Rooney’s are often made privy to comments from bloggers and beat writers. I guess some of our stuff has actually made it to ARII so I’m hoping he in fact sees this one too!

bob graff May 7, 2015 - 3:44 pm

I am not a patriots fan by any means but i’ll stand by my original statement. Teams have been doctoring footballs for years. Every team that’s on top gets whack at, Brady’s a great QB and Belichek is a great coach.Beating them on the field is the name of the game and the only way to beat them is to put pressure on Brady. Not by claiming titles because someone taped a walk through. Throwing stones in the NFL can be a dicey game there are a lot of glass houses and the line between competitive advantage and cheating isn’t as clear as one might think.

steeldad May 7, 2015 - 4:02 pm

You should know from my writing that I’m pretty honest. I’ve admitted on many occasions that the 1970’s Steelers were steroid users but the difference is that using those was not illegal at the time. Morally? Yup. But not against league rules. The Pats have shown a clear pattern of behavior that they are willing to break rules that are in place by the league. That can’t be denied no matter who else does it.

Vittorio Di Stazio May 7, 2015 - 8:56 pm

The Pats are the Biggest Loads of Garbage that ever Graced the Earth and the NFL. Marc is right in saying that the Pats didn’t need to cheat to win but they do it anyway and it’s for 1 simple reason: They can’t play there opponent straight up without cheating. Look at the Raiders of the 70’s there players were using stick-em which yeah it was wrong but it wasn’t against the rules until the early 80’s. Spygate came about cause Bill Belicheck told Eric Mangini that he should not take the Jets job which prompted Eric to essentially “rat out” the Pats which it worked and it lead to this question: Are the Patriots that good or do they have right kind of film? The tuck rule basically screwed the Raiders that still affects them to this day. The Pats are what they are: Hated by the entire league and have basically made Goodell there Lapdog. If you disagree with me your more than welcome to tell me otherwise.

J. May 21, 2015 - 11:11 pm

Lol the tuck rule wasn’t cheating. Did you expect Brady to be all like “Shucks guys, here’s the ball back derp!” when the refs made that call? And Spygate was and continues to be a crutch for whiners to flee back to whenever their team is beat by New England. And this new BS is another total non-issue. I’m not a Patriots fan, and I’m even less of a fan of idiots who spout crap like this like its gospel.

steeldad May 21, 2015 - 11:52 pm

Call the ‘Tuck Rule’ game whatever you want to but Brady was saved by a horrible call. It happens, we move on. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for both SpyGate and DeflateGate. You said SpyGate was a ‘crutch’ for whiners right? I noticed you didn’t deny it though. And to say that the deflating of balls is a “non-issue” is fine but it’s still against the rules and shows a pattern of behavior. People who cheat in sports do so because they aren’t confident enough in their ability to win within the rules. The real shame is that New England and Brady are more than talented enough to win without cheating yet they continue to do so anyway.

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