TLG
06-24-2015, 07:51 PM
Former Patriots tackle Matt Light believes that fumbling Tom Brady's appeal may be the final nail in the coffin for Roger Goodell. In an appearance on Herald Radio today, the three-time Super Bowl champion ripped into the commissioner and condemned his handling of the entire Deflategate process.
"There are rules that (Goodell) wrote, he and his team wrote, to deal with any tampering of the footballs," Light said. "He chose to ignore them completely and started a witch-hunt that has now resulted in Deflategate. He obviously can't follow his own rules. He can't be consistent with the manner in which he disciplines people. I think the power will be taken from him by the owners, and the rest of the league, and the NFLPA because it's in the best interest of everybody at this point."
The rules Light referred to are in the NFL game manual, where illegally tampering with footballs is punishable by a penalty that is "including, but not limited to, a fine of $25,000.” Goodell fined the Patriots $1 million, took two draft choices and suspended Brady for four games.
Light was a former NFLPA player-representative, and said that in negotiations during the lockout in 2012 the commissioner would not relinquish the power to oversee appeals. The tackle called it a "deal-breaker" for Goodell, and rather than risking being locked-out for an entire season, the players obliged. Now, Light believes we are seeing the adverse effects of a man with too much power.
"I think you have an interesting situation in that evidence and what's right and wrong may not matter," he said. "When (Goodell) has sole authority over the entire process it's not left up to what's right and wrong, and what's fact and what's not. It's left up to what does he want to do. And does he want to restore the faith in the system? And does he want to make up for what he's done wrong? I don't know. I haven't heard Roger Goodell apologize for any of this so far, and we all know that there are many things that have been flawed."
Light contends that Goodell has mismanaged Deflategate from the start, and in the weeks following the Wells Report's release, inconsistencies have been cited in it by a number of independent firms. Light has a degree in industrial engineering, and says that Wells' science never added up.
"I think, finally the voice of reason is coming out," Light said. "Look, I'm a Purdue guy, an engineering guy. I understand a lot of the basic concepts that are in those reports, and the Wells Report has been flawed since the beginning. And how they handled this whole situation was completely flawed. I mean, they knew supposedly there was a problem, yet they did nothing? They had no controls over measuring the footballs and how they would judge the pressurization of the balls. It's really sad how the whole thing has been handled, and I think now people are getting the real story with real science behind it."
"There are rules that (Goodell) wrote, he and his team wrote, to deal with any tampering of the footballs," Light said. "He chose to ignore them completely and started a witch-hunt that has now resulted in Deflategate. He obviously can't follow his own rules. He can't be consistent with the manner in which he disciplines people. I think the power will be taken from him by the owners, and the rest of the league, and the NFLPA because it's in the best interest of everybody at this point."
The rules Light referred to are in the NFL game manual, where illegally tampering with footballs is punishable by a penalty that is "including, but not limited to, a fine of $25,000.” Goodell fined the Patriots $1 million, took two draft choices and suspended Brady for four games.
Light was a former NFLPA player-representative, and said that in negotiations during the lockout in 2012 the commissioner would not relinquish the power to oversee appeals. The tackle called it a "deal-breaker" for Goodell, and rather than risking being locked-out for an entire season, the players obliged. Now, Light believes we are seeing the adverse effects of a man with too much power.
"I think you have an interesting situation in that evidence and what's right and wrong may not matter," he said. "When (Goodell) has sole authority over the entire process it's not left up to what's right and wrong, and what's fact and what's not. It's left up to what does he want to do. And does he want to restore the faith in the system? And does he want to make up for what he's done wrong? I don't know. I haven't heard Roger Goodell apologize for any of this so far, and we all know that there are many things that have been flawed."
Light contends that Goodell has mismanaged Deflategate from the start, and in the weeks following the Wells Report's release, inconsistencies have been cited in it by a number of independent firms. Light has a degree in industrial engineering, and says that Wells' science never added up.
"I think, finally the voice of reason is coming out," Light said. "Look, I'm a Purdue guy, an engineering guy. I understand a lot of the basic concepts that are in those reports, and the Wells Report has been flawed since the beginning. And how they handled this whole situation was completely flawed. I mean, they knew supposedly there was a problem, yet they did nothing? They had no controls over measuring the footballs and how they would judge the pressurization of the balls. It's really sad how the whole thing has been handled, and I think now people are getting the real story with real science behind it."