Mike Florio takes dig at Roger Goodell’s endorsement of gambling sponsors after egregious errors by referees in Week 3
The integrity of the NFL is always the biggest thing Commissioner Roger Goodell trys to protect, but Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio has questioned it. Why? Because of a rather strange incident in the Cleveland Browns and the Tennessee Titans game.
With millions gambling on the NFL every season, there have always been question marks surrounding the integrity of the sport when certain things happen. This isn't limited to the NFL either, but after Amari Cooper's incident, Florio has raised the question.
He isn't insinuating, but it is rather interesting.
Mike Florio takes dig at Roger Goodell over gambling in the NFL
With Week 3 of the NFL underway, the Browns and the Titans were playing and Amari Cooper made what looks 100% to be a catch, as both his feet were inbounds. But for some reason, it was ruled out. Watch below.
After seeing this, Florio, who reportedly runs the Pro Football Talk X/Twitter account, took issue with the gambling aspect of the NFL. He posted a quote from Goodell from 2012 where he stated that as long as gambling is permitted, the integrity of the league will always be in question.
Florio posted:
"'If gambling is permitted freely on sporting events, normal incidents of the game such as bad snaps, dropped passes, turnovers, penalties, and play calling inevitably will fuel speculation, distrust and accusations of point-shaving or game-fixing.' Roger Goodell, 2012."
Does Mike Florio have a point in questioning Goodell?
With the Amari Cooper incident, we can see why. But let's get this straight, referees are human and they make mistakes, which is fine, that is what replays are for.
With so many cameras at NFL stadiums nowadays, not much gets missed, if anything actually. So when something so obvious happens, like Cooper being inbounds, and it isn't overturned, this is where we get the questions on the game's integrity.
With gambling being such a prolific money maker, it is always going to have a place in sports, but when things like Cooper's incident pop up, it does cause people, and in this case, Mike Florio to question things.