"A Goodellian denial" - NFL fans grill Roger Goodell for avoiding question regarding new info on Tom Brady's infamous Deflategate scandal
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell answered questions today at his Super Bowl press conference regarding the now infamous deflategate that involved Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. It was alleged that in the AFC Championship game in 2015, the Patriots used deflated balls in the first half, giving them an advantage.
Goodell gave his thoughts on how the whole incident played out, and said that they found no violations in what the Patriots were alleged to have done.
“We were very clear that we going to do spot checks to make sure people were following the policies," he said. "That is something that we fully engaged in and I don’t’ know what happened to the data to be honest with you. We don’t look back at that, we just make sure there’s no violations, that’s the purpose of the spot checks. Are there violations? And if there are violations then we need to look into it. Thankfully, we did not see any,” Goodell finished.
Patriots beat reporter Dakota Randall was less than impressed with the commissioner's comments, calling it a "Goodellian denial."
Roger Goodell on @ProFootballTalk report of NFL expunging post-Deflategate PSI data: "I don't know what happened to the data ... we don't look back at that. We just make sure there are no violations."
So, a Goodellian denial.
Randall then posted a section of the report from Pro Football Talk to give context to his tweet.
For those unaware of the context:
profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2022/02/08/fro… https://t.co/RCfrd0ipeu
Fans grill Goodell of his comments
As expected, NFL fans did not take too kindly to the Goodell's comments. With one Twitter user saying that the commissioner's sentiments at the press conference reflected an attitude that said "I'm not here to talk about the past."
@DakRandallNESN @ProFootballTalk So basically pulling a Mark McGwire at the ‘05 congressional hearings, “I’m not here to talk about the past.”
Another user then posted that the league only checked for violations in 2015, which they found "weird."
@DakRandallNESN @ProFootballTalk they only checked for violations in 2015…weird
A user by the name of Scott then posted that Brady was banned for four games for essentially nothing.
@NFL_DovKleiman @ProFootballTalk @BenVolin he really suspended the greatest qb of all time four games.
for nothing. literally nothing.
The Patriots lost draft picks as part of their punishment from the NFL. One user suggesting that seeing as the Patriots were found to have done nothing wrong, they should get their picks back.
@NFL_DovKleiman @ProFootballTalk @BenVolin We’ll take those draft picks back. Thanks.
The hits kept coming for the commissioner following his comments, with one fan saying it was a bold-faced lie on his part.
@NFL_DovKleiman @ProFootballTalk @BenVolin #OMG imagine a bald-faced lie....
A user called Grant Moore then posted that the league spent $30 million on the deflategate incident only to find out the office lied about the incident and destroyed the evidence.
@NFL_DovKleiman @ProFootballTalk @BenVolin @nflcommish you spent $30 mil on #DeflateGate & a report comes out claiming your office lied about & destroyed evidence & you haven't thought about it?
Another fan posted that Goodell is simply a liar who has been dishonest for a long time.
@NFL_DovKleiman @ProFootballTalk @BenVolin "To be honest with you". 5 words that should never come out of this man's mouth because, if I can be honest with you, he's a lying piece of garbage, who hasn't been honest a single day in his life!! #NFL #ForeverNE
One user then took it a step further, suggesting there is a much bigger story behind Goodell and his handling of the Deflategate scandal.
@NFL_DovKleiman @ProFootballTalk @BenVolin What an absolute liar. They lied!! Wait until the Non Disclosure agreement with Dean Blandino ends, you will be fired Roger. Scum is what he is. Much bigger story here. Much.
One Twitter user simply called for the commissioner to resign due to his incompetence.
@DakRandallNESN @ProFootballTalk Mr. Roger Goodell, @nflcommish please have some dignity and resign. This is not the first case in which you have shown your incompetence.
I am not being disrespectful, this is a fact.
Please resign.
In keeping with the scathing attacks, user Matt Blaze posted that the commissioner is a "scum bag."
@DakRandallNESN @ProFootballTalk @nflcommish YOU SCUMBAG
Independent reporter Dov Kleiman then posted that the commissioner took no accountability for the Deflategate investigation.
Here's what Roger Goodell had to say about @ProFootballTalk report about Deflategate.
No reporter followed up @BenVolin initial question so Goodell was able to escape with a non-answer and no real accountability.
https://t.co/k6d395LTO1
It has been a bad week for the NFL all-round. With Brian Flores and his allegations of racism and discrimination, to Alvin Kamara being arrested and now this. One imagines that now is definitely not a good time to be NFL Commissioner.