I’m usually not much of a one to get into conspiracy theories, but NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is really pushing the boundaries.
For some time now, he’s been preaching at the altar of “Player Safety” when pitching rules changes. Sometimes to the extreme.
We’re perilously close to having a flag thrown on a defender for breathing too hard on the quarterback.
How much longer until a serious proposal is made to change the game from tackle football to flag football?
Yet, this very week, Goodell has taken steps to increase the likelihood of injury on the field. Make it make sense, somebody.
The Ruling Has Been Reversed
Last year, after many years of tinkering to “cut down on injuries”, the league brought in the “Dynamic Kickoff” rules. To be fair, it seems to have worked as far as lowering injuries.
According to a report released by the league after the 2024 season ended, the NFL saw a:
- Decrease in concussions to a historic low, including a 17% reduction compared to the 2023 season, including all practices and games in both the preseason and regular season.
- Largest safety improvement in helmets worn on field since 2021.
- Continued reduction in lower extremity strains for the 2024 season.
There was even an increase in kickoff returns of 57% in the regular season. The seven kickoff returns for a touchdown were the most since 2021.
Fewer injuries, more returns, and more scoring. A win-win-win, right?
So the NFL has decided that if it ain’t broke, let’s fix it.
The rules were changed again earlier this week, moving the spot of the ball up five yards on touchbacks with the apparent goal of forcing kickers to kick short of the end zone and force more returns.
Which in all likelihood will result in more injuries. He could also stop trying to make players play an 18-week regular season with Thursday night games every week if he were truly that concerned about player safety.
Tabling a ban on the “Tush Push”, which happened on Tuesday, was a curious move given Goodell himself sees the potential for injury from the play.
Never mind that it presents an unfair advantage for the offense. Or that it isn’t even an American football play.
Hopefully, next month’s meeting will finally produce the vote to end that abomination.
But if Goodell were truly worried about injuries, he could easily get this play banned.
So why doesn’t he? It seems that the Commissioner might be biased against the defense in his league.
No Defense League, Roger?
The Tush Push allows the offense to help a ball carrier gain yardage.
But the defense is not allowed to push a ball carrier backwards to lose yardage. Nor is a defender allowed to push a fellow defender, or push off one, to gain an advantage.
But the offense can at will.
That hardly seems fair.
Another rule that was proposed was to change certain five-yard penalties against the defense to yardage penalties without an automatic first down for the offense.
It was a common-sense proposal by the Lions. Think of how many times an offense has had third-and-very long turned into a first down on a five-yard illegal contact foul away from the ball.
Does the offense lose a down on holding when it’s called on them?
No. But the defense is doubly punished.
Goodell could have made this rule change happen. But he chose not to support it, and it failed in committee.
Apparently, Goodell wants 56–49 shootouts in his league.
The defense need not even bother showing up.
Goodell Vs. The Cowboys
Over the years, a bit of a beef has developed between the Dallas Cowboys and the NFL’s sixth Commissioner.
Its origins stem from a Jerry Jones-led revolt and an attempt to curtail Goodell’s salary. As recently as the 2021 season, Goodell’s compensation was reportedly over $63 million for that season.
Do you wonder why Goodell, the Commissioner since 2006, has no intention of leaving the job anytime soon?
Since that failed coup, Goodell has been a man on a mission when it comes to Dallas, it would seem.
He lowered the boom on the Cowboys with a salary cap violation fine of $10 million in 2012. Then came the 2017 season when Goodell spoiled Jones’ party.
In the same season that Jones was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which Goodell could not prevent, the Commissioner got his best revenge by proxy.
The six-game suspension of Ezekiel Elliott in 2017 was announced only a few days after Jones was inducted.
The cause of the suspension still sticks in most fans’ craw. An alleged incident, before Elliott was even drafted, was investigated by local police with no charges filed.
Goodell, still stinging from his ham-handed fumbling of the Ray Rice domestic violence case – which happened while Rice was in the NFL – saw his chance for redemption.
Facts be damned.
Even Goodell’s own investigator, a woman, found no cause for action against Elliott.
But Goodell wanted his scalp. And if it stuck it to Jones at the same time, all the better.
Elliott’s suspension began with the Cowboys at 5-3.
They would go 3-3 in the games he missed and finished 9-7 for the season. Dallas missed the final wildcard slot by one game to the 10-6 Atlanta Falcons.
Ironically, the first game Elliott missed was a 27-7 loss to Atlanta.
Had Elliott played that game, Dallas likely wins it. They make the playoffs in 2017 and maybe catch fire.
But we’ll never know, because of Goodell’s vendetta.
Just this week, the league appeared to target another Dallas Cowboys player, CeeDee Lamb.
Outlawing certain celebration gestures connected to violence, one gesture listed seems to be one done only by Lamb. Nor does it seem all that violent.
As I said at the start, I’m not much of one to get into conspiracy theories.
But there are some things that do make one wonder.
For The Good Of The Game
Nearly every Cowboys fan would like to see Jones, and the entire family for that matter, separate itself from the franchise. The sooner, the better.
After 19 years, it might also be time for Goodell to separate himself from the NFL, if for no other reason than for the good of the game.
His desire to place NFL franchises overseas, even several regular-season games internationally, is nothing more than a money grab.
The additional travel adds wear and tear on the players. As if it isn’t bad enough that they have to deal with weekly quick turnarounds on Thursday night football.
Goodell needs to abandon these concepts, along with the 18-week regular season schedule, and go back to Thanksgiving Day being the lone Thursday games on the schedule.
That is if he’s really that concerned with the health and well-being of his players and less concerned with the big TV bucks.
After nearly two decades, only Pete Rozelle has served longer in the position. Rozelle clearly did a lot of good for the NFL between 1960 and 1989.
But by the end of the 1980s, it was time for new leadership in the league.
That time has come again. It’s time for Goodell to go as soon as the NFL’s 2026 season ends and his contract expires in March 2027.
For the good of the NFL, if for no other reason.