Tag: Roger Goodell

With Cam Newton Out Due to COVID-19, the Brian Hoyer Era Begins Tonight

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Spin cycle activated. Yes, Brian Hoyer hype videos do indeed exist.

Now that Cam Newton is out for at least this game if not multiple games after testing positive for COVID, we get a peak at what the Patriots would have looked like had they never signed Cam in the first place since Hoyer was QB1 earlier this summer.

If that highlight video doesn’t make you feel any better, well let’s take a look at Hoyer’s career stats. Hoyer’s teams are 16-22 when he is the starter and he has a career 59.1 completion percentage, 7 yards per attempt career avg, 52 touchdowns and 32 picks, with an 82.5 career QBR.

Time to test the theory that Belichick can win with anybody under center, but this is his biggest test since Matt Cassel was taking snaps in 2008.

There’s also Jarrett Stidham on the bench, but if you believe what you hear on talk radio, which I take with a gigantic grain of salt, the team apparently buried him on the depth chart after he took a road trip to Texas for a wedding during the offseason. I always found that, if true, to be an over the top punishment, even for Belichick. But hey when the greatest quarterback of all time leaves town creating a wide open, glowing opportunity for you to become a starter in the NFL, you probably don’t want your boss to think you’re doing anything other than playing, practicing, studying, and dreaming about football.

With on again, off again Patriots QB Hoyer most likely getting the start tonight the Pats have gone from -7 point underdogs to -11, which would be the third largest spread in the league this week. So Vegas is not feeling it.

I think the Pats are probably going to get dusted tonight if we’re being honest. They were already big underdogs to begin with, now they’re starting their backup QB on the road, on short notice, and are straight up commuting to Kansas City on game day to play the defending Super Bowl champs.

Theres no moral victories in the NFL, but hey if you want a silver lining, maybeeee this helps the Patriots if they end up playing the Chiefs again in the playoffs since KC won’t have any game tape of Cam vs the Chiefs. I don’t want to come off like an In Belichick We Trust goon so I’m going to leave it at that, but hey you asked for a silver lining.

The real problem is what if Cam misses multiple games? The Patriots play the Broncos next week, who they should be able to beat without Newton and then thankfully Week 6 is their bye. So that would give Newton three weeks before hopefully returning for Week 7 vs the 49ers, who would presumably have Jimmy G back by then. But you never know, Eduardo Rodriguez came down with COVID and missed the rest of the season due to complications.

Also considering not a single other Patriots player tested positive, for a guy who is renting a place, who intentionally did not move his family to New England because it’s a “business trip,” and orders vegan takeout food rather than going out — how the hell did he even get coronavirus?

Despite Newton being the only Patriots player to test positive, the NFL was quick to launch a full scale investigation into the team for not properly following safety procedures. FOH, Goodell.

Welp, hopefully Newton, as we hope for anyone that has contracted COVID, recovers and is back to full strength quickly. Until then, enjoy the Brian Hoyer Experience.

The Patriots Are Dropping Like Flies as FIVE Players Have Now Opted Out of the Season Due to COVID

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Today has been a rough day for the New England Patriots and I haven’t even finished my morning Iced Tea from Dunkies. This was bound to happen as the guinea pig that is the MLB showed everyone just how quickly an entire sports league can turn into a disaster with this bastard that is coronavirus. The Marlins have had 17 guys test positive and because of the six degrees of separation other teams like the Phillies and the Yankees had to cancel games as they awaited their own COVID test results.

So if you’re an NFL player watching this quickly unfold, it has to make you think. Is this worth it? If you’re Dont’a Hightower and you’ve already made millions and millions of dollars and won three Super Bowls and you just had a baby, do you want to risk bringing that infection home with you? Even if you’re Clay Travis and you think the risk of getting into a car crash is worse (seriously), do you want to have the anxiety of worrying about that every day for the next several months? It seems like a lot of Patriots players are saying hell no.

Bert Breer was on Toucher and Rich this morning and half jokingly wondered aloud is this the price the Patriots pay for having a team comprised of a bunch of smart, thoughtful veterans. It’s a good question because if you’re a young player or a fringe roster guy you might not have secured the bag yet and you may never get another job that pays nearly as much as the NFL. So thats a risk you are a lot more willing to take than an established/paid veteran in this league. Especially when the average NFL career is like 3.3 years.

The question now is how much are the Patriots in trouble and what if even more players opt out? If you’ve listened to the McCourty brothers at all you have got to be worried about whether they’re going to play or not. Those two are intelligent and vocal guys and they have expressed valid, legitimate concerns with resuming play. Right now the Pats have lost their starting Right Tackle, their best Linebacker, a key special teams and depth RB, plus their fullback and another OL. All of this after the team was already tasked with replacing Tom Brady as well as key veterans like Jamie Collins, Kyle Van Noy, and James Develin.

To be brutally honest I don’t expect most of these leagues to finish the season. There’s just too many people interacting with one another and especially in the MLB with teams flying all around like its no big deal. Now imagine that with rosters triple the size in the NFL. The leagues that went with the bubble are the only real shot we have of seeing a completed season this year, but even the NBA has dudes hitting up the strip club for some drums and flats. I don’t know about you, but a strip club is one of the last places I’d want to be during a freaking pandemic. The NHL may be the only league to get through the year as they have a bunch of historically laid back homebodies in hockey players quarantined up in Canada.

Now I’m not going to panic about the Patriots just yet because I tend to agree with my friend here below, even if it is because I’m wearing rose tinted glasses that Belichick and Brady fused onto my face over the last 20 years.

But that’s assuming we even get to the start of the season. Players weren’t even due to report yet and the Patriots had five guys opt out. Lets watch this Marlins story play out a bit more and see if MLB can get back on track because we’re less than a week into the season and it already has the makings of a doomsday scenario.

However, if MLB can’t stem the outbreak and more importantly assuage any player concerns, it could be the harbinger of bad news for the NFL in 2020.

The NFL is Partnering With Jay-Z On the Super Bowl Halftime Show and I am IN

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Washington Post – The NFL is forming a partnership with music mogul Jay-Z in a deal that allows him to help manage entertainment ventures tied to league events and is closely connected to the league’s community activism efforts.

The partnership will make Jay-Z, whose given name is Shawn Carter, and his Roc Nation agency a co-producer of the Super Bowl halftime show. It does not contain a provision for him to be the halftime performer, he and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said.

“He was very quick to say that he does not want this to be about him performing, that it was broader than that,” Goodell said in an interview. “It quickly went beyond that. Do I hope he’ll perform in the Super Bowl sometime in the next several years? Yes. But I think we’ll all know if that time comes. He’ll know in particular.”

Roc Nation will choose entertainers who will perform in televised NFL promotional spots throughout the season. Carter said he believes Roc Nation will have freedom under the partnership to produce the kind of entertainment that it wants.

The Super Bowl halftime show has been a snoozefest since Janet Jackson threw her titties into Justin Timberlake’s hand all those years ago.

Ever since then the NFL basically overcorrected and trotted out some of the most boring halftime shows ever. In the years post titty-gate we got Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones, and The Who, which are all good, wholesome bands, just not anyone I want to see headlining the biggest entertainment night of the year. At least in recent years they’ve started to bring back artists that are under 50 years old again.

Last year though was definitely some old white producer trying to appease everyone with Travis Scott, Big Boi, and Maroon 5 while still somehow pleasing no one.

So this morning I hear the news that the NFL has gone back to the big guns (and probably dumped an 18-wheeler full of cash on his front lawn) and partnered up with Jay-Z for this year’s halftime show. While it makes it pretty clear he won’t be performing any time soon, getting S Dot Carter to produce the league’s halftime show and its musical entertainment as a whole is a HUGE win for the NFL. Reasonable Doubt, The Blueprint 1/2/3, The Black Album, Kingdom Come, hell even the American Gangster soundtrack still BANGS to this day. Thats not even counting all the collabs he’s done over the years like Collision Course and Watch the Throne, which are all-time albums. Now obviously I left out most of his more recent work…but those albums aren’t without their mega hits. I actually went to the Jay-Z/Timberlake show at Fenway a few years back and the Holy Grail beat drops just as hard today. To be perfectly honest I never heard a ton of 4:44 because I’m not a schill and I’m not paying for Tidal just to get Jay’s album, but The Story of OJ is without a doubt a jam. Long story short, I have high hopes for Jay-Z and Roc Nation leading the entertainment wing for the NFL moving forward.

Although it does sound like HOVA has been paying close attention to the Ginger Hammer’s actions in recent years (i.e. Supreme Court cases for equipment violations, but wife beaters and child abusers getting off scot free) and doesn’t expect completely smooth sailing.

“I anticipate that there will be a lot of — with any big organization, in this building right here we have internal problems. Anything that’s new is going to go through its growing pains. We put what we want to do on the table. The NFL agreed to it. So we’re going to proceed with that as if we have a partnership.”

I’d be remiss though if I didn’t mention and laugh out loud at the hypocritical nature of this entire partnership as the Carters very publicly turned down the halftime show last year and chided the NFL for its handling of Colin Kaepernick.

I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt though that he wants to make some real changes by getting inside the NFL, rather than just criticize it on twitter, but at the end of the day Hov isn’t a businessman, he’s a business, man.

Roger Goodell Says the Buffalo Bills Need A New Stadium, I Say He’s Crazy

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Pro Football Talk – While at Jim Kelly’s annual golf tournament in 2016, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that he felt the Bills need a new stadium in order to remain in Buffalo “on a successful basis.” Goodell is back at Kelly’s tournament this year and his feelings about the stadium situation have not changed. Money has been spent on renovating New Era Field in recent years and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz has suggested further renovations may present the “best bang for the buck,” but Goodell remains a supporter of a new stadium.

“I want to make sure this franchise remains competitive and stable,” Goodell said, via Matthew Fairburn of TheAthletic.com.

Bills ownership has discussed a new stadium that would be a “scaled-down version” of new buildings that have gone up or are going up in other cities, but there’s been nothing definitive about their plans at this point. There’s also been no word on how they’d finance either renovating or replacing New Era Field.

Public money is often sought for such purposes with teams using a possible relocation as a carrot to get it. Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula haven’t brought that up, but it doesn’t seem much else is off the table at this point in the process.

Okay first things first. As a 30-year-old man that has aged out of “do anything for the team” fanhood status years ago, any team that is asking for public money to build a stadium can go piss up a rope. I’ve got enough debt I have to pay back for useless things like student loans, so the last thing I need is a bill for some billionaire’s shiny new toy. Maybe its because I live in a mega sports market like Boston where we would all collectively laugh in an owner’s face if they threatened to move the team.

But I digress…

So Roger Goodell has been beating this drum for a while that the Bills NEED a new stadium to be competitive. Umm have you ever been to New Era Field? Because I have and let me tell ya, it would be a travesty to replace what the glorious Bills Mafia calls home.

All sarcasm aside, New Era Field is a pretty legit stadium. It’s surprisingly nice, it’s got a retro vibe to it with the sunken stadium seats and its loud as hell. Sure it’s not going to beat out the Falcons or the Rams new stadium in terms of amenities, but to say the stadium is the reason this team hasn’t been competitive since the 90s is laughable.

Now, Buffalo the city? Maybe put a little taxpayer money towards repairing some of the dilapidated buildings downtown or putting YouTube commenters like this in the psych ward.

Buffalo Man was NOT a fan of my Buffalo review.

So to Roger Goodell I say you are crazy. New Era Field needs to be a museum of the truly crazy football fans of this country, not torn down to build a soul-less, mega stadium for rich guys.

D’Qwell Jackson Hilariously Asks Tom Brady to Help Him Get His F-ing Football Back

By on • ( Leave a comment )

“Here’s the fucked up part. I never got my ball back. The NFL said it was deflated. Then Bill Belichick and Bill Nye the Science Guy had a pissing contest over PSI levels…Roger Goodell probably has my fucking football on his damn mantle.”

Update: D’Qwell Jackson has responded and is now a friend of The 300s.

Bravo, D’Qwell, bravo. Heres a guy that became an unwilling footnote in the whole Deflategate saga. The NFL initially tried to make him the fall guy, but D’Qwell immediately denied having any part in snitching about allegedly deflated footballs. This video only confirms that in my mind as he comes off as a sneaky funny guy who just wants his fucking football back. As he has done to so many others, Roger Goodell swooped down and took something that wasn’t his. D’Qwell just wants a keepsake from a huge play he made in a huge game that his team otherwise got their doors blown off in. Let the man have that, Roger.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is Part Steve Jobs, Part Wizard

By on • ( Leave a comment )

This digital jersey witchcraft comes just a couple of days after ESPN reported how badly the NFL has been trying to convince him to sack Roger Goodell and become commissioner of the NFL.

Just look at the growth of the NBA under Silver:

“League revenues have increased from $4.8 billion to a projected $9.1 billion in Silver’s five years.”

and the growth of individual teams as well:

“Team valuations have increased by 267 percent, from an average of $509 million in 2013 to $1.9 billion in the latest Forbes Magazine valuations.”

The NBA has become the most popular sport in the world for anyone under the age of 25 and its not even close. The NBA and Fortnite are what kids care about and not necessarily in that order. I went to a youth basketball game last night and the effect is real:

A lot of that credit has to go to Adam Silver. Sure players not having to wear helmets that hide their face helps, but he’s made the NBA the most marketing friendly sport we’ve ever seen. It routinely embraces cultural trends, technology, and social media, and he’s had the NBA at the head of the line for two of the biggest opportunities in America: esports and legalized gambling.

I’m calling it right now. As the most progressive league in professional sports, the NBA will be the one to partner with the first national marketing campaign for recreational cannabis. Oh the NFL banned a marijuana commercial? Well Adam Silver will use that opportunity to make anyone even associated with the league even more money.

Just patently absurd how good this man is at his job and he ain’t resting. I still hate the advertising patches on jerseys and expect it to only get more distracting, but hey money talks.

Robert Kraft Keeps His Stake in DraftKings as They Transition to Sports Book. Umm, Why Wouldn’t He?

By on • ( Leave a comment )

ESPN – Two prominent NFL owners have a stake in a bookmaker as the first season with expanded legal sports betting in the U.S. gets ready to kick off.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones have retained their investments in DraftKings, sources confirmed to ESPN, even as the company has shifted some of its focus from daily fantasy to traditional sports betting.

Umm yea, no kidding. Robert Kraft is no dummy. He realizes that his family stands to potentially make more money with DraftKings and legalized gambling than they could ever hope to make running a football team. While some want to straddle the fence as gambling is seen as “seedy” it is actually on the verge of being legalized in every state in the country. I can literally see the Everett casino being built from my office window in Boston.

“The NFL has been a staunch opponent of sports betting for decades and remains concerned about its impact on the integrity of the game. The NFL fought New Jersey’s efforts to offer Las Vegas-style sports betting all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.”

…..because they weren’t getting a cut of the action. The NFL was more than happy to promote and advertise “fake” gambling in the form of fantasy football over the past 15 years because it drove billions of dollars back into the NFL.

Now? Like a bookie, they want the juice on the action.

So for Kraft or Jerry Jones to cut bait now, just because DraftKings changed their position (and millions of dollars of lawyer fees arguing) from “We are NOT gambling” to now saying “um forget all that, we are NOW a sports book” is crazy. DK is going to only become exponentially more valuable with the influx of legalized gambling and I can imagine Kraft didn’t just buy a handful of shares. A guy like that jumped in with both feet and realizes how much money his family could earn in the long run. Thats a smart guy right there.

Also, I will never forget the look of disappointment in Papa Giorgi’s eyes when I told him that Robert Kraft did not actually earn his fortune running the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese empire, rather he made his money in paper products. It was like telling a kid theres no Santa Claus.

Jerry Jones Responds to Roger Goodell Stealing More of His Money by Opting Out of the NFL Ticket Deal and Investing in its Direct Competitor

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Sports Illustrated – The Dallas Cowboys have reportedly agreed to a deal to opt out of the NFL’s deal with Ticketmaster and instead work with SeatGeek as their box office, per ESPN’s Darren Rovell. The Lions opted to use a different provider back in 2013, but they moved back to Ticketmaster for the upcoming season. In November, the Saints switched to SeatGeek. 

So earlier this week it came out that the NFL and Roger Goodell were demanding millions of dollars from Jerry Jones and the Cowboys to cover legal fees from Jones’ various spats with the league last season. It would seem Jerry did not appreciate that too much as he not only opted out of the league’s ticket deal with Ticketmaster, but he is also buying a 15% stake in its DIRECT COMPETITOR in SeatGeak.

I guess this move in of itself isn’t totally unprecedented as the Lions and the Saints have kicked around the idea of separate ticket deals, but when Jerry Jones does something it makes waves. The man is a tastemaker and has been pulling shit like this for year.

“Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is no stranger to making deals outside of the league’s partners. In 1995, he made a deal with Pepsi when the league was partnered with Coke. In 2002, he opted out of the NFL’s licensing deal that split revenues equally. The Cowboys are still the only team that does this.”

Listen this singular move may not have Roger Goodell shaking in his boots, but thats why Jerry Jones is a goddamn assassin. Its not this move thats going to kill Roger, its 4 moves from now that will be the death knell. And opting out of the NFL ticket deal, besides being a power move, does two things. 1.) It sets a wicked precedent. What if Robert Kraft now wants to go with AceTicket and what if the Rooney family wants to do an exclusive deal with StubHub? What if the owners just start chipping away at the NFL’s oligarchy? The smaller share of the pie that the NFL and Roger Goodell control, the less the owners need or care who the commissioner is. The days of the $40 Million salary for the NFL commissioner could be numbered all because Roger Goodell flew too close to the sun and tried to expense his legal fees to Jerry Jones.

“The move has nothing to do with the news that Jones will have to reimburse the NFL $2 million in legal fees in his fight against commissioner Roger Goodell over Goodell’s renewal.”

Roger Goodell is Gonna Tax That Ass; Demanding Millions From Jerry Jones and the Cowboys

By on • ( Leave a comment )

ESPN – The NFL is demanding reimbursement in excess of $2 million from Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones for court costs related to star running back Ezekiel Elliott’s suspension and Jones’ threatened litigation over commissioner Roger Goodell’s contract, sources told ESPN’s Dan Graziano. The owners are citing a rule that has been on the books for more than two decades, that says if an owner participates in bringing litigation against other owners, he must reimburse them for the legal fees. An earlier report by The New York Times characterized the reimbursement as a fine to be levied on Jones by Goodell. 

Remember when Goodell was jokingly referred to as the Sheriff and the Ginger Hammer? Back in the day when he was just slapping the Pacman Jones’ of the world with suspensions that were long overdue. Now? Now Goodell is like a dictator of a collapsing country grasping at his last pillars of power.

On one hand Roger Goodell continues to be the biggest dirtbag in sports and is essentially attempting to extort the Cowboys and more importantly Jerry Jones out of millions of dollars. All because Jerry stood against the NFL and, again more importantly, Goodell.  On the other hand, if I’m Goodell and one of these owners did everything he could do shaft me out of a big pay day you’re goddamn right I’m coming back for blood.

Live look at Jerry and Goodell at the NFL Owners Meeting:

And of course as a Patriots fan I am laughing manically. As an objective third party in this particular situation, I hate to say it, but….we told you so. We told you morons that Goodell was a corrupt puppet and everyone told us to take our medicine. Now Jerry Jones has a problem with the league, fights them bitterly, tries to throw a coup and remove Goodell from office, and now the pendulum is swinging back on him. Goodell is coming to tax that ass.

I fully expect Jerry Jones to show up to the next NFL Owners Meeting and have an Alonzo Harris meltdown in the Jungle.

Ezekiel Elliott, Suspended AGAIN!

By on • ( Leave a comment )

ESPN – A federal appeals court cleared the way Thursday for the NFL to impose a six-game suspension on Dallas Cowboys star Ezekiel Elliott over domestic violence allegations, siding with the league in the latest high-profile fight over its ability to punish players for off-field behavior. In a 2-1 decision, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in New Orleans granted the league’s emergency request to set aside an injunction and ordered a district court in Texas to dismiss Elliott’s case. The NFL announced that the suspension was effective immediately, though further appeals were possible and the Cowboys are not playing this weekend.

As a guy that used a First Round pick to keep Ezekiel Elliott in my Fantasy Football league this year, I just need to get something off my chest.

Alright, now we can move on.

The NFL really is the goddamn WWE these days. Just drama week after week, storylines all over the place. The last two years was was Tom Brady and Deflategate with the Patriots trying to fight city hall (and losing). Now we got this.

I’m actually pretty shocked at this turn of events. As we talked about on The 300s Podcast recently, I really did not think that the NFL would be able to get this overturned and Zeke would be able to play all year. Basically just kick the can down the road until next season, similar to Brady.

The NFLPA’s new playbook seems to be lets just challenge everything in court and keep the NFL constantly in the news with shitty headlines until the league comes back to the table to negotiate player punishment.

HA! Silly me for thinking Roger Goodell would give up his dictator level of power so easily.

Now the crown jewel of my fantasy team, Ezekiel Elliott, is suspended once again. Full disclosure, if Zeke did what he’s accused of doing he’s obviously a scumbag. BUT, if he didn’t and Roger Goodell just tanked my fantasy season then I’m gonna flip my goddamn desk.

Yesterday news broke at the ripe old time of 5:01 pm as I was leaving my cube job. So I had to run to the waiver wire and deal with Sophie’s Choice of whether to pick up Darren McFadden (has been a healthy scratch all year) or Alfred Morris (has actually played football this season). I pulled the trigger and went with Morris, but I’m sure the Cowboys will turn to a guy who couldn’t get in uniform to be the bell cow back moving forward because fantasy football is a goddamn crapshoot.

And of course the Cowboys are on a bye this week so I have to wait another 9 days to see who the hell is gonna get the rock for Dallas.