Roger Goodell and the National Football League released the following statement earlier today in an email to the media and fans alike.
I believe in accountability, not excuses. And I regret we were not able to secure an agreement sooner in the process and avoid the unfortunate distractions to the game. You deserve better.
Of course the figurehead of the league office in Park Avenue, New York, had to release something following the disastrous turn of events on Monday night between the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers. While the NFLRA and NFL have come to a Collective Bargaining Agreement and regular officials were on the field last night, the lockout that lasted into the third week of the season could have some long-term ramifications.
If you ask anyone who didn’t have a rooting interest in the Seattle/Green Bay game, they will tell you that the road-tripping Packers were denied a victory by one of the most obscene and ridiculous officiating mistakes in the modern history of professional sports.
There are some that will want to sweep this under the rug because regular officials are back. That would be a major mistake. The legitimacy of the 2012 NFL season might have already been thrown out the window.
What happens if Green Bay misses the postseason by one game? What about Seattle in the NFC West? What happens if they grab the division title from either the San Francisco 49ers or Arizona Cardinals because of that one “win?”
More importantly, all three teams in the NFC West play Green Bay this season. What happens if the division tie-breaker comes down to record against like opponents? Both San Francisco and Seattle have now “beaten” Green Bay.
These are questions I am pretty sure the league office is asking itself right now. These are also scenarios that I can guarantee they are praying don’t pan out.
I am pretty sure that the Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions aren’t complaining internally about Monday’s game. But, I highly doubt any of them want to win the division under this type of scenario.
With all this in mind, a likely scenario remains that Monday’s game will not have an impact on the postseason race moving forward. Still, Goodell and company owe us answers.
Whether it is the $300 we pay for Sunday Ticket, the $60 for NFL Game Rewind, or the thousands we put out in NFL game tickets, fans expect the best possible product on the football field. We don’t deserve officials that have been fired by the Lingerie Football League. We deserve nothing but the best in terms of play and officiating. Billionaire power elites in Park Avenue have no right, through the guise of “bettering the product,” to field anything less than the best on a weekly basis.
Now we as fans, journalists and even the players have had to suffer through nearly one-quarter of the season with disastrous officiating the world over. We deserve a refund, a rebate or something to that effect. It is owed to us, we are entitled to it…And Goodell needs to get his head out of his ass and pony up something for the lack of respect the NFL has shown to those who make the league thrive.
If not, the commish simply needs to call it quits and resign following the season. This was a joke, he acted as nothing more than a figurehead for a small group of individuals that have their economic bottom line, not the health of the league, in the forefront of their minds.
We will obviously be hearing more about his role moving forward if the 2013 NFL Playoffs are tainted due to Monday night’s disastrous officiating performance. After all, a few million isn’t worth the legitimacy of the National Football League and Goodell needs to be held accountable.
