Roger Goodell ‘respectfully’ disagrees with Brady ruling, NFL will appeal

After having another high-profile decision overturned when someone independent looked at it, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he’ll appeal Judge Richard M. Berman’s decision to overturn New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s suspension.

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The league put out a statement from Goodell after noon Eastern time on Thursday:

“We are grateful to Judge Berman for hearing this matter, but respectfully disagree with today’s decision. We will appeal today’s ruling in order to uphold the collectively bargained responsibility to protect the integrity of the game. The commissioner’s responsibility to secure the competitive fairness of our game is a paramount principle, and the league and our 32 clubs will continue to pursue a path to that end. While the legal phase of this process continues, we look forward to focusing on football and the opening of the regular season.”

That the NFL is appealing shouldn’t be a big surprise. It is in the league’s best interest for this to just go away now, but it was in the league’s best interest seven months ago to deal with the entire deflate-gate scenario in a fair and quick way but turned it into a fiasco instead. So why change course now?

Also, it’s clear that Goodell values his disciplinary power, almost to a peculiar degree. Read Kent Babb’s Washington Post story on Goodell from Thursday morning, and particularly how upset he was at predecessor Paul Tagliabue overruling him on player suspensions in the New Orleans Saints bounty scandal. Goodell wants clear victory. So of course he’ll fight.

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The NFL is making another misstep in appealing a case. The appeal is all in the name of claiming a meaningless victory over Brady, a great ambassador for the league and one of the greatest players in the game’s history, and also protecting Goodell’s absolute grip over his disciplinary power. Ask yourself this: How does that fall in line with integrity of the game?