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Roger Goodell has never been the most popular man in football, we all know that. As the Commissioner of the NFL, the guy has cracked down on player punishment and tried his best to make the game safer, but he’s in a situation where, given some of his past transgressions and how he’s handled some incidents, he’s never going to win with people.
It’s not that Goodell is bad at his job, it’s just that he seems to have so many inconsistencies with how he runs the league that fans and players are confused with what is and isn’t fair game. Sure, the off-the-field stuff is one thing, but how about officials cracking down on quarterbacks taking hits, which have impacted games and even the livelihoods of players. Yeah, being Roger Goodell isn’t always great — even if he does get paid millions of dollars each year.
The latest example of Roger Goodell being targeted by someone came today, when soon-to-be retired New Orleans Saints tight end Benjamin Watson took to Twitter to slam the Commish, calling Goodell out for his silence over the blown pass interference call in last weekend’s NFC Championship Game — a call that the league allegedly admitted should have been called. Take a look at Watson’s harsh words to Goodell below.
.@nflcommish pic.twitter.com/a0pIFnboMP
— Benjamin Watson (@BenjaminSWatson) January 24, 2019
Here’s the full message from Benjamin Watson to Roger Goodell, since his tweet got cut-off above, per FTW.USAToday.
Commissioner Goodell. We all realize that football is an imperfect game, played, coached and officiated by imperfect people. What occurred last Sunday in New Orleans though, was outside of that expected and accepted of the norm. Your continued silence on this matter is unbecoming of the position you hold, detrimental to the integrity of the game and disrespectful and dismissive to football fans everywhere. From the locker room to Park Ave, accountability is what makes our league great. Lead by example. We are waiting.
Personally, I think it’s cowardly that Roger Goodell is hiding under his desk at a moment when he needs to stand up and admit the league was wrong. The outcome won’t be changed, but taking responsibility is something he, as Commissioner, needs to do to put this controversy and the narrative to rest.
We’ll see if this message from Watson to Goodell triggers any action from the highest-ranked official in the NFL, but, given his history, fans shouldn’t expect much. It’s no wonder the guy gets booed every NFL Draft each time he steps towards the podium.