ESPN
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell held his Super Bowl LII press conference on Wednesday and addressed numerous issued facing the league going forward including the blown call in the NFC Championship game, Colin Kaepernick, Kareem Hunt, the Denver Broncos’ bizarre ownership battle, and more.
Of course, the main issue everyone wanted to talk about was the fact that the New Orleans Saints got hosed out of appearing at Super Bowl LII in Atlanta thanks to a completely botched no-call on defensive back Nickell Robey-Coleman that saved the Rams’ season.
“We understand the frustration they (the Saints) feel and we certainly want to address that. Whenever the officiating is part of a discussion post-game, it’s never a good outcome for us. We knmow that, our clubs know that, our officials know that. But we also know our officials are human,” said Goodell. “We also know they’re officiating a game that moves very quickly … snap decisions until difficult circumstances. And they’re not going to get it right every time.”
“Technology is not going to solve all these issues. The game is not officiated by robots, it’s not going to be. But we have to continue to go down that path,” added Goodell. “We will look again at instant replay… Should replay be expanded?”
1:24 pm EST. Goodell: "It's a play that should be called." I believe that's the first official, on-the-record admission from the NFL that it was a blown call.
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) January 30, 2019
"We understand the frustration of the fans…whenever officiating is a part of any kind of discussion postgame, it's never a good outcome for us."
-NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell on the non-PI call in the NFC Championship Game.https://t.co/CgWg6YikAe pic.twitter.com/iVx8a21fAu
— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) January 30, 2019
As for why Colin Kaepernick still is unemployed while quarterbacks like Nathan Peterman are not?
Goodell’s non-answer went like this, reports TMZ Sports…
“Our clubs are the ones that make decisions on players that they wanna have on their roster,” Goodell said.
“They make that individually. They make that in the best interests of their team.”
He added, “They all want to win … and they’re all gonna do whatever they can to win.”
When a second reporter pushed Goodell on the issue he reiterated his points.
“I think if a team decides that Colin Kaepernick or any other player can help their team win, that’s what they’ll do.”
“They want to win and they make those decisions individually in the best interests of their club.”
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For the record, Peterman set a record for the most interceptions thrown with less than 100 passing attempts and has a career QB rating of 32.5. Colin Kaepernick led a team to a Super Bowl and threw 16 TDs with just 4 interceptions in his final year as a 49er.
On the Kareem Hunt front, Goodell stated that a “tremendous amount of progress” has been made on that issue over the past few weeks and anticipates Hunt being suspended by the league when the investigation “soon” comes to an end.
Commissioner Roger Goodell says the Kareem Hunt investigation should conclude “soon” and that he’ll go back on the exempt list whenever he signed, as he awaits likely suspension. … on Reuben Foster, he said just because his charge was dropped doesn’t mean he won’t be suspended.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 30, 2019
And finally, the very odd ownership dispute taking place in Denver.
Pat Bowlen, the owner of the Broncos, stepped down from his position when he was starting to feel the effects of Alzheimer’s disease in 2014. He created a trust to run the team until one of his kids could take over, which thanks to various lawsuits, has resulted in basically no one owning the team over four years later.
Changing his previous stance, Roger Goodell stated on Wednesday that the league may have to get involved.
Roger Goodell said the league “may” get involved in the Broncos ownership dispute. He added that the dispute is “sad” because it’s not what Pat Bowlen would have wanted.
This is a departure from what he’s said in years apart about the ownership situation.
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) January 30, 2019
I’m sure he’ll get it all sorted out to the satisfaction of everyone involved. He’s good like that.