Goodell Dances Around Patriots Questions During Annual State of the League

By Joe Jacobs 2/2/2017

HOUSTON – “Do Your Job” is one New England Patriots’ idiom that ensures that every player is performing to their potential and staying within themselves. At his annual State of the League address, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was quizzed by six New England media members about the job he did handling Deflategate and his strained relationship with the players.

With Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft and team president Jonathan Kraft seated in the front row, Goodell seemed to say that his reasoning for not attending a game in New England might have been a lack of a request from the team’s front office.

“If I was invited, I would have come,” he said. “I have no doubt if I wanted to come up to a Patriots game and I asked Mr. Kraft, he would have welcomed me back.”

Goodell hasn’t been to Foxboro in two years, when he attended the divisional and conference championship rounds of action. This year though, he chose to stay in Atlanta for both contests.

“We had two great games,” Goodell said of last week’s schedule. “I try to get to as many stadiums as I can.

In his 11th season at the helm of the country’s most profitable, Goodell didn’t seem concerned with his approval rating among his organization’s fans.

“I don’t expect for one second for people to agree with the decisions we make [as a league]. Those decisions are contentious and sometimes less-than-perfect decisions. But you do that in the interest of the game and the long-term interests of the NFL.”

When asked to comment on the investigations of Deflategate past, Goodell’s response was as straightforward as possible.

“We had a violation,” Goodell said. “We went through a process. We applied the discipline in accordance with our process. It was litigated, as you know, extensively and validated by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. We’re moving on from that. It’s part of our history, but it’s something we’re comfortable with the process and the decision.”

“I would tell you that it’s not awkward at all for me. We have a job to do. We do our job — as I said there was a violation, we applied the process and the discipline,” Goodell said. “We understand the fans who are loyal and passionate for a team and object and don’t like the outcome. I totally understand that.”

The Boston Globe’s Ben Volin contacted the senior Kraft asking when a good time for Goodell to come to Foxboro might be.