The players have been playing dirty, taking cheap shots, trying to get away with everything they can, and then whining about the refs to the press.

The coaches have been bullying and disrespecting the replacement refs, in some cases getting away with behavior and in-game practices that are against the game rules. And then whining about the refs to the press.

But the comment-board mobs have been spending all their time bashing the refs and Goodell.

Sounds about right for the intelligence of this league and its fans.

Reason being: Goodell grew up in Western, NY. That is why he was willing to come to Buffalo to speak about keeping the team in Buffalo for years to come. I personally have no problem with the way Goodell carries himself, takes care of business or treats offenders. I think Goodell is doing a good job with what he has been given for resources.

I mean I know the teams and I know Roger Goodell is the commissioner but the behind the scenes structure of the NFL seems a bit murky to me.

Who are these people? Is it the owners who are truly the NFL? If so, they are to blame for this fiasco, not just Goodell.

Maybe Mike you could do a story outline, you know, the general structure of the NFL so we can know better what this NFL actually is!

What else is new?

Commissioners have a lot of responsibilities, but the owners bidding is their highest calling. I know most of probably don’t think it should be, and this whole debacle is probably evidence that it in fact shouldn’t, but that is the case. The commish is here to represent the owners, not you or I as fans, not players, not refs, no coaches, and not even to protect the game.

His main job is to get the owners as much money as possible. And not only is he succeeding but he’s doing so while at the same time ensuring none of the problems with the game are blamed on the owners, even if they are in fact the owners fault (both lockouts for example).

Goodell deserves a raise because he isn’t around to please us. He is employed by the owners, for the owners, and they need to give him a raise because he’s doing a great job as far as they are concerned.

League ownership wisely seeks to project one voice, a voice of unity and solidarity. So though we may not see eye to eye on where Goodell is coming from, he may just be being a good soldier.

As for Goodell deserving a raise, not too sure about that. Last I heard he made $10,000,000.00 a year. So it’s hard to say (IMO) that he deserves a raise. Just sayin’.

While the owners deserve more blame than they have received thus far Goodell still should be fired.

He needs to take what the owners tell them they want and make it into a workable situation. If what they are telling him they want is going to hurt the league it’s his job to use his judgement to find compromise before damage is done. He’s failed to do so two years in a row.

He preaches to protect the shield to the players and allows this years disaster to happen. He continuously states that he’s for improving player safety, but also wants an 18 game season. The NFL had been the best run professional sport in the country if not the world when he took over. We have since had 2 work stoppages in 2 years. He is a failure

If you want to say that Commissioner Goddell is doing the job he is being paid for, then that’s a reasonable opinion if you see it that way. To say that he deserves a raise for his handling of this situation is a bit absurd.

This became apparent during last years negotiations with the NFLPA. Roger Goodell should have been the one to convince the owners to close the gap with players, instead it’s widely recognized that Robert Kraft was the driving force in getting the owners to make concessions in order to get the deal done. Since that time, we have seen him investigate and suspend players and coaches from the Saints, in a manner that can best be described as clumsy, from a public relations stand point, and at worst duplicitous, all in an effort to illustrate how serious the league is about player safety, most likely as a move to bolster the league’s position in upcoming concussion lawsuits.

Fast forward to today and you have a league that has been under heavy criticism from it’s use of replacement officials, since the start of the preseason. The events of this past Monday didn’t just pop out of nowhere, the level of officiating kept slipping since week 1. Instead of realizing the potential impact, and work to convince the owners it was time to make some real concession and negotiate with the officials in good faith, he dutifully continued on the course of attempting to crush the NFLRA.

I have no problems with Roger Goodell as a person, but I wish he would step up and be the commissioner rather than the owners hatchet man. While right now it seems as though the NFL is impervious to losing fans, bad management can catch up with even the most popular sport in this country. If you had told someone in 1965 that a heavyweight title fight would barely budge the needle in this country they would say you were insane. In 1977 if you told people that the Super Bowl would dwarf the World Series they would laugh in your face. But when you couple poor management, greed from owners, and just an overall feeling that you’ll always be on top, leads to you falling from that high peak.