On Tuesday afternoon, ESPN reported that the NFL declined an invitation to work with Major League Baseball and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in connection with an investigation regarding the Al Jazeera reporting linking multiple pro athletes to PEDs. On Tuesday evening, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello denied the claim.
“This is wrong,” Aiello said on Twitter, linking to the ESPN story. “NFL has worked with USADA & MLB from the start.”
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy separately told the Associated Press that the league has coordinated with other agencies in a “comprehensive” investigation of Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, whose wife allegedly received HGH meant for use by him.
The league is likely speaking out given criticism regarding the differences between the handling of Manning’s situation and the #DeflateGate investigation and internal prosecution of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. And Patriots fans who already are eyeballing the two cases for any and all possible disparities will be quick to point out that the NFL moved quickly to dispute an erroneous ESPN report about Manning, which the NFL never directly disputed an erroneous ESPN report regarding the PSI levels detected in the New England footballs at halftime of last year’s AFC title game.