Big Ben not expected to practice this week

[NorthCoast]

Re: Big Ben not expected to practice this week

Goodell's statement today that he expects to make a decision within a week on when Roethlisberger can return to practice just proves my point that the only thing Goodell is concerned about is how Goodell looks. Roethlisberger had his evaluation more than three weeks ago. You can be sure that Goodell has had the evaluation report for at least a week by now, and even if the report is lengthy it will have a one or two page executive summary. Whatever the report's conclusion, why does Goodell need all this time to make a decision? If the report says Ben's good to go, let him return to practice. If the report says that he needs to do something else, tell Ben to do it. But no, Goodell wants to ( a)make it look like it's something that he is carefully deliberating about (even though it's a complete no-brainer either way), and (b) not be perceived to have let Ben off the hook too quickly from the practice ban. So it's all about how he looks, which makes Goodell a POS.

None of us know what is in the report, or what information Goodell has had access to.
At this point, to conclude that Goodell is only "concerned about how Goodell looks" is just as steep a leap to judgment as it is to conclude that Ben is guilty of rape.

I am afraid it is just that easy. A man in Goodell's position merely needs to pick up a phone and ask a simple question of the examiner: "Is Ben ready to return to football?" Doesn't require a lot of reading, studying reports. No one is mentioning that perhaps there was an under table agreement with Rooney that Goodell would keep Ben out of OTAs...?

[BURGH86STEEL]

Re: Big Ben not expected to practice this week

I think there is a significant list of black players that Goodell has suspended.

NO OTHER PLAYER has ever been suspended for violating the PCP without being charged with a crime.

Ben is the first player in NFL history to be suspended for a night of drinking gone bad even though he was not charged with a crime.

I can see Goodell not suspending the Colts player for a civil suit because Ben wasn't. But that player, like Ben in Georgia, was also investigated by the police.

So he should have been treated the same.

I believe Ben's suspension was as a result of several incidents. I believe the organization heard of Ben's behavior around Pittsburgh. The organization collaborated with the league and gave their blessing.

I believe that Ben was headed down the wrong path. The consequences might be worse for Ben if continues down that path without any punishment. Maybe the suspension will keep Ben from putting himself in bad situations? Only time will tell. One more incident like that and I don't believe Ben will be a Steeler. Instead of complaining and comparing situations between players, people should be happy the league and organization took hard stance against Ben. Especially, if it becomes a better person.

[BradshawsHairdresser]

Re: Big Ben not expected to practice this week

Goodell's statement today that he expects to make a decision within a week on when Roethlisberger can return to practice just proves my point that the only thing Goodell is concerned about is how Goodell looks. Roethlisberger had his evaluation more than three weeks ago. You can be sure that Goodell has had the evaluation report for at least a week by now, and even if the report is lengthy it will have a one or two page executive summary. Whatever the report's conclusion, why does Goodell need all this time to make a decision? If the report says Ben's good to go, let him return to practice. If the report says that he needs to do something else, tell Ben to do it. But no, Goodell wants to ( a)make it look like it's something that he is carefully deliberating about (even though it's a complete no-brainer either way), and (b) not be perceived to have let Ben off the hook too quickly from the practice ban. So it's all about how he looks, which makes Goodell a POS.

None of us know what is in the report, or what information Goodell has had access to.
At this point, to conclude that Goodell is only "concerned about how Goodell looks" is just as steep a leap to judgment as it is to conclude that Ben is guilty of rape.

I am afraid it is just that easy. A man in Goodell's position merely needs to pick up a phone and ask a simple question of the examiner: "Is Ben ready to return to football?" Doesn't require a lot of reading, studying reports. No one is mentioning that perhaps there was an under table agreement with Rooney that Goodell would keep Ben out of OTAs...?

You--and others on this board--are upset because Ben is not present at OTA's. I get that. But you are making a lot of assumptions based upon what you think you know.

What if the examiner has said, "I don't know whether Ben is ready to return to football." What if Goodell is trying to educate himself on the predatory mindset, to determine whether Ben leans that way or whether he has just been careless? What if Rooney asked Goodell to keep Ben away for awhile?

Look, I don't like everything Goodell has done, and I fear it's going to put our team
behind the curve to not have their franchise QB there at practice. But how do you know that Goodell isn't acting in what he believes is the best interest of the sport, the league, and/or the player? Give me some proof, not more speculation.

[HeHateMe]

Re: Big Ben not expected to practice this week

How come Goodell hasnt suspended Aaron Smith or Polamalu?

[ter1230_4]

Re: Big Ben not expected to practice this week

In response to Bradshawshairdresser, while obviously none of us have read the evaluation report, I will absolutely guarantee that the report has a conclusion of whether or not Roethlisberger can resume activities. The evaluators are medical professionals, and they performed their evaluation and reached a professional conclusion. They did not throw up their hands and say we don't know. The statement announcing Roethlisberger's suspension which was released by the NFL provided that Roethlisberger was required to undergo a comprehensive behavioral evaluation by medical professionals and that he "may not attend any team off-season activities until he has completed the evaluation and the evaluating professionals confirm with the Commissioner that Roethlisberger may resume football activities." Now it is possible that the evaluation concluded that Roethlisberger should undergo further treatment before being permitted to resume football activities, but I think it is highly unlikely that Roethlisberger would be engaging in activities such as playing a charity golf tournament last week and playing a round of golf with Natalie Gublis this week if there was some treatment that he needed to complete in order to get back on the football field. I know that most of us have been critical of Ben's Georgia incident, but I have no reason to think that he is not doing everything required of him in order to get back to practice.

As for Goodell, what you don't undersatand is that as far as he is concerned what is good for him is good for the NFL. I have seen posers like this guy before, frankly there are too many like him in public life. Goodell is going to make Roethlisberger sit until Goodell believes the the optimal moment has arrived for how Goodell will look. And Crash is right, Ben is the first NFL player ever to be suspended without having been arrested, and that also was a function of how Goodell thought he would look if he didn't suspend Ben. Goodell is a disease that will ruin the NFL.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Re: Big Ben not expected to practice this week

Goodell also had his hands full with league meetings in Dallas this week, culminating with the 2014 Super Bowl vote. As the commissioner of an entire league, he has numerous other duties that are more pressing than reading the Roethlisberger behavioral evaluation.