Post 26 - Weekly Slant 9/09/15

Hello! And welcome to my corner!

 The regular season is finally upon us! On Thursday night, or Friday morning, the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots will host the Pittsburgh Steelers in Foxborough and life will be good again!

 Earlier this week, the Deflategate scandal finally came to a close (for now) with Judge Berman overruling Commissioner Goodell's 4-game suspension of Tom Brady. During the hearing, Berman pushed for both sides to get a settlement done, but the terms couldn't be agreed on. Brady was rumoured to have been willing to accept a 1-game suspension for obstructing the investigation, but still no settlement was reached. Following the ruling, Tom Brady said, "While I am pleased to be eligible to play, I am sorry our league had to endure this. I don't think it has been good for our sport - to a large degree, we have all lost." 

 This ruling has triggered yet another controversy; that Roger Goodell's role in the disciplinary system and has even damaged his credibility as a commissioner! Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank said this about future disciplinary situations, "I think the commissioner and the ownership around the league have to be prepared to look at things, look at change and change may be appropriate." And I think he is right. The NFL has lost a lot of face over the past two offseasons - all regarding disciplinary actions - so they have to change something. 

All that said, I am so relieved that we can leave deflategate in the rear view mirror going into the season, it's gone on too long for a relatively insignificant thing.

Quick Slants: 
  • The Oregon Ducks kicked off their season with a 61-42 win over Eastern Washington.Their offense looked good but their defense didn't look much better than their showing in the National Championship last year...
  • Texas A&M and Boston College also kicked off their seasons with wins of 38-17 and 24-3 respectively. 
  • Jason Pierre-Paul finally showed his face at the Giants facility, though it has been determined he is not yet football ready and he won't sign his franchise tag for potentially a month.
  • The year of the rookie running back is upon us with TJ Yeldon, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Tevin Coleman, Atlanta Falcons, being named starting running backs. 

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