Extra Points: The truth is closing in on the NFL

(SportsNetwork.com) – Just when you think you can get back to the actual game of football, another shoe drops in the scandal-ridden NFL.

At the same time many were climbing over each other to get back on the Eli Manning bandwagon and plenty of others were pumping the brakes on Kirk Cousins’ fast track to Canton, news broke that the New Jersey law enforcement official who sent a video of Ray Rice punching his then-fiancee in the face to the NFL, addressed it to the league’s chief security officer.

The unnamed official who told The Associated Press he sent the video to Jeffrey Miller remains unsure if the league’s security chief ever saw it, however.

The same source, of course, told the AP earlier this month that he had sent a copy of the video to the league offices and received confirmation it arrived in the form of a 12-second voicemail from an unidentified woman.

The official, who previously asked the AP not to name Miller, said no one from the NFL specifically asked him for the video taken inside an Atlantic City casino elevator.

You can speculate why the “Deep Throat” in this narrative is seemingly handing out nuggets of information piecemeal but the NFL’s strategy to combat the situation is becoming clearer by the minute, insulate the big wigs and throw a lower-level employee or two under the bus when the time is right.

Miller quickly denied that he ever received the video in a statement to the AP and echoed NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s repeated declarations that no one in the league office had viewed it until TMZ posted it online Sept. 8, which led to the Baltimore Ravens cutting ties with Rice and the NFL suspending him indefinitely.

Here’s the thing though, to play the game of plausible deniability, your denial has to be at least plausible.

Take Steve Bisciotti, the billionaire owner of the Ravens, who also stood by his stance that no one in his organization saw the now infamous tape of Rice knocking out his now-wife, Janay Palmer.

When meeting the media earlier this week, Bisciotti at least admitted he could have gotten the tape if he wanted.

“There is no excuse for me to have not demanded that video, except I wasn’t concerned or interested enough to demand it,” Bisciotti admitted. “It never crossed my mind. I’m sorry for that, deeply sorry for that. If it had crossed my mind, I would have demanded it. If I had demanded it, I would have gotten it.”

A little truth goes a long way and Bisciotti now comes across as a guy who made a mistake and deserves a second chance, at least to many. He also, however, highlighted what is an indefensible position for the NFL.

Remember Goodell is still claiming that the NFL asked law enforcement agencies in New Jersey for the tape but never received it and also asserts the league did not ask the now-closed Revel Casino Hotel for the tape because doing so would have put a would-be leaker in legal trouble, something that has been disputed by many legal minds and something Miller certainly knows isn’t true.

The Garden State official sent the tape to Miller because of the NFL’s security chief’s background as the former commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, a job that required him to work closely with law enforcement of a bordering state like New Jersey.

If anyone understands how to get things done in these types of investigations in the Tri-State area surrounding Philadelphia, it’s a guy like Miller and everyone with a modicum of common sense understands that.

In his own much-maligned news conference last Friday, Goodell said “the same mistakes can never be repeated” and reiterated that he “got it wrong” when he initially suspended Rice, a former Pro Bowl running back, two games over the February incident.

Unlike Bisciotti, though, the embattled commissioner didn’t explain what he got wrong and what he could have done in hindsight. a tactic which only exacerbates his lack of credibility.

And today Goodell is getting lampooned by “South Park” and is a walking, talking punch line to thousands of comedians around the country.

Meanwhile, questions over who saw what, and when they saw it, will continue to plague the NFL moving forward and the plan of hiring former FBI Director Robert Mueller to conduct an “independent investigation” of the league in an effort to restore credibility is a Hail Mary.

Or better defined, a transparent attempt by the commissioner to use Mueller’s “sterling reputation” to save himself.

Categorized in: NFL