I think the NFL should revoke HOF status in certain situations , Lawrence Taylor comes to mind, aside from that something had to be done at the college level as far as discipline goes because some of these players make it to the NFL when they should have been dismissed in college , so it's a very broad spectrum overall , not to mention Adrian Peterson too , Ray Rice struck his adult future wife which is awful but compared to what Peterson did it seems Peterson was forgiven and Rice is still paying the price, I think both of them should never play in the NFL again .

Greg Hardy is a total psychopath. In his interviews he is just so out there. Eventually he will be in prison for something awful I guarantee.

"the on-field product has never been better..."

I know it's not the point of your article, but whaaaa? There is some truly awful football being played this year.

People might point to the unprecedented number of undefeated teams, but I think that's just further evidence of all the bad teams out there right now.

On the Hardy issue, the NFL suspended him 10 games and an arbitrator knocked it down to four. Tough to blame the league for Hardy being out there.

You point out all the problems well. I too am upset at it. And I am also upset that a bunch of CEOs are sitting smugly knowing they are being such hypocrites and will STILL rake in the dough. I love the Packers. But I have never hated the NFL more. I know that's not logical. But... just...ugh...

Thanks for bringing up the "jacked up" bit. I hated it back then, and now it really looks ridiculous. Glad times have changed on some things.

I don't find much validity in claiming hypocrisy over Thursday games, nor the extra PAT. I don't think NFL says it will make a move in every decision-time to "reduce risk". Some things will by nature of the game add some risk, But overall, they have clearly reduced risks, some say to the detriment of quality Defense.
On domestic violence, I would like to see hard line, and better consistency/more rationality on the punishment. I don't want to cheer for that kind of human being, and I'll abandon the sport if they don't get a tough policy and get the Greg Hardys out of the league. Letroy Guion can be shown the door too, call me unfair, whatever.

The NFL should change its shield from NFL to $$$. That would be a much more accurate shield. Thursday night football is a sham and adds unnecessary risks for the players. Player discipline does not exist or at least not consistently. Some of that is due to the NFLPA and the CBA as well as Goodell who has been an ineffective and inconsistent commissioner at best. The owners are another major problem as many of them have little or no integrity at all. Kraft and Jones come come to mind first of course, but there are others. Like others who have commented here, unless it is a Packer's game, I only watch pieces of other teams' games any more. The quality of play combined with the declining reputation of the league is dampening my interest for the game. It's becoming more and more difficult to watch and enjoy many of the teams especially when we know that criminals are being allowed to become rich while they are playing in the NFL. Thanks, Since '61

The NFL has gone to court and lobbied at the state and federal level, rather emphatically, that daily fantasy football is a game of skill, not chance. Hello? It's about the money. Always has been, always will be.

The NFL fan or at least the vast majority of them are nothing but addicts who like the drug addict,the alcoholic,the compulsive gambler etc,will find an avenue of denial to maintain said addiction.

The hypocrisy of the fans themselves is what fuels the hypocrisy of the NFL which this article is about.

The moment any fan justifies a player to play in the NFL after a criminal act was committed,whether the player was able to plea down or pay off a victim as like Hardy,in the name of winning,the hypocrisy of the NFL will always have the scapegoat answer....We're giving the fans what they want.

As far as taking action, I'd love it if we could make our voices be heard. Unfortunately, "our voices" are only really heard on the national media. That means an issue has to capture they eye of the ratings seekers. Ray Rice became a national story because the elevator video was on every TV news channel, over & over. Player safety & gambling aren't nearly as sexy for national news & not likely to get any serious coverage outside of social media.

In order for the NFL to do something about an issue, they first have to fear they'll lose profits if they don't. I thinks that's possible with these issues, but if something's going to get done, It's probably not going to be because we raised a stink, it may be more likely that lawsuits and attorneys threaten their profits.

If all of you don't like the NFL then I suggest you quite watching and trying to cover the NFL. Every business has red tape and some degree of hypocrisy. I've never run across one that doesn't if you dig a little.

If you don't like it, DON'T WATCH. Its as simple as that! You keep watching and the NFL keeps laughing all the way to the bank.

What a pointless article. Put up or shut up.

Fuck Thursday night football. It's so damn obvious it's a money grab. Oh let's pit two teams who got beat up 4 days ago against each other. In that time make them scheme, go over play tape, rest, and practice. Fucking bullshit I hate Thursday night football with a passion.

With all due respect to Jay and Jason, I strongly disagree with most of this article. I only agree with the parts about gambling and field conditions.

A) The purpose of any business is to make money. As time goes on society denies this essential truth or it is qualified with more and more conditions. The only role of government should be to regulate and/or eliminate private gain that produces a public cost. All of the NFL's decisions and actions can and should be considered with this in mind.

B) Football is a violent sport. The violent aspects cannot be removed without changing the essence of the game. I suppose one could remove the OL and DL, outlaw running the ball, and just have QBs throwing to receivers with a 3 second time limit. The receivers would only have to be touched to be down, with only incidental contact on contested catches. It would look like that televised Friday practice with the QBs throwing to a choice of WRs instead of just one.

C.) Part of the attraction of football is the violence. Never doubt that the veneer of civilization is thin in both men and also in women. The hypocrisy reaches down to level of each and every fan. The NFL is simply trying to walk a tightrope balancing the fans' actual desire with what is socially acceptable. "Jacked Up" was cringe-worthy, but most of the hits would be legal today, and I bet it got good ratings.

D) Domestic Violence: "If it saves even one life, or injury, it would have been a successful campaign" in the context of running ads against domestic violence is probably true, but in general the premise if extended to the world at large is a load of crap based on lazy and intellectually dishonest thinking. I can make a car that is very safe, but no one could afford it: it would have a top speed of 2 MPH and it would look a lot like a tank. A 55 MPH speed limit instead of 65 MPH would save a life. Indeed, a 5 MPH speed limit instead of 55 MPH would also save a life. I could impose rules on construction sites, but if the standard is saving one life people would have a tough time building a doghouse, much less a home or a high rise, roads, factories, or engaging in farming.

The NFL has no more duty to run ads against domestic violence than any other company, and indeed the NFL has no more duty than each and every one of us has. It does so because it (wrongly imo) perceives it to be in its own interest to do so. That is because the NFL is in the entertainment business; indeed, if it weren't in the entertainment business, it arguably would be illegal for the NFL to discriminate against its players/employees just because the player was convicted (indeed, merely accused in the NFL's world) of DV, DUI, assault, fraud, since in general those crimes would not be related to football. There is a contradiction btw society's desire to rehabilitate criminals by making sure they have employment after serving their sentence and the demand that the NFL suspend players for their misdeeds.

This is a quagmire that the NFL should have avoided by letting the teams make these decisions. While the NFL has been terrible at imposing consistent sanctions, it is always going to be 2nd guessed, often enough in courts, requiring it to have highly paid folks administer the system and lawyers to defend their decisions. I would note that having villains in your business is also quite lucrative: just ask pro wrestling and some boxers.

Pink Campaign: There is a lot of hypocrisy here because the NFL, by stating that it donates the royalties from jersey sales to the cause, is misleading the public. It sounds like the NFL is donating all of its profits on jersey sales, when in fact royalties form only a part of their profit when the jersey is sold from NFL pro shops. With the deception noted, many think this campaign is loaded with hypocrisy. I don't. I don't think any for profit corporation should donate money to charities. If I am a shareholder, that money is mine: the CEO and Bd. of Directors can be generous with their own damn money, not mine. The only exception is if the donation to charity is part of a PR or marketing program that increases the corporation's profit. Clearly the NFL choose this pink campaign to improve ratings with women. As such, I have no problem with it other than the deception.

E) Player Safety: This has been answered conceptually above. The NFL is a business; its purpose is to make money. Its concern for player safety is conditioned on those two premises. A construction company might be concerned about employee safety while really being concerned only about their workers compensation rates, but it can't actually say that. Similarly, the NFL is concerned about player safety because it might get sued out of existence otherwise (a real concern) and because if there are enough incidents like Darryl Stingley or enough videos of retired and well known NFL players in their 50s who can't talk, or shake, etc., the public might turn away from the game. Returning to the construction company, it might even be that the construction company is genuinely concerned about its employees, but never forget that at some level there is a concern for the bottom line, and that there has to be. Even if the company thoroughly trains its employees on safety and all OSHA rules, it could hire someone to watch the employees to ensure compliance. Trotting out the "save even one life" argument, the company could hire one safety supervisor to watch one employee to ensure compliance. Heck, why not 2 inspectors for each person who is actually working. Why not a 5 to 1 ratio if studies show that doing so saves 1 life somewhere?

I do agree about field conditions as it relates to player safety. I'm not sure whether some objective tests can be codified to define what constitutes an acceptable playing surface. This comes down to money, since some teams play in stadiums that are used for many other purposes (see Soldiers Field) and the team is too cheap to pony up for its own stadium or otherwise ameliorate the problem.

F) Gambling. I can't get worked up about this issue too much, but I agree that the NFL is a hypocrite here. The integrity of the game is a good reason to prevent players from gambling with unsavory folks (shaving points scandals, for eg.), but the same argument applies to owners. Gambling is the easiest way to actually go broke fast while still being able to produce on the field, but there are other ways, like margin calls on the stock market. Being in debt isn't illegal, and practically all creditors aren't going to demand that a player shave points or throw the game. They will just sue in court. I don't really get the gambling stuff.

It is up to society to decide what societal norms are. I am fine with Jay's suggestion that people should call radio stations, contact their team, etc., to the extent that this activity is an attempt to educate and persuade, as opposed to the attempt by vocal handfuls of people trying to pretend that they are the majority in order to set societal norms.

The only betting i do is £5 a year on the Grand National, I have no interest in fantasy Football, Its just a bunch of sad people who think they own there very own Football team.My advice to them is become a Packers fan buy some shares and become a team owner for real.
As the C.I.A. come to the Packers for advice on keeping things secret, The only good thing that comes from gambling is the Packers have to give out information like injury reports.

Please excuse the double post, stupid slow browser.

1. Domestic Violence

Last I heard, we have an American criminal justice system that has been given the authority and responsibility of upholding the laws with regard to domestic violence. If anyone - with or without a straight face - honestly suggests that they want Rodger Goodell, Jerry Jones and their NFL frat house buddies to step up and play a role in adjudicating crime in the USA, you are out of your mind, bat-shit crazy.

2. Gambling

The NFL does not outlaw gambling on games, or fantasy leagues or whatever. It bans NFL players and officials from participating in such gambling. I support this 100%, since the ability to bet on a game in which you play presents a clear and self-evident conflict of interest. If the NFL wants to keep players away from public appearances that come uncomfortably close to a gambling environment or that might portray the league in a bad light, I have no problem with it.

(Also, if they could somehow wipe fantasy football off the face of the earth, I would have no problem with that either. In fact, I'm hoping they can).

3. Player Safety

If you really want to do everything possible to make the game safe, you need to stop playing it. If that is your suggestion raise your hand. And if YOU are willing to tolerate some danger in order to watch a game, how are you less of a hypocrite than the NFL is?

4. What are "exuberant amounts of money?" LOL.

5. Tweets almost never prove anything.

I disagree with #2. In fact, the violence of football is what attracted me to it when I was young. Football, like martial arts, gave me a disciplined channel for my aggressiveness to be released.
When I played my heroes were Nitschke, Butkus, Alzado, Lott and anyone else that would make devastating hits. I loved Jacked Up, Crunch Course and any other videos that showed big hits.

Can we drop the facade of Player Safety, please? You know full well, by the time you sign an NFL contract you are exchanging your physical well-being for money. You know after your 1st week of practice you are trading physical well-being for the chance to compete and the thrill of victory. It may not be that clearly stated, but you intrinsically know it.

A large part of my deep personal dislike for Rodger Goodell is his "sissifying" of the NFL. Watching the Packers D-backs tackle today is like watching a tutorial on how to play slap-n-tickle. God, I miss Chuck Cecil laying the wood to a WR crossing the middle.

Mike Tomlin said, "The more violent team wins." Not anymore, Mike.

If your looking for major corporations to be your moral compass get ready for lots of disappointment.

To most of you, I just want to say that agree or disagree, you present your thoughts well and we have a good group here. I can't speak for the rest of the team here but I absolutely don't expect everyone to agree with my writings. The debates are healthy and fun, when done the right way. And I think we do it right way more often than not.

I meant no offense to any other readers than the subject of my last post. Our group here is a good example of why and how Packers fans are thought to be some of the smartest among NFL fan circles.

Carry on...

Just watched Dorsey Levens on Highly Questionable. He wrote a book too. The one thing that scared him the most was finding out about getting your "bell rung". He was told getting your bell rung was actually a concussion. He said he got his bell rung about 10 times a game. Football will NEVER be a safe game. We are watching players slowly beat themselves into oblivion and cheering all the way.

If we want to point out hypocrisy, how about those people who rail on the NFL for not doing enough for player safety, but those same people are all excited to watch boxing, MMA or professional "wrestling?"

Now THAT'S hypocrisy...