The Sports Xchange

The NFL Players Association, demanding NFL commissioner Roger Goodell recuse himself from the Deflategate appeal, could file a lawsuit to force the issue.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk said it is “highly likely if not certain” that a lawsuit attempting to force Goodell to delegate the appeal will be filed, possibly soon.

The NFLPA on Thursday filed an appeal of the NFL’s four-game suspension of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

“If the Commissioner does not appoint such a neutral arbitrator, the NFLPA and Mr. Brady will seek recusal and pursue all available relief to obtain an arbitrator who is not evidently partial,” general counsel Tom DePaso said in the appeal letter sent to NFL executive vice president Troy Vincent.

Goodell is “very unlikely” to recuse himself from presiding over the appeal, ESPN’s Ed Werder reported Friday, based on a source.

That will put Goodell in the position to weigh the arguments of Brady and the NFLPA against the decision to follow the conclusions reached by Ted Wells in the 243-page report outlining the offenses.

Brady was suspended for his role as the alleged ringleader of team equipment managers who intentionally lowered the air pressure in footballs.

In the Wells report released May 6, investigators said it was “more probable than not” that Brady “was at least generally aware” that team employees were instructed to prepare the game balls to his liking. They inflated the footballs below the league minimum of 12.5 pounds per square inch.

—Count Patriots defensive end Rob Ninkovich among the teammates who back Brady.

Ninkovich said has no doubts about his quarterback’s integrity.

“I don’t question it,” Ninkovich said on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston. “Tom is a tremendous person and there is nothing more important to him than the game itself. I don’t think Tom would ever do anything to jeopardize the integrity of the game. I stand by my quarterback and everyone else should, too. When you’re really good for a really long time, people want to come after you.

“We all support Tom, the whole Patriots organization supports Tom, and the Patriots fan base supports Tom. You can’t control what everybody else says or does, you can kind of just control what you can do. For me, everybody else is focused on this season and do the best you can.”

—Cleveland Browns coach Mike Pettine is taking a more active role in the offense this year.

In his second year as head coach, Pettine carries a playbook and studies formations on flash cards, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

“That side of my brain’s been sort of asleep for a while,” Pettine said.

Pettine, who spent more than a decade as an NFL defensive assistant and coordinator, sits in all offensive meetings.

“It’s been great,” Pettine told the newspaper Friday at a team golf outing. “I feel very rejuvenated as a coach to be a part of it.”

Pettine plans to work with first-time NFL offensive coordinator John DeFilippo as they try to resurrect a unit that finished 27th in scoring and 22nd in yards per game a year ago.

The Browns expect to start 35-year-old Josh McCown at quarterback over Johnny Manziel, who continues to work on his recovery and learn the new offense after a difficult rookie season on and off the field.

—Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, who rarely participated in offseason workouts while with the Detroit Lions, made a brief appearance at the start of his new team’s voluntary program last month but hasn’t been there since.

The Dolphins don’t appear to have a problem with Suh’s decision.

While coach Joe Philbin may prefer the highest-paid defender in NFL history to participate with the rest of the team, Suh would rather work out with his own trainer as he did in Detroit.

Suh signed a six-year $114 million contract — $60 million guaranteed — with the Dolphins once free agency got underway.

Suh’s fellow defensive tackle A.J. Francis, an undrafted player in 2013 who was on injured reserve last year, said no one has a problem with Suh following his own workout routine, on his own schedule and at his own gym.

“He came the first couple of days, we ran and he did his thing,” Francis told the Palm Beach Post. “He went back to where he trains at. But that’s what he does. He’s the best D-lineman in the league so if he wants to train somewhere else that’s his prerogative. And nobody can tell him otherwise.”

The Dolphins’ mandatory minicamp is scheduled June 16-18.

—Former Miami kicker Garo Yepremian, famous for helping the Dolphins win back-to-back NFL titles but also for his Super Bowl gaffe, died Friday after a battle with cancer. He was 70.

Yepremian died at a hospital in Media, Pa., a year after he was diagnosed, his wife, Maritza, said.

A native of Cyprus, Yepremian was 22 years old when he came to the United States and kicked in the first football game he had ever seen.

Yepremian was a member of the Miami teams that won championships in 1972 and 1973, and his 37-yard field goal against the Kansas City Chiefs in the second overtime of the AFL championship on Christmas Day 1971 ended the longest game in NFL history.

Yepremian is also remembered for his blooper in Super Bowl VII in January 1973 as the Dolphins were trying to finish off their perfect 17-0 season.

With Miami leading 14-0, Yepremian’s field-goal attempt was blocked by the Washington Redskins. He picked up the ball and tried to pass it. Instead, he fumbled and the Redskins’ Mike Bass ran it back 49 yards for a touchdown.

The Dolphins survived the mistake to win the Super Bowl and cap the perfect season. They also won the championship the following year.

In an interview in 2007, Yepremian said: “Every airport you go to, people point to you and say, ‘Here’s the guy who screwed up in the Super Bowl. After a while it bothers you. If it was anybody else he would go crazy, but fortunately I’m a happy-go-lucky guy.”

—The Minnesota Vikings have kicked in an additional $14 million toward their new $1 billion stadium.

The additional money will go primarily to buy 1,200 more television screens the team had already planned to acquire, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The new stadium, opening in 2016, now will have 2,000 high-definition screens throughout the clubs, concourses and concession stands.

The new money brings the contribution from the team’s owners to $566 million, an additional $89 million since the stadium legislation passed. The public contribution toward the project remains at $498 million.

—The Pittsburgh Steelers hired Rick Reiprish to the team’s personnel department as senior assistant for college scouting.

Reiprish brings 35 years of personnel experience to the Steelers, most recently serving as the director of college scouting for the New Orleans Saints for 11 years (2004-14).