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NFL fires back appeal to A.P. ruling

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Stubbornly sticking with its shoot-and-run offense, the National Football League quickly reloaded an appeal Thursday to counter U.S. Superior Court Judge David S. Doty’s ruling to overturn the suspension of Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson.

But there is nothing appealing about the league’s persistence on bowing to public pressure by throwing players under the bus in a manner that is unnecessarily humiliating to all concerned. If the goal is to achieve a lose-lose scenario, the NFL is on target.

It absolutely is admirable, even advisable, to take a firm stand against domestic violence, which is at the heart of the Peterson case. But it remains unclear how the NFL’s trigger-happy response is making things better for anybody, including the four-year-old son that Peterson disciplined with a wooden switch last May.

In a series of responses — ostensibly to the abuse charges but perhaps more so to public pressure — NFL commissioner Roger Goodell first placed the player on the commissioner’s exempt list, then suspended him indefinitely.

That is in contrast to Montgomery County Judge Kelly Case’s decision on Nov. 4 in Conroe, Texas, to accept a plea deal from Peterson. He was sentenced to probation, 80 hours of community service and a $4,000 fine.

“I want to say I truly regret this incident,” Peterson said immediately after the hearing.

On Nov. 18, with the NFL in the public spotlight regarding domestic violence — including another case involving running back Ray Rice — Goodell announced Peterson was suspended indefinitely, telling the player “you have shown no meaningful remorse for your conduct.”

With that, Goodell was congratulated by many, including ever-present special interest groups, as he appeared to compensate for what some thought was too little discipline by the Texas judicial system.

Implementing a new personal conduct policy, which actually didn’t exist at the time of the infraction, Goodell issued the suspension.

Peterson’s $700,000 a week paycheck and millions of dollars in endorsements evaporated. His status would be up for review in April 2015.

Setting aside perspective on whether Peterson displayed enough contrition, it is difficult to understand how that significant loss of income — much of it permanent — made it better for Peterson’s son. His father, unlike many in pro sports, at least takes part in rearing the child, even if the manner of east Texas discipline is disturbing to many, including the NFL suits in New York.

Never mind that Peterson certainly learned a lesson through all this, a lesson surely now understood everywhere, including east Texas. It appears the league wants to make more of this, for whatever reason.

Spinning forward to Thursday, Judge Doty sided with the NFL Players Association’s request to vacate a ruling by arbitrator Harold Henderson, who upheld Goodell’s suspension and rejected the union’s claim that the league failed to observe due process when it enforced a new personal conduct policy retroactively.

The NFL’s appeal will throw the issue back to Henderson, the appeals officer.

“Our collective bargaining agreement has rules for implementation of the personal conduct policy, and when those rules are violated, our union always stands up to protect our players’ rights,” NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said in the statement.

Unlike the Rice case, in which the NFL also lost a legal challenge, it can appeal this latest ruling if it wants.

And it wants.

“(W)e believe strongly that Judge Doty’s order is incorrect and fundamentally at odds with well-established legal precedent governing the district court’s role in reviewing arbitration decisions,” the NFL said in a statement to the media.

“As a result, we have filed a notice of appeal to have the ruling reviewed by the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. In the interim, Adrian Peterson will be returned to the Commissioner Exempt List pending further proceedings by appeals officer Harold Henderson or a determination by the Eighth Circuit Court.”

So the league continues what many believe is an admirable campaign to address important issues that are tearing at the fabric of our society. Goodell’s feet were being put to the fire on the hot-button issue of domestic violence. Never mind surveys by women against domestic violence show that the highest percentage of abuse is by police officers, about 40 percent of them according to the survey.

But, for some reason, Goodell put the league and himself in this leadership role against this social ailment when he conceded that he erred by originally penalizing Rice with only a two-game suspension. Goodell then banished Rice indefinitely, which turned out to be as long as the NFL could appeal those many judicial decisions against it.

Perhaps the NFL should throw a penalty flag at Doty for targeting. He has blindsided the aggressive, and somewhat arrogant, actions of the league so many times that it surely qualifies as a defenseless player. Or so it seems in his court.

–Frank Cooney, founder and publisher of The Sports Xchange and NFLDraftScout.com, covered the NFL and the draft since the 1960s and is a selector for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Since 1987, the Sports Xchange has been the best source of information and analysis for the top professionals in the sports publishing & information business

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Source: Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk

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Did Bucs put too much pressure on Aguayo?

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Source: Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk

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Broncos holding their breath on Derek Wolfe

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Only two days after losing Billy Winn for the year with a torn ACL, the Broncos are now sweating out another potentially serious injury along the defensive line. Via multiple reports, Broncos defensive lineman Derek Wolfe was carted off the field during practice on Saturday. It’s being described as a right ankle injury by coach [more]

Source: Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk

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