Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has asked for a special league meeting with NFL owners to talk about commissioner Roger Goodell’s contract extension negotiations, but an ownership source told ESPN’s Jim Trotter that owners currently have no plans to act on Jones’ request.
Jones’ request was made to ownership in a letter, the contents of which were reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.
Jones suggested a meeting for Nov. 28 in New York, the letter said. The league has a regularly scheduled committee members meeting Dec. 13 in Irving, Texas. A source told Trotter that Jones is expected to be given an opportunity to discuss the negotiations at that time if he wishes.
According to Jones’ letter, he wants the Nov. 28 sit-down in order to discuss the negotiations, oversight of the compensation committee handling Goodell’s deal and the date of a vote on the extension.
In the letter, Jones wrote that the league “has undergone unprecedented upheaval in the last two years, including a significant decline in television ratings, increased advertiser discontent, high-profile litigation concerning player suspensions, and decreasing ticket sales.”
“This is not the time for the League to undertake massive contractual obligations which are inconsistent with the League’s performance,” the letter says.
Jones’ letter also cites “severe threats of retaliation” made against him because he has questioned the negotiations over Goodell’s contract.
Jones has threatened to sue the league if the committee approves an extension for Goodell, saying it should be reviewed and approved by all owners.
Earlier Wednesday, The Associated Press obtained a letter written for the NFL’s compensation committee in which Jones is accused of sabotaging the negotiations.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Martellus Bennett is playing for the New England Patriots now, and Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews found some humor in it.
The Packers cut Bennett last week with the designation that he failed to disclose a physical condition, and then Bennett fired back by saying he needed surgery but claimed that team physician Dr. Pat McKenzie tried to make him play, which is exactly what Bennett did after the Patriots claimed him off waivers.
“We all got a good laugh from it,” Matthews said. “It is what it is. Martellus is in their locker room now and not here anymore. So now we’re just focused on the guys we have in here.”
Although Matthews wouldn’t say outright that Bennett was willing to play hurt for Tom Brady but not Packers backup Brett Hundley, the Packers Pro Bowl linebacker said: “He seemed to suit up and looked good on Sunday night.”
“You know what, I think everybody knows the story there — we don’t need to talk about it much more,” Matthews added. “Like I said, we’re focused on the guys in the locker room, but it’s an interesting story that will probably be talked about for a while.”
Martellus Bennett said while with the Packers that he was going to undergo shoulder surgery, but he wound up playing for the Patriots on Sunday. AP Photo/Jack Dempsey
“Like I said, we all know the story,” Matthews said. “We’ve got more than capable tight ends on the team who’ve been around here for a while. They’re more than up for the challenge, whatever it is, each and every week.”
Matthews joined current Packers players Jordy Nelson and Aaron Rodgers, who, among others, defended McKenzie. Former players also have spoken out on his behalf.
“My experience has been fantastic with Pat,” Matthews said. “I think he’s an awesome doc. I think he puts our health in front of the team first and foremost. In fact, I think a lot of people have gotten on his case because he’s too conservative. So I wouldn’t put much merit into those comments made. I think it really speaks volumes to hear everybody’s rebuttal and come to his aid in that regard as opposed to the other person.”
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Only hours after his baby boy’s death, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Marquise Goodwin arrived at the team hotel to check in before Sunday’s game against the New York Giants.
After his wife, Morgan, encouraged him to play, the usually dapper Goodwin arrived in sweats, having come directly from the hospital after their son was delivered stillborn in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Goodwin hadn’t slept after spending the night by his wife’s side and he was about to play in a professional football game wholly unprepared, save for the two most important influences in his life: his faith and his wife.
San Francisco wide receiver Marquise Goodwin has a quiet moment in the end zone following his touchdown against the Giants on Sunday. Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
“Honest to God truth, the only reason I made it through the game is because of my faith in God,” Goodwin said Tuesday. “I mentally and physically was not prepared to play in the game. At all. I really didn’t even practice that week, I was just going through a lot. Just trying to get my body rested from the week before and the week before that. Coming into the game, I wasn’t really in it because I had just lost my baby. My wife, we prayed about it and I guess she felt that God moved her to allow me to go play and she encouraged me. She raised my spirits up and helped me get ready for the game.
“So that’s what’s so cool about the situation is, my wife, how supportive she is and how encouraging she is, all these great things that she does for me to help me go out there and play the way that I did. I think it speaks more about her character than mine because here she is, she could be holding me back, she could make me feel guilty about having to go and play football, which is just a game in the grand scheme of things and what we dealt with was a real-life situation, a death. Not only a death but a death to our infant child. So, situations like that, you only make it through that with your faith in God.”
On his long touchdown catch, Goodwin blew a kiss to the sky before crossing the goal line and then knelt in the end zone to pray as the emotion poured out of him.
“All the pain that I was feeling at the time, it just came over me at once,” Goodwin said. “It wasn’t something that was planned. If you had lost something that you wanted more than anything, something that you expected because you could see it without seeing it, you would know how I felt in that situation. So just to be able to score a touchdown and ultimately help my team get a win was just a great moment in my life and it’s a moment that I’ll remember forever because I could have easily not been at the game and that never would have happened. Nobody would have ever known about this story and we wouldn’t be able to help ourselves and then be able to help other people along the way (in) healing. I’m grateful that I was able to play in the game and get a touchdown.”
In the midst of the highlight-reel touchdown catch and crushing block, Goodwin could also be seen kneeling over an injured Giant in prayer. It’s part of a faith-based approach Goodwin said he adopted when he got old enough to understand it and has been a regular part of his life since.
“I pray for everybody throughout the game, even my opponents,” Goodwin said. “Outside of the game we still have to live life, still have to lead normal lives and we still need our bodies. Praying for him is pretty simple because if I was down, I would want people to pray for me. I just believe in helping other people.”
After the game, Goodwin quickly exited the locker room to be by his family’s side. He and his wife soon made the decision to share their story on social media. For Goodwin, that choice to share something so personal was made in an effort to tell their story without others making assumptions or spreading false rumors.
As it turned out, sharing his family’s story in such a public way has resulted in what Goodwin calls a “tremendous amount of support” from people all over.
“Morgan and I appreciate all the love that we’ve gotten,” Goodwin said. “We didn’t realize that sharing our journey with this baby would gain so many people (supporting). We do have a lot of people that followed us through our journey so maybe we can help people who have dealt with similar things that we have gone through and learn things from people who have been through our situation.”
With the 49ers off this week for the bye, Goodwin and his wife have returned home to Texas to be around family as they attempt to move forward.
Speaking about such a tragic loss only a couple of days after it happened, Goodwin already has a message for others who might be dealing with something similar.
“Never stop believing,” Goodwin said. “The reward will last longer than the pain. Just because something that you wanted your whole life didn’t quite work out as you planned it to — a lot of the times it’s not supposed to work out how you want it to — it will grow you as a person and make you better. I know my wife and I will be better after this situation and we’ll know how to handle it next time even better.
“And faith, faith (is) No. 1, believe that God has a plan for everything. No matter what the outcome is, as long as you pray to him and be genuine because he knows when you’re genuine and when you’re not and maintain the faith, I think things will turn around for you. I know things will turn around for you. And ultimately, you will always be victorious when it’s all said and done.”
INDIANAPOLIS – Colts coach Chuck Pagano defended the team’s medical staff on Monday a day after questions arose on how they handled quarterback Jacoby Brissett’s concussion situation in Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Our guys, if they’re not 100 percent, they’re not going to put them back out there. Period,” Pagano said.
Brissett went into the concussion tent on the sideline after he took a shot to the back of the head from Steelers defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt on a third-down scramble with less than two minutes left in the third quarter. Backup quarterback Scott Tolzien took the field on the Colts’ next series, only to have Brissett run on at the last second.
Colts quarterback Jacoby Brissett remains in the concussion protocol after he was injured Sunday against Pittsburgh. Marc Lebryk/USA TODAY Sports
Brissett’s postgame media session was cancelled after the team announced that he developed concussion symptoms following their 20-17 loss to the Steelers.
Pagano said they plan to send the NFL the video of the play to review because there wasn’t a flag thrown on the play and it appeared to be a helmet-to-helmet hit on the play. He was asked if evaluating for concussions on the sideline is a difficult thing for the NFL to handle.
“No, I think it’s simple,” he said. “I think they got the thing set up the way it’s supposed to be set up. A guy gets hit and there’s a helmet-to-helmet shot and we all see it – you can go back and look at the TV copy, you guys saw the same thing I saw. You’re not supposed to be able to do that (helmet-to-helmet hits), but it happened. We pull him out, they go through the protocol, check off all the boxes, dot the I’s, cross the T’s. No, they’re doing what they’re supposed to do.”
Brissett did not speak to the media on Monday because he’s still in the concussion protocol. The Colts don’t play again until Nov. 26 because they have their bye this weekend. Tolzien will start against the Tennessee Titans if Brissett is still in the protocol.
