What message is the NFL really trying to send?

Listen to Dave Ross Commentary: What message is the NFL really trying to send?

Some fans are outraged that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell would impose the nuclear option on the New Orleans Saints.

They figure lots of teams have a bounty system. But according to Goodell, ONLY the Saints had organized it to this degree — to the point of deliberately putting a price on the heads of certain quarterbacks.

And yet — fans will tell you they don’t plunk down a week’s pay to see ballerinas stroking kittens.

And the NFL knows this, so what’s really going on here?

I think former NFL-er Shannon Sharpe is onto something:

“There’s litigation right now that the NFL is being sued by 500 to 700 former players and their families for concussions and concussion-related symptoms. The NFL had to take a stand and say we do not promote this and once we found out about it, we put a stop to it immediately,” said Sharpe.

It’s all those court cases. The NFL as a corporation has to make it clear that it does not and has NEVER tolerated the idea of deliberately injuring another player. It has to be able to say injuries will happen yes, but when they do, they are entirely unintentional. That’s why players will now have to sign a letter that they will not participate in a pay-for-performance system.

The NFL wants violence — but it wants Wiley Coyote Violence. Where the boulder flattens you, but they peel you off the turf and you pop back into shape.

They don’t want someone targeting Peyton Manning’s brand new robot neck.

And they don’t want more concussion stories — which are starting to freak out football parents, who are beginning to wonder just what kind of game their kids are involved in:

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