NFL commissioner Roger Goodell answered quite a few questions Friday during his annual end of the season press conference and one of the main talking points I’m sure a lot of people will be discussing over the course of the next week will be him planning to propose to the competition committee and ownership that players should be ejected if they receive two personal fouls in one game.
“I believe the league should pursue a policy where if there are two personal fouls in a game there is an automatic ejection of the player,” said Goodell. “I believe that is consistent with what we believe are the safety issues, but also believe it’s consistent with what are the standards of sportsmanship that we have emphasized. We should take it out of the hands of the officials when it gets to that point. They will have to throw the flag, but when they do we will look to see if we can reach an agreement on the conditions of which they can be ejected.”
It will be interesting to see if this proposal by Goodell grows any legs during the offseason. As many of you know, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is on the competition committee so expect him to be asked about Goodell’s proposal the next time he formally talks to the media which could be in March at the AFC coaches breakfast.
Recently, Steelers president Art Rooney II indicated during his end of the season session with the media that he thinks the game is currently over-officiated.
“I’ve recommended already to the Competition Committee to at least consider what I think is consistent with our goals of trying to bring sportsmanship back in, the kind of play to keep the focus on the game, keep the focus on the great plays happening,” Goodell said.
Let me know in the comments how you feel about Goodell’s proposal.
