Man, I miss the NFL. And not just in the sense that the Steelers report to Saint Vincent College exactly two weeks from today, and it'll be wonderful to have them back.
I mean, I really miss the NFL being about, you know, football.
What's below is a screengrab I took from Yahoo! Sports' NFL page late Tuesday night, and no, it's not a mockup, photoshop or Onion-esque satire:
In no apparent order, the top headlines are LeSean McCoy being accused of beating his girlfriend, his child and his dog, the Cardinals' GM being accused of impersonating a security officer, a debate over whether to remove the statue of an owner exposed for a litany of sexual misconduct and racism, the NFL Players Association challenging a rule against protesting the national anthem and, maybe just to lighten the load a little, a former NFL cornerback being charged with attempted murder.
There's only one pattern in place, and I dare say it isn't societal. The individuals involved in the above come from dramatically varied backgrounds, including their races, so spare any stereotypes.
This is, plain and simple, a league that's lost its way.
And, in turn, a league that so very desperately needs a new leader.
I might be over-generalizing in the strict sense that Roger Goodell obviously can't be responsible for these people, even the increasingly desperate-for-any-type-of-traction-on-any-topic DeMaurice Smith and the players' union. Even the most powerful man in professional sports can't control everything.
At the same time, I also fear that we don't generalize enough with stuff like this. We don't dig hard enough for the common denominators. We'll instead say, hey, it's one wacko or one piece of human filth or one drunken, drug-addled episode, and we'll point right back to all the exceptionally beautiful humans more prevalent throughout the league.
I'm guilty of it myself. When I hear about a miscreant like Michael Vick, I immediately swing my mind to a magnificent soul like Ramon Foster. I'm positive like that.
The unfortunate reality, though, is that it takes far fewer to taint the batch. And the NFL's now got them all over, seemingly more and more each year, with the impact now being felt -- once inconceivable -- on the bottom line, with diminishing TV ratings, attendance, merchandise sales and, in the intangible sense, the broader cool factor.
I won't adjudicate any of the cases up there, particularly not McCoy's which sounds, uh, Shady, yet hadn't come close to concrete evidence from either side as of this typing. And I don't care enough about the rest, none of which have a connection to Pittsburgh, to pry any further.
But I'll offer this: Goodell had a chance to take a stand in 2014 with Ray Rice. And he sure as hell didn't.
Instead, even after the infamous elevator video catching Rice punching out his fiancee Janay Palmer, now his wife, then leaving her motionless on the floor, then dragging her unconscious body out ... even after that, all Goodell administered was two whole games. Or exactly the same as Le'Veon Bell got a couple years later for doing a doobie.
The commissioner had a chance to use Rice, who was guiltier than sin, as an example, to set a new standard of conduct. And he chose to try to let it blow over, presuming the NFL's immense popularity could overcome all.
Well, it hasn't. Arrogance does achieve a height too high eventually. Goodell willfully ignored the Patriots' cheating until they kept doing it and doing it, and the toothpaste couldn't go back in the tube. He willfully ignored rampant use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, compared to other North American professional sports. He willfully ignored so many more heinous acts in addition to Rice's. And yeah, when he had a chance to lead on the anthem debate, the way the NBA's Adam Silver brilliantly did, he went right back into hiding.
The NFL and all 32 owners, most of whom have stood staunchly behind Goodell -- few more vociferously than Art Rooney II -- are now paying the price. And it's richly deserved.
• As far as I'll go on McCoy, the former Pitt star, is this: I've now read intensively from both perspectives, and it stinks from his side a whole lot worse. But again, prudent to be patient.
• For fairer context, this is the driest time of the year for NFL news. Always has been. Everyone from league execs to team front offices to scouts to coaches to players takes a simultaneous hiatus, one final breather before the main event.
Here, for example, are Ben Roethlisberger and best bud Bruce Arians at a golf tournament in Atlanta over the weekend:
#Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger also here. pic.twitter.com/1ZCZA5tNTO
— Justin Felder (@Justin_FOX5) July 9, 2018
Looks like he's got the right driver.
• Still would love to see Lawrence Timmons brought back any day now. Not to start. To support. It's too perfect.
• Still would love to see Le'Veon Bell and the Steelers figure it out by the NFL's Monday 4 p.m. deadline to reach a long-term contract.
And really, why shouldn't they?
If Bell plays on the franchise tag -- which he would, by the way, for all 16 games -- he'd do so for a $14.544 million salary. By all accounts, including at least one of his own recent raps, he's seeking a range between $15 million and $17 million over a longer term. That's hardly a chasm. Beyond that, because NFL contracts aren't guaranteed, the Steelers can easily structure the offer to protect themselves against some long-term cap-crushing commitment.
Expect a press conference that day.
• My prediction for camp: Tons of tackling.
Forget the football in shorts. After Mike Tomlin and Keith Butler both piped up at minicamp about the failure to tackle -- and not just tackling the Jaguars -- combined with Tomlin strongly hinting he's got a solution in mind, I could easily envision a scenario where the players who tackle in Latrobe will be the ones who take the field in Cleveland. Especially at inside linebacker and safety. All other skills will be seen as secondary.
• My most-fired-up member of the Steelers this offseason, albeit in his own subtle way: Stephon Tuitt.
Runner-up: Cam Heyward.
It's understandable, to say the least. Imagine being that good all season long -- their combined 102 pressures were the third-most of any two interior-line teammates in the league. And then, just like that, Tuitt comes up with a strained biceps for the playoffs, the Jaguars double-team Heyward and Leonard Fournette ... you know.
As 91 told me at minicamp, "There’s nowhere to go if you can’t stop the run. We all know that.”
• I only take sports betting odds seriously in football because of the scope of the action -- that many gamblers can't be that wrong too often -- so it's probably at least a little noteworthy that the Steelers are the only AFC North team being given even a reasonable shot by OddsShark at making the playoffs and, thus, heavily favored to win the division yet again. That's as it should be: The Ravens looked like they were building a top-five defense last year ... until they were nothing of the kind, the Bengals only pretended to fire Marvin Lewis, and the Browns will Brown.
• Lots of football people at all levels find gentle ways of wording that Ryan Shazier's tackling technique wasn't proper on that fateful play in Cincinnati, and I can respect that. He's the victim in every sense, even if there's no culprit.
At the same time, upon reading Dale Lolley's fine piece yesterday interviewing local high school football coaches about it, I sure hope the football community can reach the point where the discussion can be had much more openly, candidly, more tiptoe-free. All concerned owe it to the kids entering the game, in particular.