If you let the vocal Steeler Nation tell the story, it would read that Roger Goodell and the NFL have a personal vendetta out against the Steelers, a storied program that has held prestige for so many years.
But when you look at the facts, is it a vendetta? Or is it the fact that the NFL commissioner is simply holding the Steelers to a higher standard?
Yes, there’s a difference between the two and I believe it’s the latter.
To squash the misconception that the NFL holds a grudge against the Steelers, let’s look at what we can visibly prove.
Prior to Tomlin’s $100,000 fine, of the top seven on-field incidents that have garnered fines, no Steeler was present, according to WallStCheatSheet.com.
Goodell took over as league commissioner in 2006. In 2007, he implemented the personal conduct policy that held players and coaches accountable for their actions off of the field.
During the first few seasons, Goodell seemed to spread the wealth, fining several players and a few coaches for their misbehavior. Of those, only one player was a Steeler: Ben Roethlisberger.
Goodell dropped the hammer on Adam “Pacman” Jones, suspending him on several occasions, once for the entire season.
Roethlisberger was originally given a six-game suspension. That was pretty standard it seemed in Goodell’s early years. But that suspension was changed, in favor of Roethlisberger, to only a four game suspension.
Goodell moved, then, to a series of fines that concerned on-the-field hits, a decision that was not popular among players and coaches alike.
One of the first instances of the enforcement of this came when he dropped three fines on three well-known players across the league.
On October 19, 2010, Goodell fined James Harrison of the Steelers, Dunta Robinson of the Atlanta Falcons and Brandon Meriweather of the New England Patriots, a team which Steelers fans think always gets a free pass. But we’ll get to that later.
This fine started the “feud” between Harrison and Goodell, even though two others were fined on the exact same day. Were the fines handed down for no reason? No, Goodell defended them with a memo to the league, stating that he felt the league needed to be safer and more about technique, a fair assessment at the time.
Harrison and his teammates could’ve let the fine go, but they didn’t. Troy Polomalu got involved, saying that he believed Goodell had too much power.
But as the league commissioner, isn’t the purpose to be in control of what happens in your league?
In 2010 Harrison was fined an estimated $120,000, a sizeable fee for just one player. But what were the fines for? They were for hits that resulted in flags or personal injuries. Again, going off of why he fined Harrison in the first place, Goodell had to hand down the fines again. If he hadn’t, then what kind of message does that send to other players?
Was he making an example of Harrison? Probably. But did Harrison give him ample chance to do so? Absolutely.
But while Harrison always played the victim card, he was actually shown a bit of favoritism by the Steelers organization, as well as a pass from the NFL.
When Harrison was involved in an off-the-field domestic assault issue in 2008, he was given a pass by the Steelers. But Cedrick Wilson wasn’t. Wilson was released for a similar incident.
Of course, you can argue that Wilson wasn’t as valuable to the team, but a double standard nonetheless. Harrison was not fined by the league in that situation, though, while other players have been fined for similar incidents. The charges were eventually dropped, as well.
All of this, among other minor squabbles between Steelers players and authority, have brought us to the recent events that Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was fined $100,000 for.
Was his intent to trip Jacoby Jones? We can take Tomlin at his word and say, no. Did he cost the Ravens the game? No. So why was he fined?
One simple reason: higher expectations.
Commissioner Goodell has a long history of wanting to uphold the integrity of the game, and rightfully so.
When Goodell implemented the personal conduct policy, Cowboys quarterback coach Wade Wilson and Patriots safety Rodney Harrison were each found in violation of breaking the substance abuse policy.
It was the same rule that they broke but different penalties; Wilson was fined $100,000 and suspended five games while Harrison was just suspended without pay for four.
Why the ruling? Goodell said that he believed Wilson, as a coach who held authority over a team, was to be held to higher expectations.
Later, the Patriots were investigated for Spy Gate and Goodell dropped the hammer on them. He gave Belichik a league-maximum $500,000 fine, the team a $25,000 fine and took away the team’s first round draft pick.
Again, Goodell said that taking away the draft pick and fining the team was “more effective” than a suspension.
A few years later, Bounty Gate hit and Goodell again laid down some pretty hefty penalties, fining the team $500,000, suspending Greg Williams indefinitely, suspending head coach Sean Payton for the season, suspending general manager Mickey Loomis for eight games and taking away second-round draft picks in consecutive seasons.
In comparison, Tomlin’s fine for stepping onto the field doesn’t seem as harsh. Probably because it didn’t affect the outcome of the game and is viewed as a simple mistake.
But Tomlin is a well respected man in Goodell’s eyes. He’s a Super Bowl winning coach that was recently added to Goodell’s competition committee, something near and dear to the commissioner’s heart. If one of the members of would have done something out of character, surely Goodell would hold them accountable.
The Steelers are a big part of the league’s history. The fact that they’re simply being held to a higher standard is nothing that is personal against them, but something that Goodell has done multiple times, to multiple teams.
When Goodell fined Pacman Jones for the entire season, he said this, according to ESPN, again confirming his reasoning for holding players and coaches to high standards:
“Your conduct has brought embarrassment and ridicule upon yourself, your club, and the NFL, and has damaged the reputation of players throughout the league. You have put in jeopardy an otherwise promising NFL career, and have risked both your own safety and the safety of others through your off-field actions. In each of these respects, you have engaged in conduct detrimental to the NFL and failed to live up to the standards expected of NFL players. Taken as a whole, this conduct warrants significant sanction.”
When a fine is handed down to a second string defensive lineman on a team like the Jacksonville Jaguars, no one cares. But when someone on the Steelers is fined, it’s news. Why wouldn’t the commissioner use them as an example, showing that no one is above the rules.
It gets teams’ attention.
Photo Credit: Sports Illustrated
