New England Patriots: Will Roger Goodell be rooting for Chiefs in Week 1?
By Brian Hines
The 2017 NFL season is set to kick off with the Kansas City Chiefs visiting the defending champion New England Patriots.
Commissioner Roger Goodell, who hasn’t been to a game in Foxboro since the dreaded DeflateGate case, has made a promise to be in attendance for the New England Patriots opener.
Goodell usually serves as a neutral observer up in a private press box when attending games. He will certainly be heavily protected in New England, but Chiefs punter Dustin Colquitt believes Goodell could be rooting for one team over the other.
W NFL cmsh Goodell at Arrowhead fan event, Chiefs P Dustin Colquitt tells crowd "I think Roger's going to be on our side" for opener at NE.
— Vahe Gregorian (@vgregorian) June 16, 2017
Gregorian also added that Goodell laughed at Colquitt’s comments, but never denied them. Colquitt also mentioned New England’s crowd noise “can produce concussion-like symptoms.”
Goodell laughed at reference to rel. w Pats, then Colquitt tweaked again playfully saying noise there can produce concussion-like symptoms
— Vahe Gregorian (@vgregorian) June 16, 2017
Many fans still believe Goodell will find an excuse to miss the home opener. He did not show up to the 2015 season opener when the Patriots raised their Super Bowl XLIX banner.
His best chance to return was for last year’s AFC Championship Game against Pittsburgh. After spending the previous week in Atlanta for the Divisional Round, Roger chose to go back to Atlanta for the NFC Championship Game. He later mentioned that it was the Falcons last game in the Georgia Dome as his reason.
If Goodell does show his face inside Gillette this September, he will be booed heavily and often. Patriot fans will surely be seen with anti-Goodell signs, t-shirts, hats and any other things they can gather.
He won’t be rocking the Chiefs red and yellow in Gillette, although it would be great if he did. Roger will most likely stick to his usually plain baseball cap and sweater.
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Nobody in Foxboro will forget the “witch hunt” by Goodell and Ted Wells anytime soon though. Perhaps re-gifting the Patriots a first and fourth round pick along with the biggest fine in NFL history ($1 million) could help his cause. But that might not be even enough. Maybe a kiss on all of Tom Brady’s rings could help put DeflateGate in the past.