The 2021 NFL Week 8 Roundup | Say It Ain’t So, Stan!
A Fly On the Wall & IN the Ointment
STEPS from Park Avenue, the InterContinental Barclay is among Manhattan’s toniest hotels having hosted countless dignitaries, socialites and celebrities since its grand opening in 1926. Just off its Grand Lobby is nestled the Barclay Salon, a 2043 square foot junior ballroom ornamented with thick monochromatic picture frame molding, is illuminated by eight rectangular 10-foot Swarovski crystal LED chandeliers (each inset within the dramatically coffered white ceiling) and swaddled with warm sunlight pouring into the floor-to-ceiling windows flanking the northern wall of the room. On Tuesday, October 27 — just seven days ago — there would be no ebullient sunshine pouring forth into the stately Barclay Salon. No no. For this occasion, the gold wool blackout curtains were tightly drawn to shield the outside world of the turbulent storminess and rancor roiling within. That fateful Tuesday served as the first in-person meeting (in 10 months) of NFL Team Owners, Commissioner Roger Goodell and the long laundry list of thorny items chewing for attention on the overstuffed League clipboard.
Front and center on the agenda that Tuesday were the NFL’s myriad legal quagmires and the status of each in their varying degrees of ongoing calamity. Roger Goodell opened the day’s session with a VERY unusual directive that had the room achatter. He asked that all non-Owners exit the room; no staff, no assistants, no executives, no nonsense, JUST Ownership. And absolutely NO leaks (the true story of this tale escaped the room’s grasp despite the measures taken). And so the gaggle of Team personnel seated neatly at each of the 32 carefully appointed tables gathered their belongings and shuffled, bewildered, into the Grand Lobby iPhones tightly in their grasps. With just the 32 Owners seated and the Salon door firmly shut, Roger ceded the floor to NFL general counsel Jeff Pash. Jeff minced no words and gravely delivered the state of affairs surrounding the League’s centerpiece legal nightmare involving the City/County/Regional Convention of St. Louis vs. NFL/Los Angeles Rams. Jeff recounted the string of humbling legal defeats piling up including the latest outright denial at the Supreme Court. He entitled his confidential PowerPoint presentation “Bleak”. That set the stage for LA Ram owner Stan Kroenke to take the lectern. Stan’s prepared remarks listed in detail his deep investment in the League reaching back decades. He offered his screed while pacing back and forth at the front of the room, casting his skinny shadow against the projection of Jeff’s presentation. He next turned to the room full of silent Owners and stood still, blinded by the ceiling-mounted projector. He apologized for the lawsuit and shockingly claimed it wasn’t his fault. The only sound that could be heard at that point was the gentle whir of the ventilation system pushing filtered air into the room. Stan took his seat and Dallas Cowboys Owner, Jerry Jones, leapt to podium. Jerry, instrumental in Stan’s bold relocation from St. Louis to LA, extolled and underlined all Stan had done for the League. Again as if he were reading from the same script. The reception among owners was visibly groan-inducing.
Next, Roger stood from his chair and in a stunning proclamation asked that Stan leave the room. Nodding in agreement, Stan snatched his trademark sunglasses, his iPhone and rushed out knowing what was to come. And that’s when it happened. Jeff retook the floor stripped of pleasantries and dropped the NFL mic. Jeff grimly regaled the Owners of Stan’s impending plans to legally challenge the indemnity agreement he famously signed with the League (and Chargers and Raiders) in 2016, when the relocation was announced to public fanfare. In essence, this meant that Stan’s checkbook was clamping shut shifting mounting legal fees onto the League and each of the Teams drawn into the deepening quicksand. This is to say nothing of any potential open-ended multi-billion dollar damages awarded St. Louis should the city prevail in Court. Where Stan agreed in 2016 to pay for all legal fees — Indemnification — stemming from the messy litigation, last week he reversed his position arrogantly tossing a hand grenade into the NFL’s thicket of best laid yet fraught plans. To say that the bombshell was not well received would be a vast understatement. The Owners were apoplectic, furious in their rage. If you listen closely, you can actually still hear the clinking of the overhead chandelier-embedded Swarovski crystal links as they swayed from the shockwaves as the news boomeranged round the room. Clink clink clink.
Never a popular consensus-building Owner, Stan was always sloppily glossed with a self-serving, smarmy reputation. His latest legal shenanigans only served to cement Stan’s notoriety. This notoriety was well-earned and well-known to the city of St. Louis dating all the way back to the mid-1990s when Stan became a minority owner with the then St. Louis Rams. It’s said that the Team’s home (Edward Jones Dome) in St. Louis was forever pedestrian in Stan’s eyes, hardly the first-rate palace he envisioned for his multi-billion dollar franchise. So in 2010 when Stan became majority Owner of the Rams, he did something about it. Using the printed text of the Team’s lease with the City, Stan challenged St. Louis to provide a “first-class stadium on par with the top quartile of Teams in the NFL”. This coming just a year after the $1.3B behemoth AT&T Stadium opened to instant acclaim in Texas as the home to the Cowboys, Americas Team. Knowing their lease with the Rams was up for renewal, the City of St. Louis feverishly hired attorneys, commissioned architects to furnish painstaking and sparkly new stadium renderings, roped in State and County officials for zoning variances and easements and, crucially, shared funding obligations. The resulting costly full-throated civic campaign to retain the Rams spiraled into the millions and was met with growing silence from Stan. Unsurprisingly, He was reportedly unhappy that he’d have to shoulder a proportional cost of the proposed Mississippi-fronting complex along with the League and still be stuck with the sub-par demographics of a “depressed regional economy” paired with the continuing challenge of attracting top talent to a losing Team anchored in the Midwest. By 2015, Stan abruptly broke off engagement with St. Louis around the same time news surfaced of his mysterious investment in a piece of property in Inglewood, California beneath the flightpath to LAX. Early in 2016, Stan and the NFL famously announced their joint intention to move the Rams back to SoCal (by a 30–2 closed-door Owner vote).
Irate and blindsided, St. Louis began to painstakingly put the pieces of the puzzle together. That Stan’s forced starvation diet of the Team’s recruiting budget leading up to 2015 was NOT lost on officials in St. Louis. They saw clearly through his dark Ray-Ban aviators to see his intention to move to the moneyed top media market in the Country, an area bereft of NFL representation. Which is all well and good. Until St. Louis unearthed the hinky involvement of the NFL and lead proponent of the relocation, Jerry Jones. That’s when they’d become physically nauseated and had seen enough. St. Louis filed a blockbuster lawsuit against the League, Rams/Chargers/Raiders (all parties to the proposed relocation) confidently in 2017. The City alleged breach of contract, fraud, illegal enrichment and tortious interference resulting in multi-million dollar losses incurred by the City. Beyond failure to negotiate in good faith, St. Louis took particular issue with the fact that the NFL violated its OWN internal policy of ironclad relocation guidelines. This landmark lawsuit spun off (in the years since) countless episodes of evidentiary discovery, depositions and the disclosure of sensitive phone records, email and financial information touching ALL Owners/Teams and the NFL. You can imagine that all of this litigiousness comes with white-shoed price tags to match. And you’d be exactly correct. To get his 2016 Owner vote (to move to LA) over the needed 75% approval threshold, Stan steadfastly agreed to fund all legal fees emanating from any matter stemming from the controversial relocation. It’s THAT 2016 agreement, the Indemnification, that Stan right-click-highlight-deleted last Tuesday. Interestingly, Stan had been paying the legal bills for 5 Teams pulled into his mess thus far. Up until last week, that is, before he pulled the plug.
Stan claims that via lengthy discovery, his legal team uncovered evidence that a known unnamed official within the NFL had caused the current legal malaise in an email outlining all the ways the Rams looked to be in violation of the League’s relocation policy. That email, in turn, served as a roadmap for the City of St. Louis and their string of courtroom successes. That’s the crux of the issue and armed with information that the damage was self-inflicted, he sees no world in which his balance sheet funds a Ferris wheel of legal calamity. All bets are off now and each party now an island unto itself. Were the Rams and the NFL arms-linked in railroading this proposed relocation into the rich pocketbooks of Hollywood? Did Stan use loose contractual language and a Team roster budget he controlled as pretexts for a move? To what extent were other Teams involved in the transaction knowing full well that coming multicasting rights negotiations benefited each of their bottom lines directly now that there was NFL representation in the starry LA media market? Were the 2015 negotiations with St. Louis all a shamelessly naked sham diversionary tactic and was the NFL aware? Who knew what and when? I toldja there was a the long laundry list of thorny items chewing for attention on the overstuffed League clipboard. A trial date for this dumpster fire of a case has been set for January 2022 where all the salacious details will see the light of day. Or not. Settlement talks are gaining traction mostly out of observance of the ever-quickening clock tick and the League’s fear of public humiliation. A figure in the billions of dollars wildly separates the plaintiffs and the defendants. The legal bills continue to pile up as Stan dons his trademark Ray-Ban sunglasses and looks on. He, too, can still hear the swaying of the Swarovski crystal links clinking as a seminal clarion call to redemption. The other 30-odd Owners see a treasonous traitor in their midst. Just another day in the NFL. Clink clink clink.
While dirty Owner laundry was thrown to the wind in a fancy midtown junior ballroom, Week 8 in the League they oversee was marked with the telltale, storied theme of injury. It’s about that time in the Season when the wickets begin to give way and the afterburner jets are summoned to action, to varying degrees of success. Tampa Bay at NOLA was a perfect case in point. The odds-on Super Bowl favorites waltzed into the Big Easy looking for an easy pickup. The Bucs left town heads-slumped, ghosted, 36–27. Starting QB Jameis Winston endured a ghastly torn ACL to his left knee in the first half. Further inspection revealed additional MCL damage. What is an MCL? NO idea. But harm to is doesn’t sound good at all. The twin afflictions unite to end Jameis’ promising start with the Saints, his Season and perhaps his time with the Team as he enters free agency in 2022. Very unfortunate. Third string QB Trevor Siemian (in for concussed backup Taysom Hill) stepped up admirably to mind the store despite the busy Minute Clinic on the sidelines. NOLA’s Offense might not exhibit the octane of the Drew Brees era but it remains scrappy and dangerous. Same for its D which forced three turnovers. Tom Brady understands that now. The Saints fly to 5–2. Over in Seattle, Geno Smith (in for injured Russell Wilson) welcomed the visiting circus in the Jags with quick return tickets home, 31–7. That Geno shined so brightly is probably more a reflection of the ineptitude on the other side of the ball. For instance, the Jags were flagged for fielding 12 players (1 more than allowed) on back-to-back plays. Such is the level of thought, preparation and intelligence JAX brought to bear — to predicable results. HC Urban Meyer’s first year in the NFL plumbs the depths of fan patience. First round Draft Pick Trevor Lawrence struggles to remain upright in his coach’s turbulent wake despite facing off against the Tiny Tim of the NFL’s Defensive squads. The Jags sink to 1–7. And on Thursday, the Season’s last remaining undefeated Team — the Cards — answered their Final Jeopardy question incorrectly much to Aaron Rodgers delight, 13–19. His Packers are on a hotsy totsy 7 game winning streak and the Packers were not about to let a clock of red birds rain on their parade. True to form, GB’s Defense managed to defuse what has developed into a Season-long ARI weapon’s grade Offense. And stop me if you’ve heard this before. ARI star phenom QB Kyler Murray suffered a sprained ankle as evidenced in the Team’s gravity-bound showing. This is a story of two 7–1 teams on different trajectories. Potentially. Until next week.
The Dolphins swam upstream to Buffalo and were spent by the time they reached State line, 11–26. Another troubling Tua Tagovailoa outing (21/39 205yds 0TD 1INT) has MIA fans holding their noses particularly at their 1–7 record. AS to BUF, Josh Allen powers the WIN but with an imperfect, sloppy at times Offense. The Bills remain atop the AFC East nevertheless at 5–2. Over at SoFi, a true Halloween materialized for the Chargers as they hosted the Pats and lost, 24–27. Again. LAC QB Justin Herbert was limited in his impact and immediacy setting off fears among fans that he’s become — gasp — ordinary. Ordinary doesn’t buy a ticket to January. Much credit to Captain Belichick who clearly still knows a thing or two about searing Defensive strategies. Justin is still scratching his head watching film of the crime. Down in Atlanta, the Panthers managed to break their 4 game losing streak, 19–13. The victory did not come without its own conditions as QB Sam Darnold was forced into concussion protocol late in the 4th quarter. Sam, no stranger to his doctor, just can’t catch a break. Nor can Carolina but at least they are 0.50 on the Season. The Falcons remain in the NCF South basement. IN Cleveland, the upstart Brownies are finding their Season woefully underbaked as they succumb to buoyant Division rivals Steel City, 10–15. CLE is beset with a whole host of Offensive dilemmas. WR OBJ is unhappy and wants out though to where is anyone’s guess. Jarvis Landry is doing the Team no favors. And QB Baker Mayfield might have a shoulder “issue”. Big Ben capitalized on all the turmoil and powered the Steelers to their third Victory in a row. Black & Yellow on the ascent as the Brownies revert to the mean. And what a week for the NY Teams, no? The leaguewide punchline, the Jets, dethroned Cincy in at 34–31 squeaker. With starting QB Zach Wilson injured — PCL strain in his right knee (what is a PCL again?) — second string Mike White owned the surprising Offensive showout complete with more than 400 passing yards and 3TDs. Not bad for his NFL debut. And for a change, smiles in NYJ fan stands. Last night, the lowly Giants managed to TEST the floundering Chiefs as the one-time AFC Champions (seems so long ago, huh?) continue to circle the AFC West drain. The Giants did lose for the record, 17–20, but it wasn’t altogether clear they would deep into the 4th. You know things are bad in Kansas City when Patrick Mahomes in an aftergame interview extolled the virtues of the Offense’s grit and determination to escape with the WIN. Lest we forget they were going up against the perennially horrible Giants? We’ll set that aside and let the former MVP have his moment. Patrick unfortunately is internally well aware of the embarrassment of last night’s close call. So too are KC fans.
IN our Round Robin, the 49ers live to mine another day after last week’s rainy day loss. Jimmy G rebounded in shutting down the Bears, 33–22 despite a heroic QB Justin Fields fielding air and ground service so capably for the Windy City. The Titans held the Colts to account, 34–31 OT, in a game that found IND QB Caron Wentz troubling returning to his nasty INT habits of Eagles yore. Don’t worry, Carson. The glare of HBO Hard Knocks cameras are only weeks away. That’ll certainly make things better. Rams at Texans featured the LA Team’s 4th win in a row (38–22) and an explosive WR Cooper Kupp outing fed by an equally propulsive Matt Stafford. All HOU can do is look on in the mirror and weep at their icky 1–7 record. The Rams see the inverse image and beam at 7–1 springing back. OH and don’t worry Lions fans; this incudes you Jared Goff. Your Team continues its dubious winless record which currently stands at 0–8. Not too late to consider wintering in sunnier, more hospitable climes. Finally in typical NFC East fashion, Washington loses (again) and the Cowboys gallop to another WIN (#6 in the streak) even without maquis QB Dak Prescott. He’s injured, some calf issue. See? Week 8, a tale of HURT!
