Roger Goodell responds to NFLPA on Colts’ Irsay

The NFL is taking their sweet time to decide whether or not to punish Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, was arrested in March and currently faces charges of operating a vehicle while intoxicated and operating a vehicle with a controlled substance in his body. NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith, who represents the players’ interests obviously, think Irsay is getting special treatment the players don’t get and said it creates a “credibility gap.”

“The commissioner understands that there is a significant credibility gap that exists in the National Football League now,” Smith said. “I think what troubles our players is the speed and the deliberateness of punishment that they have seen in the past when it comes to a player, there isn’t the same speed or deliberate action when it comes to an owner, and that’s a problem.”

Of course Smith forgets the incident involving Ray Rice and his fiancee occurred before Irsay’s situation and he hasn’t taken action on that either. It is the offseason so there isn’t necessarily a rush to hand down punishments that won’t be in effect for months. Of course we knew Goodell was going to respond, and he did referencing that example amongst others.

“The personal conduct policy applies to commissioners, owners, players, coaches,” Goodell told reporters Friday, via the Associated Press. “It applies to all of us. We all have a responsibility to do things the right way. There are several players that we haven’t taken any action on, either.

“We like to get the facts, we like to be thorough and we like to understand them. Charges were just filed last week. I don’t believe there’s a credibility gap.”