Titans' Jones, Cincy's Henry punished for conduct

by tommasse on Apr 10, 2007 9:48 PM EDT in News Comment 6 comments

Comish lays down the law
Titans' Jones suspended for season

Bravo, Roger Goodell! Bravo!

Pro sports finally found themselves a commissioner with a pair of brass ones, and may I say "IT'S ABOUT DAMN TIME!"

Goodell, like a real leader, levied serious punishment on Tennessee Titans cornerback Adam Jones and Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry and sent a message to the rest of the thugs in the league that criminal tendencies will no longer be tolerated by the league.

Can I get a "Hallelujah" from the congregation?

Goodell belted Jones with a full year suspension and slapped Henry with eight games -- both without pay.

"We must protect the integrity of the NFL," Commissioner Goodell said. "The highest standards of conduct must be met by everyone in the NFL because it is a privilege to represent the NFL, not a right. These players, and all members of our league, have to make the right choices and decisions in their conduct on a consistent basis."

In a letter to each player, Commissioner Goodell wrote: "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."

You can read more about each player's stipulations for reinstatement at NFL.com.

Of course, the question is "What effect will these actions have on Jones, Henry and other players?"

I think Jones is beyond redemption. He's reckless and probably not a great investor. Now he's going to have financial needs and no way to pay them. Good luck, there, "Pacman."

I think Henry will have learned his lesson, and he should consider himself lucky that he didn't dig too deep a hole.

The rest of the players? Time will tell. I think Goodell probably got through to more than not, but there will always be a few bad apples. The good news is: The NFL won't turn into the NBA.

There's a new sheriff in town, and his name is Clyde. (Right, "Pacman"?)

Poll

Roger Goodell's punishment of Adam Jones and Chris Henry are ...

... not severe enough.

2 votes

... too severe.

0 votes

... about right.

7 votes

9 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 6 comments

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Comments

Hallelujah

by scsatr on Apr 11, 2007 8:43 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The only thing that confuses me...

...is that Henry wasn't also suspended a full year. Maybe I've forgotten some of the details of their cases -- entirely possible, given that both have been arrested or at least questioned so frequently -- but why was Henry let off so lightly compared to Jones?

by RSNexile on Apr 11, 2007 1:11 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Jones in more trouble more often more recently

Here's a great link: NFL players arrested in 2006 from the Washington Post.

This list shows Henry arrested three times, Jones twice: Henry for a weapons charge, a driving while intoxicated charge, and providing alcohol to minors; Jones for public intoxication and for assault.

Henry's first offense was in late January after Cincy was ousted from the playoffs; his last was in June before even the preseason. Jones was first arrested in late August just before the dawn of the regular season and again in late October at the height of the season.

There were also several other incidents in which Henry was "involved," but not arrested, the most recent being a shooting in Las Vegas during NBA All-Star weekend.

My guess is Henry made his case that he's learned from his mistakes, while Jones seems to be unable to untether himself from bad people and bad situations. Henry was probably contrite in his meeting with Goodell, Jones probably arrogant (or at least "not remorseful enough."

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by tommasse on Apr 11, 2007 10:21 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Er .. That was Jones in Vegas, not Henry

Sorry 'bout that.

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by tommasse on Apr 11, 2007 10:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I knew what you meant

But Henry's been in a little trouble this offseason, too. He was cited for some traffic violations just a couple weeks ago, including driving with a suspended license. Given his record of the past 15 months or so, that suggests that he hasn't learned his lesson, especially since any idiot should have known that Goodell was probably going to suspend him for the start of the season anyway.

by RSNexile on Apr 11, 2007 11:29 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Suspended license vs. shooting

I hate to be disagreeable here, but if I'm Goodell, I can't suspend Henry for another half of the season for traffic violations. Ya, the citations show he's still not an upstanding citizen, but you can't compare that with hanging out with criminals and being places and involved in situations you shouldn't be.

And I just wanted to clarify that it was Jones (not Henry) in Vegas, because you can't edit comments after they're posted, and I didn't want anyone else to be confused when they look back at this blog in 2057.

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by tommasse on Apr 12, 2007 7:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs