NFL sees no violation of ‘personal conduct policy’ - Reid

[Nors]

NFL sees no violation of ‘personal conduct policy’
By Bob Grotz, bgrotz@comcast.net
PHILADELPHIA — While it sure seems what happened to Andy Reid and his family is a crime, it isn’t as far as the NFL is concerned.

NFL spokesman Randall Liu said Friday Reid “is not subject to discipline under the league’s personal conduct policy” applicable to coaches, players, owners and employees.

In this case, the coach hasn’t been charged or implicated in illegal activity and the issue is considered a team matter. The Eagles have been supportive of Reid and expect him to complete his contract that expires in 2010.

It would be different if Reid, for example, was illegally tied to the prescription pills and steroids found during a search of his Villanova home by authorities. That also was the residence of Reid’s sons, Garrett and Britt, who were sentenced up to 23 months in jail Thursday on drug and other charges. Garrett Reid is facing additional time for allegedly smuggling pills into jail.

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The NFL policy, however, isn’t so clear to some players.

“On the one hand, it’s your personal life,” one Eagle said. “What if it was the athlete you were talking about? Would the league come down on us? It’s one of those things where it’s your life, but he’s also representative of the league.”

Montgomery County Judge Steven T. O’Neill alluded to the Reid house as “a drug emporium” during the sentencing, raising immediately the dog fighting case of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick.

Before suspending Vick, get-tough NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told him, “people living in your house and people on your property is your responsibility.”

In the case of Vick, the NFL and law enforcement authorities determined he was involved in illegal activity in his house. Vick was among a group that pleaded guilty to dog fighting charges. He faces sentencing next month.

The NFL Personal Contact Policy states “All persons associated with the NFL are required to avoid conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the National Football League.”

 

[Angus]

I have not been one to charge Goodell with applying a double standard, although, I thought the penalty given Wade Wilson was too harsh and the one given Belichick was too light. But if he wants to make players responsible for whatever happens in their houses, he ought to apply the same standard to Reid, especially as he said Wilson's penalty, because he was a coach, ought to be (and was) more harsh than the penalty of a player for the same offense.

 

[Hoofbite]

I don't know how they can say something like that. I suppose they could pull out the old "Reid didn't know and Vick did" card. Even then though, how do you just let it slide? Its BS, plain and simple and I hope someone makes a fuss about it. Ignorance is not an excuse IMO.

What I find interesting is that Reid was saying in a press conference the other day that this has been a battle they have fought for a year or two now which would mean that he knew whats been going on and should be accountable.

I dunno. At 1st, I thought Goodell was doing right by holding people accountable but it really looks like hes not holding everyone to the same standard and its BS.

 

[silverbear]

I have not been one to charge Goodell with applying a double standard, although, I thought the penalty given Wade Wilson was too harsh and the one given Belichick was too light. But if he wants to make players responsible for whatever happens in their houses, he ought to apply the same standard to Reid,

Vick immediately tried to defend himself by saying he didn't know what was going on in that house... I don't seem to recall Reid trying to exonerate himself with the same lame copout... that's the difference at the outset, and the final, most important difference is that Vick was proven to be part of the conspiracy that went on in his house... I've seen no such proof, or even an accusation, that Andy Reid was complicit in his sons' criminal behavior...

So comparing Reid's situation to Vick's is comparing apples to oranges... the NFL and Goodell are completely right here, Andy Reid has not been charged with any criminal activity, as a result there is no jurisdiction for the league to punish him...

 

[silverbear]

I don't know how they can say something like that. I suppose they could pull out the old "Reid didn't know and Vick did" card. Even then though, how do you just let it slide? Its BS, plain and simple and I hope someone makes a fuss about it. Ignorance is not an excuse IMO.

It's not a CRIME, either... the NFL can't get into running around punishing players and coaches for what assorted FAMILY MEMBERS might be doing... not when there is absolutely no evidence to indicate that the player or coach in question even KNEW about what said family member was doing...

If the law finds out that Reid helped his kids illegally obtain prescriptions for controlled substances, that would an entirely different story... but absent such evidence, Reid hasn't done anything that the league could justifiably punish him for...

At 1st, I thought Goodell was doing right by holding people accountable but it really looks like hes not holding everyone to the same standard and its BS.

Well, that's just stupid... I expected more common sense from you, hoof...

 

[Nors]

Oh Reid clearly knew, but thats not illegal either. Funding and allowing the kids to do it in his house in front of his other teenage kids was just poor parenting. NFL can't get Reid here unless it comes out Reid and his doctors illegally prescribed meds to the two drug addicts.