Jerry Jones to Goodell: 'Bob Kraft is a Pussy Compared to What I'm Going to Do.'
ESPN - THERE WAS A PAUSE. It was Aug. 9, inside Roger Goodell’s sixth-floor office at the NFL’s Park Avenue headquarters in New York City. … Goodell huddled over a speakerphone with general counsel Jeff Pash. On the other end was Jerry Jones. …
Goodell and Pash informed Jones that after a 13-month domestic violence inquiry, the Dallas Cowboys’ star running back, Ezekiel Elliott, would face punishment — a six-game suspension.
The line went quiet. Seconds passed. Goodell’s decision was an unconscionable violation of trust, Jones later told associates, because he believed that the commissioner had assured him this past spring that there would be no suspension. … His anger was palpable. Finally, according to sources with direct knowledge of the call, Jones broke the silence. He aimed his words not only at Goodell’s decision but also at his role as judge, jury and executioner in the case.
“I’m gonna come after you with everything I have,” Jones said. Then he mentioned Deflategate. “If you think Bob Kraft came after you hard, Bob Kraft is a pussy compared to what I’m going to do.” …
Roger Goodell is in a battle few saw coming, with the league’s membership teetering on an all-out, unprecedented civil war.
I’m not exaggerating when I say this quote from Jerry Jones actually made it move for me. I’ve never been the biggest Jones fan, but any man who can deliver a threat this eloquently wins me over in a nanosecond.
You can put me on Team Jerruh all the way on this one. In the same way that FDR knew Stalin wasn’t exactly Mayor McCheese, but he was fighting Hitler too. The enemy of my enemy, and all that.
And yes, every Patriots fan would’ve loved to have heard something like this coming out of Mr. Kraft two years ago. But we have to resign ourselves to the fact that some guys are wired for getting down and dirty, and some are wired for taking the dreaded high road. He decided to drop the fight on the assumption that his fellow owners would respect him for it, and his boy Goodell would take it into consideration and go easy on his quarterback. Der Commissar’s human compassion is a small target, but Mr. Kraft thought he had the talent to hit it. And he paid the price.
Advertisement
Well while Jones didn’t have Mr. Kraft’s back then, he was obviously paying attention. And decided he would never make the same mistake. And delivered the line of 2017 so far. “If you think Bob Kraft came after you hard, Bob Kraft is a pussy compared to what I’m going to do” is just so badass. It’s like a great piece of movie dialogue. Some real John Wick stuff. And proves something I’ve always believed. That threatening someone in a calm, rational way is a billion times more menacing that screaming at them. As great as some high-pitched Joe Pesci-type threat is, somehow it just can’t have the impact of the quiet, direct Liam Neeson kind.
So here’s to Jerruh as I wish him godspeed on this noble quest. And if he happens to have a tape of this conversation, I will pay good money to hear it.