NFL Lockout: Roger Goodell the Latest to Throw Blame in the Players' Direction

In the boxing match which has taken place by email and through the media, National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell became the latest to throw to blame at the feet of the players.

In an email sent to all of the active players around the NFL the commissioner told them, ""each passing day puts our game and our shared economics further at risk."

Goodell doesn't make himself look good at all for this email. We've heard far too many jabs from both sides through the media but the man in the highest office in the league shouldn't be the one throwing them.

His email went on to say the owners were ready to restart negotiations as if to say the players were the ones who were refusing to come to the bargaining table. He event went so far as to say, "walked out of the federal mediator's offices ... and filed a lawsuit."

Far be it for me to throw rocks at the commissioners' office but I would think it could be bad public relations to lob verbal grenades at the players. If he wanted the players to come back to the table to negotiate again, this wasn't exactly the way to go about it. I know he has to back the owners because, well, they work for him but why does he have to pick sides at all? Doesn't backing one side or another look bad on him regardless of what he says or who he says it to?

We don't know how long this lockout is going to hang around or what it's going to take for these two sides to finally come together to get the new Collective Bargaining Agreement signed. There's more at stake here than just a football season.

If the NFL believes their fan base is everything to their game, they need to prove it and do everything they can to ensure a deal is signed to save the 2011 season.

If that does not happen, the NFL can no longer complain about the lack of fan support. They did this to themselves.

It's not the time to be laying blame on each other. It accomplishes nothing.

Now is the time for them to stop talking and put their money where their mouth is. Both sides want the same thing, they just want it in different ways.


Follow Todd Kaufmann @T_Kaufmann and National Football Authority @NFAuthority on Twitter