Roger Goodell says tanking “clearly did not happen” in Miami; the facts show Stephen Ross clearly tried to do it
The NFL will never, ever, ever admit that one of its teams intentionally lost a game. Ever. The complications and implications in a world of legalized gambling would be too severe. From lawsuits to perp walks to the potential creation of a federal agency that regulates the NFL, nothing good ever would come from the league announcing to the world that one of its teams prioritizing losing over winning — and acted on it.
Three years ago, the Miami Dolphins prioritized losing over winning. At least, the owner did. The NFL’s investigation of Stephen Ross found that, on a number of occasions during the 2019 season, Ross “expressed his belief that the Dolphins’ position in the upcoming 2020 draft should take priority over the team’s win-loss record.” Although the league found that the Dolphins never deliberately lost any games in 2019 (the team’s performance early in the season would suggest otherwise), it wasn’t because Ross told them to ignore his stated preference. It was because coach Brian Flores did.
The end result has caused some in the media to naively assume that Ross was exonerated. It also has allowed the NFL to declare that there was no tanking — while glossing over the fact that Ross definitely tried to tank.
“The integrity of the game is critically important,” Goodell told reporters on Tuesday, via Ed Werder of ESPN.com. “I think the findings are very clear . . . and while tanking clearly did not happen here, we all have to understand our words, our actions have implications and we have to be careful.”
Tanking didn’t happen only because Flores refused to go through with it. Ross clearly wanted Flores to do it. Flores felt sufficiently pressured to do it to sound the alarm internally. The NFL has not disclosed the communication Flores distributed to key team executives. That document would go a long way toward showing how aggressive the tanking effort was.
Don’t count on the league ever doing it. Tanking can never be acknowledged by the league. Even when it happens. As it did in Week 17 of the 2014 season, when the Bucs clearly blew a game against the Saints in order to get the first pick in the next draft.
The temptation will linger until the league changes its procedure for determining draft order. The best way to do it would be to have a lottery that gives all non-playoff teams an equal shot at getting the first pick, and so on. No one is going to blow a playoff berth for a one-in-18 chance to get the top spot in the draft. And there would be no reason for the worst of the non-playoff teams to try to lose a late-season game, since it wouldn’t improve their draft status.
