Goodell meets with Titans, discusses discipline, other issues
Saturday, August 04, 2007
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) After Roger Goodell finished addressing the Tennessee Titans on Saturday, the first player to approach him was Albert Haynesworth, the defensive lineman the NFL commissioner suspended for five games last fall for stomping on Dallas' Andre Gurode.
"He grabbed me right after the meeting and said he wanted to talk about the help he was getting," Goodell said during a ride to the airport with an Associated Press reporter. "He wanted me to know he was getting help for his problems. It was good to hear. You like to think that players who get in trouble can work on turning around their lives."
Discipline, which has defined Goodell's reputation, was not the primary reason for his Nashville trip. It was, he said, just another step to fulfill his pledge when he became commissioner last September to visit all 32 teams.
So he flew in from Canton, Ohio, where he was attending the Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremonies to visit a team an hour away. And other subjects came up -- from playing in Europe to player pensions.
Still, discipline had to be the focus because the Titans were Adam "Pacman" Jones' team for two seasons. Jones is now one of the poster children for Goodell's policies -- the commissioner suspended him for a year following a series of run-ins with the law. Jones faces charges in Las Vegas for coercion for his involvement in a shooting in which a bouncer at a strip club was shot and paralyzed.
Goodell brought up Jones during the meeting.
"I wanted to address all the issues, but it was natural because this is the team he played for," the commissioner said.
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Goodell meets with Titans, discusses discipline, other issues