A confluence of The Saints, Roger Goodell and Romans 8:28.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28

As we are all aware, on March 21, 2012 Sean Payton was suspended for the entire year for defensive coordinator Greg Williams’ reward program to injure other players. Anybody with any common sense after a month of sitting back and thinking about this incentive program to injure players, albeit wrong and against league policy, is certainly not surprised that such a program like this exists in the NFL. I am also sure you are not ignorant enough to believe that if Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan screamed at his players in the locker room to go out and “murder” Drew Brees that he shouldn’t face attempted murder charges. But of course, coach Payton didn’t participate in this event, yet he is suspended for an entire year for something that he wasn’t even responsible for. He simply lied about it and as a result was hit with a one-year suspension from the almighty Roger Goodell.

I also don’t want to discuss that Sean Payton got more of a punishment than other NFL players who physically assaulted women and children. I don’t need to call into question Goodell’s excessive suspension simply because there is a pending NFL lawsuit by former players over injuries resulting from their NFL careers. And I don’t want to elaborate on an event where an NFL player that went out and killed another human being resulting from his drunk driving and that this man who killed another human being received an identical penalty that Sean Payton received from the almighty Goodell. Certainly anybody with even minimal intelligence would believe taking another person’s life is not even in the same stratosphere as someone who lied about the actions of his defensive coordinator in a game played by warriors. I do want to get on the record that Sean Payton should be suspended, but not for an entire year.

Anyways, the focal point of this letter is not to focus on almighty Goodell’s decision to suspend coach Payton. This main point is to question how is it that Sean Payton was suspended on March 21 after almighty Goodell did all of his “fact-finding”, yet one month later, here on the night of the NFL draft, player suspensions have still not yet been levied? Shouldn’t the player suspensions been implemented at or around the date coach Payton was suspended? What is the hold up?

Goodell is trying to explain this away as that they are still interviewing players. Oh really? Shouldn’t those player interviews been conducted before Payton was suspended to begin with? Why are you suspending the head coach if you haven’t completed interviewing the players that participated in this program?

Suppose I allow for that argument to fly, (which I don’t)… but just to give almighty Goodell the benefit of the doubt, why has it taken you over a month to conduct these interviews? You seemed to make a pretty quick rendering of your suspensions on coach Payton, yet when it comes to interviewing players you are proceeding as slow as the US Postal Service. If you are going to issue the largest suspension in NFL history, then why are you now taking an extended period of time to interview players that are relevant to this suspension?

There are two possibilities for Goodell’s delay. First he knows that the NFL draft is up-coming and he knows these suspensions will have an impact on the Saints draft. A commissioner with integrity would have either a) delayed the Payton suspension until all of the players were interviewed, or b) would have issued those players suspensions one month ago so that the Saints would have a full month to identify holes caused by Goodell’s suspensions so they could best prepare for the NFL draft.

The almighty Goodell’s lack of integrity is no surprise to me. Hopefully for those of you that were fooled by his hard stance last month have come around to see that his penalties are simply an attempt to “CYA” the league against lawsuits of former NFL players. If the league wanted to get serious in protecting players, players that actually commit these illegal hits consistently would be suspended for an entire year, not a coach who didn’t even implement a reward system for players. James Harrison has been a player that has continually used illegal helmet to helmet hits to injure other players and give them concussions, yet all he has received is multiple slaps on the wrist before finally receiving a suspension- for 1 game, not an entire season.

So we now understand that Goodell’s one-year suspension of coach Payton has little to do with Greg Williams’ program but has more to do with politics. The dissenters can say yes Sean Payton lied to Goodell. Yes he lied to protect his defensive coach. Payton’s lying to the almighty should have warranted him a suspension of some kind (3-6 games) but obviously not the entire year. I’m sure none of you would lie to protect someone an employee now would you? Well that’s obviously a lie. For you church employees, how many of you don’t question a number of issues we see within our own church that hardly follow Biblical instruction such as the salary structure of all of the church employees, the cost of a Christian education, the lack of attention from the pulpit on dress habits of certain female members, etc. If the pastor asked a church employee who is barely surviving on their nominal church salary to answer a question about the church finances, he/she would obviously lie. Lying is wrong and a sin, but for anyone to suggest that lying is so far removed from something you would ever do is just ridiculous. How many of you tell the truth to your boss when you go out on a job interview? I think you get my point.

This disgraceful handling of the Saints situation ultimately brings me to scripture. Romans 8:28 is one of those verses that are applicable to everybody and especially to people who had bad circumstances affect them. While coach Payton’s suspension doesn’t affect me directly with my job/family, it has a huge impact on me and every member of the Who Dat Nation all over the world because we are passionate about our football. Paul tells us:

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28

This is one of those verses that I see most people including myself failing to really grasp at certain points. Paul says, “And we know” so therefore we should have 100% confidence in something and not be unsure. So we know “all things”… not some things, but all things work together for good to them that love God. As I tell my wife when she complains about bad traffic, praise God! If something good happens to us it is easy to praise God! But if something happens to us that makes us angry, bitter, sad, Paul through God’s word tells us that if we are a Christian, that all things work together for good.

I’m sure I will be called a homer here and that’s fine; no NFL team had a better chance than the New Orleans Saints to win the 2013 Super Bowl prior to coach Payton’s suspension. In last year’s NFC divisional game between the Saints and 49’ers, Pierre Thomas while on the goal line fumbled after an illegal helmet to helmet hit and received a concussion that knocked him out of the game (where y’at Goodell for that illegal hit??) That illegal hit most likely caused the Saints the football game, and probably resulted in the Saints not winning the Super Bowl. This upcoming season was going to be the year the Saints were going to repeat their Super Bowl run from 2009 and Two Dat. However Goodell’s suspension of Payton will probably cost the Saints this year’s Super Bowl trophy, and that unrelated event is maddening to some of us.

So while I have tried to move past this ridiculous suspension, I can always count on the word of God to get me through it. Almighty Goodell completely screwed over the Saints organization, the Who Dat Nation and my response should just be… praise God! So my advice to you is if you hear me complain about a negative situation, simply remind me of this Romans 8:28 reference and give praise to God! Remember Romans 8:28 when you are frustrated and you too will draw closer to the Lord.