Jay: Yesterday the much anticipated meeting between Ben Roethlisberger and Roger Goodell took place. The two met for over 2 hours. Most people have their own opinion on how Big Ben should be disciplined, should or shouldn’t he be suspended? I have a hard time agreeing with people that think he should be suspended. He didn’t commit a crime and legally he wasn’t convicted of anything. Now morally? We may have issues but that is for each person to decide. The only problem for Big Ben?… I’m not he Czar of the NFL and I don’t make those decisions (many think I should but that’s for a different day). I’m guessing that Ben will be suspended for somewhere between 2 and 4 games and then will get it shortened to a game. For a closer look at how this will affect the Steelers and their franchise I’ll turn it over to Will, whose man crush for Big Ben is borderline obsessive, once telling me that he wished he was involved with him in a bathroom stall… I’m guessing if wouldn’t be too hard to get Ben to agree to that…

Will: Jay my friend, clearly you do not comprehend the gravity of this situation. Yes, I would love to father Ben’s throat babies and unless the Steelers schedule has them playing the Bucs, Browns, and Bills in the first three weeks they will tank without Ben, but that’s not the point. The point is that this suspension could be the most significant turning point in NFL player/league relations since the changing free-agency rules in 1995. Here’s why;  

Big Ben will most likely be suspended under the Player Conduct Policy by-laws involving behavior deemed “detrimental to the league”. Believe it or not, the focus of my college studies was contractual law and criminal justice (I wrote all of my papers on the NFLPA and anti-trust suits against the league…obsessed is a dirty word but I guess if the helmet fits…), and the wording of this section is so convoluted and ambiguous, that it gives ultimate authoritative power to the commissioner to basically do whatever the hell he wants. Roger Goodell’s decision as to how long he will suspend Big Ben will now quantify “how embarrassing” his actions were as well as setting a precedent for measuring a player’s stature in relationship to suspension length, even though Ben has never been charged with or even arrested for committing any crime. And don’t think for one second that NFLPA Execuative Director DeMaurice “D” Smith isn’t loading this bullet into his CBA negotiating chamber as another one of his union members loses money (Ben’s contract with incentives averages out to about $1.9 million per game) without criminal charges being filed.  

The significant elements in this whole thing are Ben’s stature as an elite player, face of a storied franchise, and as a quarterback. Many feel that if QB’s have special treatment on the field (take off the skirt Brady), they should have a higher standard of conduct off of it. Brandon Marshall beat the hell out of his girlfriend, and got one game because charges were never filed. Big Ben was not suspended for the situation with the gold digger in Nevada, because he adamantly denied the charges and it was a clear case of extortion. Ben’s actions in GA were clearly inappropriate and embarrassing to the league and the Steelers (not wrong, not illegal, just embarrassing), and the fact that he admittedly understood what he did was not the way a franchise QB should act, put the final seal on his guilt in the perception of the league. 

So here’s the $108 million dollar question; should Ben be punished more severely because he is who he is, or should the punishment fit the crime, which in this case would be nothing? Because Ben had his legal representation present in the meeting as well as his agent, I believe that Goodell is going to slap a four gamer on him and allow him to appeal it down to one to two games. Four games will never stick because of the amount of money Ben will lose and the clear case Ben would have if he wanted to file a lawsuit for lost wages. Ben did not break any laws, but the league needs to send a message. Chances are it will be two games; one imposed by the league, and one imposed by the Steelers so both parties can save face and impress their authority.  

This suspension will set precedents for quantifying league embarrassment and player stature regardless of legal responsibility, as well as fuel serious power changes with the next CBA because of Roger Goodell’s personal take on his duty to “defend the shield.” As I said earlier, this is one of the most important moments in the modern era of the NFL and everyone is on edge waiting to see how hard Goodell’s hammer will fall.