Gary Seymour, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
In a normal week of preseason, another injury to a Green Bay Packers wide receiver would be a leading cause of concern.
Packers receiver Jeff Janis, last seen in the playoffs pulling off the improbable feat of two receptions for 101 yards – on the same drive – will miss four to six weeks after breaking his hand in practice.
That’s unsettling enough for the Packers, who like last year came into this season favored to win the NFC. A preseason injury to wide receiver Jordy Nelson created a void in the offense that they were unable to fill last year, and the Packers finished second to Minnesota in the NFC North.
But now it’s the defense, and some big names, being put on the defensive. Linebackers Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers, plus former Packers linebacker Mike Neal and Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison, are being told by the league that they have until Aug. 25 to schedule an interview related to a performance enhancing drugs investigation, or face a possible suspension.
The investigation stemmed from a published report last January that implicated former Denver quarterback Peyton Manning in buying human growth hormone. A dealer in Indiana sent human growth hormones to Manning’s house, but they were addressed to Manning’s wife.
The league, upon learning that it was Mrs. Manning hitting the weights hard, cleared Peyton Manning of any wrongdoing.
As for Matthews, Peppers, Neal and Harrison, theirs were names that were uttered along with Manning’s when the initial newspaper story was researched. The original source of the Manning tale has since recanted his story, which should make any sort of follow-up investigations a formality.
So the league wants to get the other four players’ denials on record, to close the circle on the whole thing. But the players, all of whom passed the drug tests, aren’t wild about having to prove their cleanliness all over again. And they’re even less wild about the possibility that commissioner Roger Goodell says he doesn’t believe them and suspends them anyway. The league has already indicated that one of Neal’s statements from a previous interview was “demonstrably false.”
Article 46 of the National Football League Collective Bargaining Agreement includes language that gives Goodell unilateral power to determine conduct detrimental to the league and impose fines and/or suspensions corresponding to the infraction.
It was Goodell’s judgment that New England quarterback Tom Brady knew enough about the deflating of footballs in the 2015 AFC championship game to have made it an issue. Thus, Brady will watch from the sidelines while the Patriots play their first four games this year.
Goodell has threatened suspensions effective Aug. 26 for any or all four of the players involved in the story. The league says it has made seven attempts to arrange an interview, only to be ignored.
Harrison laughed off the suspension threat, and said he’d be happy to meet with league officials – as long as they made the trip to his house. The 38-year-old, 13-year veteran hinted that this investigation could be a tipping point for him, a stand of principles that could ultimately end with his retiring from football.
Wisely, Matthews and Peppers have stayed mum on the subject, dismissing the investigation as a nuisance. It is hoped that the matter will be addressed, and that both Packers will be cleared to prepare for the season as scheduled.
Because, if there was a single, overarching takeaway from the 2015 season, it was that the Packers are as good as anyone – with all hands on deck. An injury here, a couple of suspensions there, and it’s back on par with the Lions and Bears.