Column: NFL misses chance to crack down

Police in Las Vegas most likely didn't check with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell before announcing they will pursue charges against Adam 'Pacman' Jones for his role in a strip club melee that erupted a few hours after the NBA All-Star game.

Goodell has his own plans for Jones, who figures to be public enemy No. 1 when the league gets around sometime next month to finally implementing a crackdown on players who can't stay out of trouble off the field.

But police have better things to do than worry about what the league does with Jones. Like sorting out the mess and figuring who was responsible for the subsequent shooting that left a security guard paralyzed for life.

It's tough work. Lives are at stake, and there's justice to be served.

Compared to that, Goodell's task is easy. All he's got to do is find a way to combat the image that he's running a league filled with players who are out of control.

Actually, combat might not be a good word, since Tank Johnson had enough guns to go into combat when federal agents raided the house he was living in before he took up his current residence in the Cook County Jail in Chicago.

And the image isn't entirely accurate. Take away Johnson, Jones and those wild and crazy guys on the Cincinnati Bengals, and you're left with some 2,000 other players who, for the most part, avoid getting their names on the police blotter.

But image, as Andre Agassi famously noted, is indeed everything.

Goodell is smart enough to know that a little repair work now will go a long way toward avoiding stories like the one that dominated media day at the Super Bowl when Johnson tried to convince everyone he was a pacifist and a really good guy.

So the new commissioner got together with union chief Gene Upshaw and a group of about 10 players at the scouting combine in Indianapolis to discuss player discipline. They came out of the meeting in agreement that players who misbehave had to face more than just a tongue lashing from their coach.

With the union, players and owners all seemingly on board, Goodell was expected to announce a new crackdown at the NFL meetings this week in Phoenix. But when he stepped in front of the cameras on Monday _ just an hour before Las Vegas police said they wanted to charge Jones _ Goodell had no new policy to unveil.

"It's a complicated issue and there are no simple answers," he said.

That's not what Goodell wanted to say. He wanted to say that playing in the NFL is a privilege, not a right, and that the league would begin imposing far stricter sanctions _ say a year off without pay _ than the two- and four-game suspensions it sometimes hands out, often long after the original offense.

He wanted to say teams full of repeat offenders like the Bengals could begin facing fines themselves, or possibly lose draft picks if they continued to insist on drafting players whose reputations precede them.

He couldn't, because there was more work to be done, more lawyers to muck things up. Goodell promised to have something more concrete in place in the next month or so, but on a day when the many misdeeds of Jones dominated the news, the chance to send a get-tough message was lost.

It's a good guess that the longer Goodell waits to announce his plans, the more watered down they will become.

And that, Indianapolis coach Tony Dungy says, would not be a good thing.

"In any population, you have some guys who never get the message," Dungy said. "For the most part, deterrents will help people make good decisions. I think maintaining a tough policy is best."

Had the NFL had such a policy in place, Johnson would not have been playing in the Super Bowl, and maybe not in the league. The Bears gave him a token one-game suspension but kept him around because they were making a championship run and had nobody really to take his place.

Jones, meanwhile, has run into more police than wide receivers since being made the sixth pick in the 2005 draft. The Titans finally seem to be weary of his act, but Jones has more serious issues now that he faces possible felony charges in two states.

Jones wasn't drafted because the Titans thought he would be named man of the year. It wasn't a big secret at the time that he carried a lot of baggage.

He was picked because he's a great football talent and the Titans were desperate to win.

There are a few teams, like the Colts, who emphasize character when choosing players. They understand that players who bond together and stay out of trouble are more likely to be successful.

Most, however, simply pick the most talented players, cross their fingers, and hope for the best.

"In the end, it becomes a gut feeling," Dungy said. "Do I want this guy in my locker room?"

Yes, it's time the NFL gets tough with players who can't keep out of trouble.

But it's also time teams begin learning how to just say no.

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Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at [e-mail]