Comment on this story
Comment
This dried up old fig Stephen Ross has Brian Flores to thank. If not for Flores, the Miami Dolphins owner could be out of the NFL altogether, perhaps even facing charges for violating the federal Sports Bribery Act. Without Flores, Ross can test the shelf life of figs in a damp cement cage.
If Flores doesn’t coach the Dolphins with such a strong sense of competitive honor in 2019, if he doesn’t coax the Dolphins into winning five of their last nine games to finish 5-11, Ross certainly seems guilty of offering bribes to the team him to tank. Thanks to Flores’ efforts, the league was unable or unwilling to conclude that Ross’ organization was outright throwing games. Yet it turns out that Flores was telling the truth about his despised former boss when he made the hot accusation that Ross offered him $100,000 for a loss. “There are differing recollections regarding wording, timing and context,” the league said in a statement. But apparently Ross said it or something close to it.
The fact that Flores, coached to win despite the pressure and duplicity of his owner, somehow managed to make something competitive out of a talent-depleted lineup — not a single player earned a single vote for the All-Pro team — is all that allowed NFL researcher Mary Jo White to generously conclude that Ross wasn’t actually letting his own team down.
NFL suspends, fines Dolphins owner Steven Ross, strips team of two draft picks
Instead, the league just suspended Ross and fined him $1.5 million on Tuesday for tampering, for being a backstabber and a cheater who tried to pry talent away from other teams with a host of other unethical acts — violations with “unprecedented scope and rigor” for an owner, according to Commissioner Roger Goodell’s announcement.
Do you remember what work Flores did the whole time, even though Ross obeyed? On the Sunday before Christmas, Flores called his team to a 38-35 overtime win over the Cincinnati Bengals, a game that meant absolutely nothing, except that Flores somehow made it mean something to his boys. A week later, Flores led the Dolphins to that unthinkable upset of the New England Patriots, 27-24, to deny them a bye in the playoffs. Do not forget that? Do you remember who the Dolphins had in what ridiculously passed for a backfield the other day? Patrick Laird, the undrafted free agent whose nickname was “the intern” because that’s what everyone on the team thought he was, as opposed to a running back.
Do you remember Ryan Fitzpatrick going ahead of Tom Brady even as Ross — via an intermediary — was playing foot massage with Brady in “numerous and detailed” secret communications in blatant violation of league rules, trying to screw his neighbor from the Hamptons and Palm Beach Robert Kraft?
Imagine how Flores must have felt with Ross muttering in his ear all this time, pressuring him to step in for Brady and hinting at how much it would please the owner if they somehow lost enough games to improve the position you are in the project.
According to the league, Ross has repeatedly “expressed his belief that the Dolphins’ position in the upcoming 2020 draft should take priority over the team’s win-loss record.” Ross told Flores. He told Dolphins president and CEO Tom Garfinkel as much. He told general manager Chris Greer and senior vice president Brandon Shore as much. And he said it “on a number of occasions.” He said it often enough, and in a way that bothered Flores so much, that the coach felt compelled to document it in a written memo to upper management, which finally forced Ross to end it, at least with him.
“I am grateful that the NFL investigator found my factual allegations against Steven Ross to be true,” Flores said in a statement Tuesday. “At the same time, I am disappointed to learn that the investigator minimized Mr. Ross’ suggestions and pressure about tank games, especially when I wrote and sent a letter at the time to Dolphins executives documenting my serious concerns about this topic.”
The NFL’s failure to protect women saved Deshaun Watson from accountability
The league — with extreme charity — found that Ross did not specifically “instruct” Flores to lose games. He interpreted this remark about throwing away games and winning a hundred thousand as a joke. “However worded, such a comment is not intended or taken as a serious offer,” the league ruled.
Still, it’s clear how dangerous Ross’s verbal pressure was. The Sports Bribery Act makes it an offense to “influence in any way by way of bribery any sporting competition”. What if Ross’ remarks were directed at a coach with a little less iron in him than Flores? What if Ross had actually persuaded him?
“An owner or senior executive must understand the weight that his or her words carry and the risk that a comment will be taken seriously and acted upon, even if that is not the intent or expectation,” Goodell said.
The only reason the offer didn’t seem serious was because Flores didn’t act, instead coaching the team with virtuous defiance. “The comments made by Mr. Ross did not affect Coach Flores’ commitment to winning and the Dolphins competing to win every game,” Goodell said in his statement. “Coach Flores should be commended for not allowing any comments about the relative importance of draft position to affect his commitment to winning during the season.”
Ross’s statement in response to the penalty was itself fraudulent. In a stunning double-talk, he claimed he was “absolved” of the investigation and only accepted the punishment so the Dolphins could move forward, even though he strongly disagreed with the “findings and punishment.” He went out of his way to call Flores’ accusations “malicious and defamatory.” Even now Ross doesn’t get it. He doesn’t acknowledge that Flores actually protected him by competing wholeheartedly. Without Flores, Ross would be completely exposed.
Add Comment