SAN FRANCISCO — It still doesn't make much sense why tne NFL, which spent all last offseason acting like PSI levels in football was a pillar to the integrity of the game, didn't seem to care much about it during this season. Goodell was asked about the league's startling admission that it didn't keep any data on football inflation at his annual press conference on the Friday before the Super Bowl. The league announced new policies and procedures to make sure footballs were legally inflated, after the long and overblown deflate-gate controversy with the New England Patriots. Goodell danced around giving a reason for the incredible discrepancy between the NFL's actions last offseason over PSI and its general malaise over the issue during this season. Goodell reiterated that the NFL made limited spot checks and found no violations. "The intent of what we were doing was not a research project," Goodell said. "It was to make sure our policies were followed." Goodell often talks about transparency, but there was almost none throughout this whole issue. [ Score great deals for Super Bowl 50 tickets at SeatGeek ] "We don't disclose all the specifics on that because it's meant as a deterrent," Goodell said. "If you tell everybody how many times you're checking and which games you're checking, it's not much of a deterrent. It's a deterrent when they think they may be checked." Considering the disagreements about the science of how balls can naturally deflate in certain weather conditions, it's surprising the NFL wouldn't want to research something that it took so seriously last offseason. The NFL's heavy-handed reaction to deflate-gate was brought up again with comparisons to how the league handled Al Jazeera's report that Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning's wife had human growth hormone sent to her, compared to the way it attacked New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Goodell was asked why the league doesn't seem to be pursuing the allegations against Manning with the same public gusto it had for deflate-gate, and Goodell replied, "We are." "We take every allegation of violations of our policies and procedures, particularly when it relates to safety, very seriously," Goodell said. "When these allegations first came up we immediately began our own investigation. We were making sure we were working with the other sports involved, with WADA, the World Anti-Doping Association, to make sure we were getting all the information." The league is investigating the Manning allegations, but Goodell said there is no independent investigation ongoing by the league. He said the league is continuing to work with the other sports leagues involved and WADA on the allegations. "If we feel that [an independent investigation] is necessary at some point, we may do that. At this point we don’t," Goodell said. Goodell wouldn't discuss the NFL's appeal of a federal judge's ruling vacating Brady's four-game suspension, but he said the appeal is still ongoing. "I’m not focused on it right now and I won’t speculate on what we’ll do based on the outcome," Goodell said.
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