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Roger Goodell will return to Gillette Stadium for Patriots' season opener
For the first time since the infamous deflate-gate game in early 2015, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will take in a New England Patriots game at Gillette Stadium.
Goodell told reporters at the owners meetings in Phoenix on Tuesday that he plans to be at the Super Bowl champions’ home opener, which serves as the kickoff for the NFL season.
Goodell has not visited New England since the AFC championship game between the Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts, a game that kicked off the deflate-gate saga that culminated in a four-game suspension for Tom Brady. And don’t think Patriots fans didn’t notice.
After Goodell conspicuously avoided traveling to Foxborough for this past season’s AFC title game, New England fans serenaded the absent commissioner with chants of, “Where is Roger?”
Goodell has said a return to Gillette wouldn’t be awkward, but New England tight end Rob Gronkowski thinks differently.
“I’m telling you, he won’t get through the highway if the fans saw him,” Gronkowski said in February. “I don’t even think he can even land in the airport in Boston because Patriot fans are the best fans, they’re the most loyal fans. I’m telling you, they might just carry out Roger themselves. They couldn’t even get to the stadium in Foxborough if he landed in Boston.”
Hmmm … yeah. Doesn’t sound like things will be awkward at all.
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