Almost like there was something else there that he didn't want us to see. Almost like he wanted this whole thing forgotten as quickly as possible.
But Goodell insisted earlier this week that nothing could be further from the truth.
"We didn't sweep it under the rug,'' he said during the league's 2-day fall meeting in Center City. "We're the ones who raised [the issue]. I don't agree with that assessment.
"We dealt with it forcefully, aggressively and effectively. The thing you want in a discipline is to make sure it doesn't happen again and that the other clubs understand there are very significant consequences if the policies are violated. I think that message was sent.
"We also wanted to send a message to our fans; to [assure them] that all teams are playing by the same rules."
Goodell said it was his intention "from the get-go" to destroy all of the tapes, documents and other records related to the case after he went through them.
"We said we wanted the materials destroyed because we didn't want anyone to have that material or the notes that could have come out of that," he said. "We went ahead and did that as we expected to do. And everything we found was consistent with what we thought."
Goodell said they found nothing in the tapes and documents to indicate the Patriots had used illegal videotaping during their three Super Bowl victories.
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