I wasn't gonna start a whole thread on this article.
But since this thread is a lively discussion of all things Goodell, I might as well post it.
Bill Simmons posted an article on Grantland discussing how the league is using big offensive plays and pass-happy quarterbacks to distract attention away from concussions.

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When baseball antagonized fans with the '94 strike, the sport eventually recovered by juicing baseballs and becoming more lenient with performance-enhancing drugs... If the 32 owners wanted to distract fans the way baseball did, they would probably take the following four steps.

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1. Allow their arrogant commissioner to bestow himself with unprecedented power without any real checks and balances.
Oh wait, they did that! Roger Goodell can do whatever he wants. It's amazing. He changes the rules as he goes along like he's the Bachelor Pad producer or something. If the NFL's commissionership worked like the American presidency, can you imagine the attack ads that Goodell's competitor could run during the 2012 election?
Would there be an easier incumbent candidate to topple? After the way he handled this Saints debacle, I'm seriously starting to wonder if he's the worst sports commissioner of my lifetime.

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2. Pull a Joe McCarthy and scapegoat a signature team for being "too violent," whether they have enough evidence or not, just to prove that they're taking things seriously now and stuff.
Oh, wait, they did that, too. (Cut to everyone in New Orleans nodding.)

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3. Lowball their officials even though the league makes billions of dollars — literally, billions and billions of dollars — and bring in a slew of inferior replacements so writers, bloggers and talking heads will waste millions of hours venting about shoddy officiating and how "THE LEAGUE NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING!!!"
Oh, wait, they did that, too! I mean … there can't possibly be any other explanation for lowballing your officials when they make a pittance compared to your overall profits and the well-being of your players, right?

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4. Execute their version of "juicing the balls" by doing everything possible to ensure that "5,000 passing yards is the new 4,000" and maybe even have one of their stars flirt with 6,000 yards this season.
How could the league help us get [a QB to 6000 yards a season]? By subtly changing contact rules so only truly talented defensive backs can actually cover somebody. By protecting quarterbacks in the pocket to comical degrees. By overreacting with a massive fine every time a defensive back can't change the trajectory of a tackle at the last possible split second as a receiver is ducking, making all the defensive backs so gun-shy that every game turns into a faster version of the Pro Bow— Oh, wait, they've done all of those things!

Bill Simmons gets it, you guys.