Armour: Roger Goodell emerges with a big thud

Roger Goodell would have been better off staying in hiding.

In his first news conference since that horrifying Ray Rice video sent the NFL into a downward spiral, Goodell did little Friday afternoon to assure to anyone that he and the league are any closer to getting a handle on preventing domestic violence. He apologized – a lot – and talked about making changes to the NFL's conduct policy.

But exactly what are the changes? He'll have to get back to you. Hopefully by the Super Bowl.

"We want to get to work immediately," Goodell said.

And here I thought that's what he'd been doing for the last week and a half.

Goodell has appointed a panel of female advisers, several of whom are experts in domestic violence and sexual assault. The NFL also announced Friday morning that it will partner with the National Sexual Violence Resource Center and the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which saw an 84 percent spike in phone calls last week and didn't have enough staff to handle them.

That's all well and good, and are important steps. But what's been most infuriating over these past few weeks is the NFL's woeful inconsistency in its handling of domestic violence cases, to say nothing of its utter unpreparedness in what is clearly the worst crisis the league has faced in decades.

Sadly, Friday's news conference was just more of the same.

If Goodell said it once, he said it dozen times _ the NFL plans to consult experts and work with the NFLPA to come up with a cohesive policy. But why wasn't that already done? He's had more than two weeks since he announced tougher punishments for domestic violence – when he first promised to get it right – and more than 10 days since that sickening tape first aired.

What, exactly, does he have to show for it?

The next time a player is arrested for domestic violence or sexual assault, the NFL still won't know what to do. Deactivate him? Cut him? Let him play?

"There will be changes to our personal conduct policy. I know this because we will make it happen," Goodell said. "Nothing is off the table. Let me say it again: We will implement new conduct policies. They will have a set of clear and transparent rules for league personnel."

Glad he cleared that up.

Domestic violence and sexual assault are difficult issues to address, no doubt. But this is why Goodell is paid so handsomely -- $44.2 million in 2012 alone, according to the last tax form available for the NFL. To come up with answers, not push the problem off for months and pray nothing else bad happens in the meantime.

Goodell has never been shy about throwing his power around – Bountygate, anyone? Yet the one time the NFL is most in need of strong leadership, he was flat and uninspired.

Compare his performance Friday with that of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, who needed all of three days to find a way to rid the league of Donald Sterling following toxic, racist comments, and delivered his decision with the passion and outrage the situation deserved.

Of course, Silver had the cooperation of his players union. The misdeeds of Rice, Adrian Peterson, Greg Hardy and Ray McDonald have tarnished all players, most of whom are good, decent men, yet the only contribution the NFLPA seems to have made in this process is to cry about the unfairness of Rice's suspension.

Please.

If the NFL is as serious about combating domestic violence and sexual assault as Goodell professes it to be, he and NFLPA chief DeMaurice Smith should have hunkered down in an office with law-enforcement officials and advocates long ago and not come out until they had an actual plan.

Here's one idea: If a player is arrested, he's automatically deactivated for the next game and put on the next flight to New York to meet with Goodell and Smith. They decide, together, the course of action -- with the understanding that, if they find out through the legal process that the player has lied, it's an automatic lifetime ban.

Better yet, use the concussion protocol as an example and let one of those outside experts review the facts and make the decision on how long a player should be sidelined while the legal process plays out.

But no. Goodell and the NFL would rather talk about doing something instead of actually doing it.

After an ugly few weeks for the NFL, Goodell had a chance to bring some clarity. All he did was show the league still hasn't got a clue.​