NFL concluded its investigation into allegations that former Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning used HGH. (Photo credit: Denver Broncos).
On Monday, the NFL concluded its investigation into allegations that former Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning used HGH while recovering from four neck surgeries in 2011. The league cleared the future Hall of Famer of any wrong doing, bringing an end to a strange saga that began in December. Despite Manning being cleared by the league, the Denver Broncos’ NFL odds won’t be affected because Manning retired after the season.
While Manning and those close to him must be happy that his name has been cleared, there are some who believe the NFL investigation was a sham, and the league was just protecting Manning’s legacy.
According to reports, Manning’s crisis manager confirmed that deliveries from the Guyer Institute were made to the Manning household, but the NFL insists that there were no drugs or PEDs in the shipments.
After the way commissioner Goodell and the NFL went after Tom Brady for allegedly deflating balls, there are some on the Northeast who wonder about the legitimacy of the NFL’s investigation.
The Boston Globe’s Ben Violin had a few interesting points when he discussed the Manning investigation this week. As expected, Violin discussed the DeflateGate situation involving Tom Brady, who will miss the first four games of the season while serving a suspension for using under inflated balls in the AFC Championship game in 2014.
In Brady’s situation, he was not involved in anything PED related, he was not involved in domestic violence, and he wasn’t busted for using recreational drugs. The only thing Brady might have done was to ask a team staff member to deflate a few balls so he can get a better grip.
Despite not having any concrete evidence that Brady had the equipment manager deflate the balls, he will serve a four game suspension, which is the same suspension handed out to Greg Hardy, who was accused of beating up his girlfriend.
Violin also brought up the Ray Rice situation. Rice was accused of punching his fiancé in an elevator, and at the time, the league gave him a two game suspension (also less than what Brady was given for deflated balls), after a “thorough investigation,” and that was the end of it.
However, the Rice situation blew up in the league’s face as the video of the incident was leaked to the press. In the video, you could see Rice knock out his then fiancé and now wife with a single punch to the face.
After the Rice video leaked, the league, which by its own admission conducted a thorough investigation, claimed not to have seen the damning video. The NFL reacted to the Rice video by suspending him for the rest of the season, and the Baltimore Ravens released him from the team.
After pointing out the flaws in the NFL’s investigative teams, Violin also pointed out the fact that the Mannings have a close relationship with the NFL, and as the face of the NFL for nearly two decades, the league would be inclined to take care of Peyton Manning.
Violin also pointed out that the league pushed out a lot of news on the day it announced the investigation into Manning was over, to prevent the media from spending too much time dissecting the Manning investigation.
