If Goodell was Kraft’s sock puppet then the Pats wouldn’t have been the first team busted for taping. There’s plenty of indications that they aren’t the only team that does it, plenty of other targets Goodell could have made an example of to get Kraft to stop, instead he busted the Pats. If that’s a sock puppet it’s a damn uncomfortable sock.
Goodell was dragged into the investigation because of public complaints by the Jets coach, a former Pats assistant. AFAIC, this is less about the Pats and more about the NFL.
I keep hearing this from cheater, I mean, New England fans. The old "everybody does it" rationale.
If Billy the Cheat withheld evidence--and you have to believe that he did because he turned over only six tapes when the cheating has been going on for seven or eight years--he should be banned from the NFL, and the Patriots should be stripped of their supposed Super Bowl "wins."