“If what’s happening in Pittsburgh was happening in New England, there would be multiple league investigations,” said one NFC East team executive, who asked not to be identified. “But because the Steelers are so liked by the media and league, they get a pass.”

This news comes to us from a Bleacher Reports article citing the ever-famous “Mr. Anonymous Source.”

How the hypocrisy knows no bounds: on a recent Steel City Underground Podcast, I had addressed comments made about the reputation of the suspended Steelers, the organization as a whole and whether or not Mike Tomlin should be held accountable for off-field issues.

Reputation of the players

First, the reputation of the players: perception if reality, and if players are being suspended for missing tests, one could easily assume they are missing the tests because they are guilty of using a banned substance, and believe skipping is better than having been found to fail a test. In other words, regardless of a “fail” these players are thought to still be using those substances (be it marijuana or anything else that’s impermissible by the league’s standards.)

Also consider, even if a player is found to be innocent of wrongdoing, in today’s knee-jerk reaction, instantly-guilty social media backed society, once news of poor behavior surfaces, the damage is already done. This is true whether it’s an NFL player, or a run-of-the-mill celebrity; in some cases, that person’s career is ruined forever.

Reputation of the Steelers organization

Second, the Pittsburgh Steelers are thought of as a class organization; this behavior does reflect poorly upon them, as it wrongdoing by an employee of any company may tarnish their employer’s reputation. However, the Steelers can’t control every aspect of an individual’s life; they can control whether that person continues to be gainfully employed by their club.

Some of those employees will be given far more leeway than others.

For example, the persons responsible for transporting footballs in the Deflategate case were immediately dismissed, while franchise quarterback Tom Brady (who has a multi-million dollar contract with guaranteed money) isn’t someone who the Patriots would easily cut ties with.

Is Mike Tomlin to blame?

Mentioning the Patriots once more brings me to the third point: Mike Tomlin. Should the head coach be responsible for the behavior of his players, when said behavior doesn’t occur on the field of play, or within the confines of the team’s facilities?

Insinuating that Tomlin should be held accountable for the off-field actions of Martavis Bryant or Le’Veon Bell is preposterous: was Bill Belichick held accountable for former Patriot Aaron Hernandez‘ homicide counts? Of course not!

On the other hand, some of those complaining, such as this subject of the Steelers “getting a pass” appearing on a Cincinnati Bengals fan site truly irritates me, when the Bengals have had their own fair share of questionable off-field incidents with former players being charged with DUIs, illegally possessing firearms, and all things Adam “Pacman” Jones. Worse, the Bengals and their fans should be more concerned with their on-field actions, such as deliberately targeting to injure players, or tossing trash on an injured opponent.

Pointing the finger in the mirror

Yet, that’s only scratching the surface with NFL teams and their off-field problems.

Information gathered before the start of last season portrays a growing trend among the league and it’s players:

https://twitter.com/ByRosenberg/status/679020424991145984

https://twitter.com/ByRosenberg/status/634502157669154816

The above information only pertains to actual arrests, and not suspensions, and is a year old… but it still speaks to a larger, league-wide problem (not a Pittsburgh-only one.)

In 2015, the NFL suspended 22 players of non-drug related incidents (including on-field incidents) and an additional 56 suspensions were handed out for violation of the league’s substance policies. That’s up from 44 substance-related suspensions in 2014, while the NFL suspended only 18 players for various non-drug reasons that prior year.

With footballs in storage so far in 2016, 23 players have already been suspended for violating the league’s substance/drug policies.

This speaks to a larger league-wide issue, rather than the anonymous executive’s claim that Pittsburgh “gets a pass.” Honestly, if this person feels the Steelers receiver a lesser punishment than other teams, they should consider the severity of the violations when compared to others. I’m of the opiniong that smoking marijuana is nowhere near as serious as the following incidents:

• The previously mentioned Aaron Hernandez situation
• Deflategate and Spygate
• New Orleans Saints bounty program
• 49ers Louisiana gambling scandal with former owner Edward J. DeBartolo Jr.
• Colts owner Jim Irsay driving under the influence of non-prescribed prescription medication
• Former Browns GM Ray Farmer violating the NFL’s electronic device policy by sending texts to personnel on the sidelines during games

Many of the above listed situations are a detriment to the league’s perception, as executives within those member franchises (those who meet to make the rules, etc.) have been found of wrongdoing. Furthermore, those situations which involve cheating in order to gain an advantage by deflating footballs, recording team’s signals, piping in fake crowd noise (Atlanta Falcons) or illegally texting players to a coaching staff, are far more detrimental to the integrity of the actual games than abusing a plant ever will be.

In fact, the only situation I could think of which involves a form of intoxication and endangerment, is driving under the influence: all people, not just players and staff, should be far more cautious in handling themselves appropriately and not putting others at risk by operating a motor vehicle. In those situations, the teams usually offer some number or person whom could pickup those in need, and transport them safely without doing harm (for the average person like you or I, Uber is an excellent option as well.)

Miss or fail: the league can still suspend you

James Harrison told me last month he's not worried about the NFL handing down a suspension without a pos. drug test. pic.twitter.com/w9YXfH01ig

— Ray Fittipaldo (@rayfitt1) July 22, 2016

Finally, this is the worst thing you may read on the Internet today: the league can suspend players regardless of a failed or missed test, if it has any presumption that a player could be guilty. This is guesswork at it’s finest, and a situation that Steelers linebacker James Harrison is currently caught up in.

Harrison, entering his 13th season in the NFL, has never tested positive for any banned substance. However, this isn’t preventing the league from investigating Harrison upon allegations made in an Al Jazeera documentary about performance-enhancing drugs. Harrison is currently putting up a fight about doing the interview, stating on Instagram:

“I never had a bully before in my life and I’m DAMN sure not about to have one at this point. But since I’m a nice guy & don’t mind helping to clear the air in the name of the NFL Shield, I’ll do this interview,” Harrison wrote. “WITH THESE STIPULATIONS: The interview will be done at MY house. BEFORE training camp. On a date of MY choosing. AND Mr. Goodell must be present.”

There has never been a love-loss between the current NFL Commissioner and Harrison, with the latter making public comments such as “If that man was on fire and I had to [urinate] to put him out, I wouldn’t do it.”

Those comments put a target on Harrison, who has been suspended for on-field plays that other players have been given a real pass on… along with other Steelers teammates who have been fined for plays (that have gone otherwise unnoticed by players on other teams) wearing pink gear outside of October, eye-black to honor a deceased parent, and an incident where Ben Roethlisberger was suspended 4 games without being arrested, let alone charged, for an alleged crime.

Perhaps the NFL East executive is correct in his assessment that the Steelers are loved so much, that a spotlight shines on their actions more than they would with other teams; but I would challenge this person that this doesn’t give Pittsburgh a pass, rather, it makes smaller incidents far more damaging to their beloved brand, than those teams who don’t play in prime-time, or fill their stands.