Dallas Cowboys v Denver Broncos

At least one national, non-Dallas, writer thinks so.  From Greg Doyle of CBS Sportsline on Pacman’s suspension…

Pacman has been held to an impossible standard, worse than the one that brought down Bob Knight. After being warned not to screw up again as the Indiana basketball coach, Knight put his hands on an Indiana student. Sorry, Knight. You’re gone.

Pacman apparently placed his hands on a bodyguard. His bodyguard. A goon hired by Cowboys owner Jerry Jones to watch Pacman. They got into some sort of altercation in a hotel bathroom, and police were called, but no charges were filed. If damage was done to the hotel, we don’t know about it. If anybody was injured, we don’t know about it. Basically, Pacman and his Cowboys-bought bodyguard got physical, and for that, Goodell suspended Jones for at least four games. Maybe more. He’ll revisit the issue in a month, when he wants some more positive press.

Backed into a corner by Goodell, Pacman is playing the only card available to him. He is entering treatment for alcohol abuse, according to the Dallas Morning News. The reaction to that news will be overwhelming: Pacman’s a drunk! See! Goodell had to suspend him four games!

And that reaction, like everything else about these latest twists, will be overdone. Pacman never had a drinking clause. His prior suspension wasn’t about alcohol, so he hasn’t violated it by drinking. Which means he can’t be suspended now for getting drunk.

And that leaves us back where we started. With Goodell making an easy stand against an easy target, counting on all of us to judge him with our hearts, not our minds. Because in our heart, we hate Pacman. Hell, I’m with you there. He’s an idiot. Getting into a tussle with your bodyguard — needing a bodyguard to protect you from yourself — is embarrassing and stupid. Clearly Pacman Jones is a disaster waiting to happen.

But this wasn’t it.

This wasn’t a disaster. Nor was this a crime worthy of a quarter-season suspension and pay cut. Not even for someone with Pacman Jones’ track record.

Goodell’s suspension of Pacman Jones smacks of piling on, of punishing him again for all those misdeeds — alleged and real — that led to his 17-month suspension in the first place. (Source and the bulk of the story)