“The only reason good reporters become reporters, is because we suffer from a peculiar compulsion to adduce new facts for the record of our times,”

Goodell sees the 18-game schedule as both a certainty and another financial windfall from media rights partners who’ll quickly saddle up to add that extra week of broadcasts.

“I don’t have big booming pipes, so I don’t have that traditional play-by-play voice, and it seems like more and more play-by-play roles are being carved out for guys like me but I damn well better be interesting and I damn well better be prepared."