By Sam Laird From Mashable

Where is Roger Goodell? The football-loving world finally got its answer on Friday afternoon when the embattled NFL commissioner made his first public appearance in over a week to address his league’s spiraling domestic abuse and discipline crisis.

It went downhill in a hurry. Goodell was criticized by current players on Twitter during the conference, a prankster interrupted him during the appearance before being dragged away, pundits on TV generally panned his performance afterward and NFL legend Teddy Bruschi maintained after the conference that Goodell should resign.

Goodell announced at Friday’s 45-minute press conference in New York City that the league will develop a new personal conduct policy, establish a conduct committee to monitor off-the-field issues, reiterated that he mishandled the Ray Rice case and said the league “looks forward” to an investigation of the league’s handling of Rice led by former FBI director Robert Mueller.

The league’s public-image meltdown began in late July, when Goodell suspended running back Ray Rice just two games for punching his then-fiancée in a casino elevator last February. That was seen by most as a light punishment and drew widespread outrage. When TMZ leaked footage of Rice’s actual punch on Sept. 8, that outrage exploded.

Goodell then announced a new domestic violence policy mandating six-game suspensions for first-time offenders — then promptly banned the first-time offender Rice from the NFL indefinitely. The contradiction appeared to many as a reactionary move by a rudderless league front office. Meanwhile, more domestic abuse cases have continued to rock the league since.

Sponsors of the league were forced to speak out critically and Crest toothpaste canceled a promotion with the league set for next month. In short: Goodell couldn’t hide out any longer and active leadership — or at least the appearance of active leadership — was desperately needed.

A tense press conference

Goodell’s much-anticipated press conference drew criticism before it even began — he was 15 minutes late to the podium.

In his approximately 10-minute prepared statement, and in answering questions from reporters, Goodell continually stressed the importance of “getting better” as a league and his hopes to effect change beyond just the NFL. He said he intends to have the new conduct policy drafted by Super Bowl XLIX on Feb. 1. He is not considering resigning, despite calls from many pundits to step down, and admitted the league lacks a consistent policy for dealing with domestic violence by players.

Goodell also repeatedly stressed the importance and value of an “independent investigation” by former FBI director Robert Mueller that the league first announced last week. That investigation has been questioned, however, for two reasons. First, the league said Mueller’s “independent” investigation will be overseen by two longtime NFL owners — one of whom, John Mara of the New York Giants, expressed support for Goodell as the Ray Rice controversy reached its apex. Mueller also works for the law firm WilmerHale, according to NBC Sports, which “helped the NFL recently negotiate a multi-billion-dollar contract with DirecTV.”

During Goodell’s press conference, several current NFL players posted critical tweets of the commissioner and his statements.

IMAGE: NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell pauses as he speaks during a news conference Friday, Sept. 19, 2014, in New York. IMAGE: JASON DECROW/ASSOCIATED PRESS

For more on this story go to: http://mashable.com/2014/09/19/roger-goodell-press-conference/

See related story:

[NFL Commissioner] Roger Goodell’s Press Conference really pissed off the Universe

By Brian Koerber and Annie Colbert From Mashable

The NFL Commissioner held a press conference on Friday to address recent domestic violence controversies among its players, but his seemingly ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ attitude just caused more infuriation.

ESPN went so far as to incorporate tweets from NFL players critical of Goodell’s response during live broadcast. And professional football players weren’t the only ones tweeting their dismay at the dispassionate presser.

IMAGE: Live shot of Press Conference

For more with all the Tweets: http://mashable.com/2014/09/19/roger-goodell-press-conference-reactions/?utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_cid=Mash-Prod-RSS-Feedburner-All-Partial&utm_medium=feed&utm_source=feedburner&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher