Pictured above is the towel that 70,000 screaming Patriots fans will be waving tonight at Gillette Stadium, courtesy of Dave Portnoy and Barstool Sports.
Want to know who isn't happy about this?
I'll give you one guess.
An article from Sports Illustrated highlights the plan in place for Goodell tonight, which includes doing his pregame ceremony while fans are trickling in and leaving the field before it gets too full.
He will also not be sitting alongside Robert Kraft, instead sitting somewhere that television cameras are not allowed to show and the Gillette Stadium screen will not instigate.
The entire article is worth a read, but it brings up the point about the NFL looking small in the face of backlash from the media. If you are Roger Goodell, in charge of this billion dollar operation, you can't let some towels change your plans.
It's all about image, and looking like you are the King while getting rocks thrown at you. That is what makes organizations seem larger than life. When you show vulnerability like this at the first sign of adversity, you have failed.
Plain and simple.