I am not sure he intended this to be the way it works (as PFT seems to think in each of these cases) but Commish has become the maximalist in this situation. Always trying to push the envelope toward greater and greater sanctions.

If he was David Stern and scared everyone with his vocabulary (palaver) and beard



then it might work. But Stern was also a master coalition builder and resistance buster inside the owners' group (and definitely the players association) so he could bulldoze resistance as he created rules on the fly.

The NFL is much more staid and resistant to that kind of bullying leadership.