Patriots fans might notice something they haven’t seen in awhile at the team’s 2017 season opener: Roger Goodell.
The NFL commissioner told reporters at the league’s spring meetings Tuesday that he plans to be in Foxborough for the Thursday night Week 1 home opener. It will be the first time Goodell has attended a game at Gillette Stadium since the Patriots’ 2015 AFC Divisional round game against the Baltimore Ravens — or, in other words, nearly 32 months.
It may or may not be coincidence that Goodell’s absence from Foxborough spanned the incredibly fractious and prolonged Deflategate controversy.