Roger Goodell Reportedly 'Miffed' About Patriots' Matt Patricia's Clown T-Shirt

Five months after the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell hasn't forgotten about the wardrobe choice the team's defensive coordinator, Matt Patricia, made after the victory.

According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk: "Per a league source, the commissioner continues to be miffed about Patricia's decision to wear the Barstool Sports Goodell-with-a-clown-nose T-shirt while disembarking from the plane that brought the team back from Super Bowl LI."

Nick Emmons of NBC Boston shared an image of Patricia stepping off the team plane with the shirt: 

And Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reported the following in February: 

"...The image of Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia stepping off the team plane wearing a T-shirt depicting Goodell as a clown had some NFL executives seething, I'm told.

"'The T-shirt really bothered him,' according to one ownership source who had been in contact with bigwigs at the league office. 'The fact that Kraft didn't stop him from wearing that ticked some people off, but did they really think he's going to protect Goodell after all of this?'"

La Canfora added in February that owner Robert Kraft's decision to call, following the Deflategate saga, the Patriots' most recent Super Bowl victory "the sweetest" one yet "ruffled feathers on Park Avenue at the league office" and left the relationship between Kraft and Goodell "frayed."

The Patriots and the NFL's league office found themselves at odds after the Patriots were accused of using deflated footballs in Jan. 2015 during the postseason. The NFL's investigation led to the Patriots being fined $1 million and giving up two draft picks, while Brady was suspended four games.

Brady appealed, lost the appeal and took the decision to court in a lengthy battle that wasn't resolved until last summer, with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the NFL's right to suspend Brady. He missed the first four games of the season, but the Patriots made the playoffs and ultimately won the title. 

The wounds from that lengthy standoff apparently haven't healed, however.