Goodell keeps getting hammered
Of course since Bountygate Goodell and his bosses have been exposed for who and what they are and nobody believes or trusts them anymore. I wonder if Peter King and Jeff Duncan and others like them feel any remorse or shame for allowing themselves to be used by Pash and Goodell to print all the lies they were fed. I feel for Brady, but not for Kraft. He helped create the Goodell monster.
I think part of the sudden outrage and incredulity about Ballghazi stems from the fact that the NFL media didn't believe something like this could happen to the Patriots/Tom Brady. Spygate barely registered as a blip on the radar when it happened, because Goodell was a newly-minted commish and the evidence was pretty cut-and-dry.
During Bountygate, the Saints team(s) implicated were fresh, up-and-coming iterations of an admittedly dysfunctional and perpetually downtrodden franchise. With success comes contempt, and two years removed from our first SB win, most other NFL fans were already sick of the new kid on the block bullying the league mainstays (Colts, Patriots, etc.) and taking their lunch money.
Despite our minor struggles in 2010, we were still an 11 win team, and the 2009 and 2011 teams were flat out dominant - so fans and writers affiliated with other franchises didn't mind when Goodell began his concussion witch-hunt, regardless of the lack of evidence he could produce of any wrong-doing. Among most media covering the event, critical thought was discouraged, and guilt was assumed. It didn't help that Gregg Williams was (and is) a *******.
But when Brady, the absolute epitome of a Golden Boy in the NFL, became the new target of Goodell's everlasting power trip, many writers questioned his motivations and methods. Many still carried water for the NFL, but a large number of others finally employed that critical thought they so gleefully brushed aside during Bountygate. They figured out that there was little in the way of evidence, and that very little competitive advantage, if any, was gained in the process of deflating these balls. Hmm, does that sound familiar?
As far as King and Duncan go: King is an unabashed water carrier for Goodell and the league office. He treasures his unfettered access and it completely pollutes his "reporting". Nothing he writes or says on television should be taken as anything but PR copy for the league and its Beloved Leader.
Duncan, on the other hand, seems to have an axe to grind with Payton. We have seen first-hand that Payton really has no use for the local media and does not treat them as if they are special flowers in need of TLC. I have mixed feelings about it, but this is something Duncan takes umbrage at, and he used Bountygate as a opportunity to pile on. I won't - and you shouldn't - ever forgive him for his shilling on behalf of Goodell and the league office to suit his own damaged ego. He is both a dingus and a pretty mediocre writer who doesn't deserve the time and attention he gets from people who dislike him.
As you said, Dr. Frankenstein got his comeuppance, and no one should feel sorry for him. Kraft reaped what was sown by him and on his behalf, and only now does he have an issue with the way Goodell wields his power.
tl;dr: Saints received no benefit of the doubt, Patriots and Tom Brady somehow have, and the NFL media has finally caught on because of the parties under the microscope now. Also, Peter King and Jeff Duncan are part of the problem.