Ever the chatty politician, former Gov. Ed Rendell usually has plenty to say on topics of public interest, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s handling of the Ray Rice domestic-abuse scandal is one of those topics — and maybe Rendell has said too much for his own good.

Last week, the outspoken Democrat Rendell ripped Goodell saying he knew, or should have known, about the incriminating surveillance video long before it was released to the public Sept. 8 by gossip-news site TMZ.

But Philadelphia sports radio personality Howard Eskin turned the tables on Rendell and asked the ex-governor if he knew, or should have known, about incriminating evidence in the Jerry Sandusky child-abuse scandal.

Rendell’s reply should be of interest to all Pennsylvania voters, since the investigation and conviction of Sandusky, a former Penn State assistant coach under Joe Paterno, could have political repercussions for years to come.

Here’s how the Rendell-Eskin interview went down, according to an account in Sunday’s Philadelphia Inquirer:

Rendell repeated his belief that Goodell lied about not knowing of anyone at the NFL seeing a tape showing Rice, then a running back with the Baltimore Ravens, knocking out fiancee Janay Parker in an elevator at the Revel casino in Atlantic City. “Yeah, it defies belief to say that he’s telling the truth,” Rendell said. “First of all, it’s clear the NFL got the tape. ... The head of NFL security is my former state police chief, when I was governor, Jeffrey Miller. ... There’s no question that if the tape came into the NFL, or even if it didn’t, Jeffrey Miller would have gotten that tape. . . . There’s no question he would have said, ‘Boss, you got to see this.’ There’s no question in my mind. There’s no logical explanation that backs up what the commissioner is saying.”

Eskin suggested a comparison between Goodell, the head of “a gigantic business,” and Rendell, the head of a gigantic state, asking, “If you’re in that situation, ... how would you deal with that?”

The former governor said the NFL owners could have fired Goodell, or Goodell could have chosen to discipline himself.

That’s when the radio host came back to the Sandusky scandal. He said some people have questioned how much Rendell knew, or should have known, about the crime and ensuing alleged cover-up by Penn State officials.

Rendell’s response is telling. Having just explained why the NFL’s top executive absolutely should have known about the brewing Ray Rice scandal, he then counted the reasons why, as governor and a member of the Penn State board of trustees, he didn’t know about the Sandusky allegations, even though they were rumored throughout his tenure.

Rendell was governor from January 2003 to January 2011. Sandusky was indicted in November 2011 after a two-year grand jury investigation.

“Well, the problem is, no one told the board,” Rendell said. “First of all, although the governor has a seat on the board, and has four other appointments, I had a representative and I never attended a board meeting, number one. But more importantly than that, the Penn State officials never told the board about this, never told the board about it. First time the board learned about it is when it came out in public. That’s the first time I learned about it.”

Rendell went on to stress that Penn State technically is not a state government institution, and it has its own police force, which negates state police jurisdiction. Plus, Rendell said, despite his numerous conversations with Paterno, the coach never once mentioned that his assistant coach was under investigation.

Rendell said, “I wish Joe Paterno, the first time he heard that stuff, had called me, I would have said, ‘Joe, take it to the prosecutor’s office right now, because pedophiles are recidivists, they’re the ultimate recidivists, and you want to stop this guy before he hurts anybody else.’ ”

Tom Ridge was governor in 1998 when campus police presented their evidence against Sandusky to Center County prosecutor Ray Gricar. Gricar declined to prosecute.

Sandusky was convicted on 45 counts in June 2012 and sentenced to 60 years in prison that October. Gricar mysteriously went missing April 15, 2005. He was declared dead in 2011.

Rendell says there’s no way he could have known about the Sandusky child-abuse scandal while he was governor and a Penn State board member, but insists that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had to know about the Ray Rice scandal.

Different circumstances, or different standards?