If this 4 game suspension stands,, Tom Brady's first game back will be @Colts on Sunday Night Football.
That's awesome!
1) First, talk about a ratings juggernaut that night for the NFL (probably why they set it at 4 games suspension if you really think about it)
2) Second, I'm willing to bet that Brady and the Pats absolutely destroy the Colts (again) that night,, with regulation footballs.
Note- Brady and the Pats got caught and got a deserved punishment. But, they'll probably rip through the league during the last 3 qtrs of the season, and get to another Superbowl.
It's what they do. They'll have a serious chip in their shoulders, and come out and prove they're great anyway.
That's what I think will happen, anyway.
Quote:The 4 game suspension was light. The big hit to Brady is to his legacy.
A million dollar fine to the team is chump change. Teams regularly lose much more than that every year in dead money.
I also agree about the 2017 4th round pick. It was a silly meaningless addition.
I'm not sure on the hit to his legacy. Maybe a little but I don't see this seriously impacting his legacy. You could very well be right tho. Somewhat a matter of opinion yet but we'll see.
Agree on the rest. A million is no more than a slap on the wrist and a 4th for 2017 is essentially nothing in the deal. Why even add that?
I thought this excerpt from the letter that Troy Vincent, Executive President of the NFLPA, wrote to the New England organization was telling:
"...
Based on the extensive record developed in the investigation and detailed in the Wells report, and after full consideration of this matter by the Commissioner and the Football Operations department, we have determined that the Patriots have violated the NFL's Policy on Integrity of the Game and Enforcement of Competitive Rules, as well as the Official Playing Rules and the established guidelines for the preparation of game footballs set forth in the NFL's Game Operations Policy Manual for Member Clubs
.
...
In determining that a violation occurred, we applied the standard of proof stated in the Integrity of the Game Policy: namely, preponderance of the evidence, meaning that 'as a whole, the fact sought to be proved is more probable than not.' This is a well-recognized legal standard, which is applied in courts and workplaces every day throughout the country. The evidence gathered during the investigation and reviewed in the report more than satisfy this standard and demonstrate an ongoing plan by at least certain Patriots' employees to deflate footballs, to do so in a secretive manner after the game officials have certified the footballs as suitable for play, and to hide these activities even from their own supervisors
..."
Quote:I thought this excerpt from the letter that Troy Vincent, Executive President of the NFLPA, wrote to the New England organization was telling:
"...Based on the extensive record developed in the investigation and detailed in the Wells report, and after full consideration of this matter by the Commissioner and the Football Operations department, we have determined that the Patriots have violated the NFL's Policy on Integrity of the Game and Enforcement of Competitive Rules, as well as the Official Playing Rules and the established guidelines for the preparation of game footballs set forth in the NFL's Game Operations Policy Manual for Member Clubs
.
...
In determining that a violation occurred, we applied the standard of proof stated in the Integrity of the Game Policy: namely, preponderance of the evidence, meaning that 'as a whole, the fact sought to be proved is more probable than not.' This is a well-recognized legal standard, which is applied in courts and workplaces every day throughout the country. The evidence gathered during the investigation and reviewed in the report more than satisfy this standard and demonstrate an ongoing plan by at least certain Patriots' employees to deflate footballs, to do so in a secretive manner after the game officials have certified the footballs as suitable for play, and to hide these activities even from their own supervisors
..."
Troy Vincent's letter was really good and spelled it out well. The people in the "not enough proof against Brady" club are disullusioned that just because he didn't admit it that he couldn't have done it.
I saw someone mention his legacy earlier. This doesn't change his legacy. This is a blurb....if I started a team today, he'd still be my qb pick.
Yes, Brady's agent said he will challenge it, but Kraft said nothing about challenging the ruling. He just said he though it was unfair and went on babbling about Ideal Gas Law.
Kraft is the key actor in the cover up, which continues unabated. The cover up is always worse than the crime. How deep will Kraft dig himself? It was once about underinflated balls. Then it was about shady ball boys. Now it's about Tom Brady. Wanna make it about Robert Kraft? Keep lying, Kraft.
Quote:Yes, Brady's agent said he will challenge it, but Kraft said nothing about challenging the ruling. He just said he though it was unfair and went on babbling about Ideal Gas Law.
Kraft is the key actor in the cover up, which continues unabated. The cover up is always worse than the crime. How deep will Kraft dig himself? It was once about underinflated balls. Then it was about shady ball boys. Now it's about Tom Brady. Wanna make it about Robert Kraft? Keep lying, Kraft.
I still wonder if Kraft and Goodell had any conversations about how harsh the punishment would be leading up to this.
Quote:I still wonder if Kraft and Goodell had any conversations about how harsh the punishment would be leading up to this.
The thing is, due to New England winning the Super Bowl and combined with the fact that it's a "fair play" type of infraction, the League pretty much
has to come down hard on the team. At least, that's how it is from my perspective.
Quote:The NFL knew that there was a possibility that the pressure of the balls had been illegally reduced by the Pats. The refs were told this too. Then, on top of that, the balls went mysteriously missing just before the game adding further suspicion to the matter. Yet the refs did not check the balls after they went missing, and a whole half was played before they were checked. If deflation might in any way give the Pats an advantage, then why did the refs choose to allow the first half to be played with what may have been tainted balls. Wasn't that grossly unfair to the Colts?
From the facts presented in the Wells report, the case against the Pats was/is pretty sketchy. But the fact that the refs knew about the possibility and yet chose to do nothing to protect the Colts from playing at a disadvantage is a known fact. So I ask again, why does Walt Anderson still have a job with the NFL?
It really isn't that sketchy. The interviews with Tom Brady added with the report itself and the conclusion is pretty obvious. They were tampering with footballs and doing so below what was allowed.
Kraft was definitely involved in the cover up. Check out this blurb from Wells:
Quote:“The Patriots provided me, in my opinion, with substantial cooperation except in one critical and crucial area: I wanted to do a second interview with Jim McNally. Jim McNally was the second Patriots person I interviewed. I wanted, after I interviewed others including Tom Brady, to do a second interview of McNally, to put other questions to him,” Wells said.
Wells said he was struck by a text message in which McNally called himself “The Deflator” and wanted to ask him about that. But the Patriots refused to put him in touch with McNally for a follow-up.
“I asked for a second interview, I said I would go to New Hampshire, I would interview him in the morning, afternoon night, I would do it whenever he was free. And they said not only could I not interview him, they wouldn’t even tell him of my request for an interview,” Wells said.
<a class="bbc_url" href='http://m.nbcsports.com/content/wells-criticizes-patriots-brady-lack-full-cooperation'>http://m.nbcsports.com/content/wells-criticizes-patriots-brady-lack-full-cooperation</a>
Quote:He's going to challenge it. They've already made that clear.
The owners are the only ones who would have any interest in firing Goodell, and from most indications, they're happy with the commissioner. He's not going anywhere. Heck, Robert Kraft is the guy behind the salary that the commissioner is pulling down currently. He lobbied for it.
But don't you think this changes Kraft's relationship with Goodell? Suddenly, Roger doesn't have his champion anymore.
I'm not one of those commissioner haters. I think he's done a reasonably good job. But if Kraft becomes his enemy, I don't think he survives for the long term.
Quote:But don't you think this changes Kraft's relationship with Goodell? Suddenly, Roger doesn't have his champion anymore.
I'm not one of those commissioner haters. I think he's done a reasonably good job. But if Kraft becomes his enemy, I don't think he survives for the long term.
To be fair, I don't think Kraft could garner enough support to oust Goodell. I wonder how many owners are pissed knowing that the Pats have had an unfair advantage for who knows how long? Do you think the rest of the AFC East owners are happy about it? How about the Ravens and Colts owners? The Broncos, the Chargers, and a few others have lost meaningful games to the Pats over the years and its very likely that those outcomes may have been different if the playing field was equal. I'm willing to bet Kraft has made more enemies than friends at this point and the owners would probably agree that Goodell made the right decision.
Quote:That's all you took out of my comment? Really?
What's your opinion on the actions of Walt Anderson?
I'm not sure what Walt Andersons actions has to do with whether Brady had balls boys tamper with the balls.
As far as Walt goes, I think he was put in an unfair position. He is the lead referee and I'm sure trying to keep an eye on footballs the whole time while preparing for a game is a little ridiculous. Also, when is the last time a playoff game was delayed? Whether he should have delayed game or not is easy to debate now, but in the moment. Holding up an NFL game isn't some small deal that you are making it out to be. Playoff games don't just start whenever. I don't think it is common for refs to hold up a game and goes back to putting him in an unfair position. That is my opinion.
You keep bring up these points as if they have any correlation with Brady cheating. They don't and are two separate things to be debated.
Quote:There is no correlation with Brady cheating. Either he did or he didn't. My only point is that the evidence against Brady is only "more probable than not" according to the conclusion of the Wells report, while Anderson's actions that may have put a team at a disadvantage are 100% known.
And my conclusion is you can use common sense to connect the dots. I'd say based on what we know the chances are extremely slim that Brady did not do what he is accused. So slim I may believe pigs fly before I believe he didn't have them play with his balls in the bathroom.
Quote:So slim I may believe pigs fly before I believe he didn't have them play with his balls in the bathroom.
That's an even bigger scandal than under inflated footballs!!!' :blink:
Quote:But don't you think this changes Kraft's relationship with Goodell? Suddenly, Roger doesn't have his champion anymore.
I'm not one of those commissioner haters. I think he's done a reasonably good job. But if Kraft becomes his enemy, I don't think he survives for the long term.
Quote:To be fair, I don't think Kraft could garner enough support to oust Goodell. I wonder how many owners are [BAD WORD REMOVED] knowing that the Pats have had an unfair advantage for who knows how long? Do you think the rest of the AFC East owners are happy about it? How about the Ravens and Colts owners? The Broncos, the Chargers, and a few others have lost meaningful games to the Pats over the years and its very likely that those outcomes may have been different if the playing field was equal. I'm willing to bet Kraft has made more enemies than friends at this point and the owners would probably agree that Goodell made the right decision.
Regarding this discussion, I think the other owners are more upset that Kraft has an organization that challenges the viability of the League over whether or not he wins titles. The owners are businessmen and they are in this to make money. If the League loses some shine off of the shield (true shine, the kind that makes fans go away. Not the kind that makes people more interested) then that's going to get the attention of 31 very wealthy men who intend on staying very wealthy.
I am in agreement with Knarnn in the fact that the rest of the League supports Goodell in that he passed judgement with the support of the NFLPA. Goodell doesn't really have anything to lose from all of this, Kraft does.
Quote:That's an even bigger scandal than under inflated footballs!!!' :blink:
The head lines some of these papers have are classic.
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