What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Patriots being investigated after Colts game (7 Viewers)

Percent of NFL teams actively trying to steal play sheets?

  • 0%

    Votes: 90 33.0%
  • 25%

    Votes: 91 33.3%
  • 50%

    Votes: 19 7.0%
  • 75%

    Votes: 16 5.9%
  • 100%

    Votes: 57 20.9%

  • Total voters
    273
Interesting discussion I heard this morning (I think it was on the radio, I was only half awake . . . which admittedly may be 50% more than normal). One theory was that Kraft is going to go nuclear over this and if things don't get overturned he will take steps to have Goodell removed as commissioner. That would make for an interesting showdown. I am not sure how the commissioner is viewed by the 31 other owners and if Kraft has the clout to get Goodell ousted.
Not sure why Kraft is so pissed at Goodell. You'd think he'd be pissed at Brady for cheating, lying about it, and making him look like a fool in public.
We are just going to go in circles again, but here goes.

In the past, for potential violations teams were told to stop what they were doing or league wide memos/letters were sent out telling people that from that point forward ISSUE X would no longer be tolerated and there would be penalties for repeat abusers. No such notice was given this time around. In the past, for equipment violations throughout the history of the league, no investigations were launched, no players were ever suspended, and no draft picks were ever docked. On several occasions, the league looked the other way, did not punish teams, or handed out small fines.

In the Wells report itself, it found that whatever happened was between the two locker room attendants and Brady. Yet the team was fined and picks were taken away. In other sports, when a pitcher is caught tampering with the baseball or a player is caught with a corked bat, does the team get fined and lose draft picks?

With regard to Deflategate, the entire process has been conducted in an entirely different direction than in the past. Kraft (and many others) feel the penalties handed out are Draconian and hugely unfair based on the (in their minds) misdemeanor of a crime committed. Kraft still feels the Wells report didn't prove a thing.

This entire fiasco could have been avoided (from the Pats perspective) without dragging the team's reputation in the muck by not having a Spanish Inquisition and could have been handled behind closed doors and not in the public. (The concept of not trying to circumvent the rules is apparently a foreign concept to the business model in NE.)

I am not specifically making all these claims, but that is the way the team seems to feel.
I think an element missing in a lot of those other situations has to do with the violation being something immediately following such a specific certification process.

Take Spygate as a contrast. The Pats broke a rule about where they could have cameras, and got punished.

Now imagine if in addition to that rule, the league had a certification process similar to the refs certifying the game balls. Say, an official that it is required that he visit the location of each team camera and certify that it is in a legal location. And after that certification took place, then the team had moved the camera to the illegal locations actually used in Spygate.

I think the league would have come down even harder in such a case. When something is made so abundantly clear you're not supposed to do it, and you still do it, I'd expect the reaction to be even more harsh. I think that contributes even though it isn't something overtly discussed.
If the Pats may have a gripe, it may be with the laissez-faire attitude of the ball inspection and certification process, which had been going on for years and years. If the stories that have come out are true, it appears that it was rare that every game ball in every game was thoroughly gauged and inspected. Some games it sounds like the balls weren't inspected at all. Some practices (by teams) seemed to be done repeatedly and against the rules of ball inspection or preparation (with emphasis given to being done pre-inspection). Bottom line, the NFL didn't seem to care too much about the inspection process (or lack thereof) until this year's AFCCG. If nothing else, this whole ordeal has shown the process to be riddled with potential issues and very little chain of custody to the pregame handling of footballs.

While all that may be true, the Pats still violated the rules. A (weak) argument can be made that if 1) the process was consistently implemented properly on a weekly basis and 2) the process itself was better insulated and foolproof then none of this could ever have happened. One of my biggest complaints with the NFL rules and policies is some infractions the penalties are spelled out. Other areas they indicate that something is illegal but don't indicate what the penalty would be if that rule was broken. And for the rules that DO HAVE set penalties, they don't consistently apply them anyway.

The league needs to literally have a column of infractions and a second column of penalties, and a third column for increased penalties for repeat offenders. If everything is spelled out, then we don't have to sit here and gripe that things were not adjudicated fairly.

 
I don't know if this has been posted already but i heard zolack a couple of minutes ago on NFL radio. he said Brady is absolutely livid and is looking at a defamation law suit. He also said hes never seen Kraft so angry, and between the both of them the summer is going to be filled with lawsuits and counter lawsuits.

OH one other thing, the opener will be treated like a regular season game. No stages, no concert, no pregame interviews, no banner, no Nothin
Dammit. The banners are the best part.

 
I don't know if this has been posted already but i heard zolack a couple of minutes ago on NFL radio. he said Brady is absolutely livid and is looking at a defamation law suit. He also said hes never seen Kraft so angry, and between the both of them the summer is going to be filled with lawsuits and counter lawsuits.

OH one other thing, the opener will be treated like a regular season game. No stages, no concert, no pregame interviews, no banner, no Nothin
Dammit. The banners are the best part.
I like David Banner, the rest of them, not so much, including Joe Banner who sucks.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
In the past, for potential violations teams were told to stop what they were doing or league wide memos/letters were sent out telling people that from that point forward ISSUE X would no longer be tolerated and there would be penalties for repeat abusers. No such notice was given this time around. In the past, for equipment violations throughout the history of the league, no investigations were launched, no players were ever suspended, and no draft picks were ever docked. On several occasions, the league looked the other way, did not punish teams, or handed out small fines.
The Patriots got their "cut it out or else" warning from the league office in 2004 -- specifically relating to game ball shenanigans.

This was their proverbial next time.
I guess that is open to interpretation. IIRC, they were told to stop using non-game balls / practice balls. I would have to see the specific communication that was sent to them, but I am pretty sure it did not address the inflation level of the footballs. The Patriots counterpoint to that would be that they never used a practice ball again and they complied with the league's directive.
On page 44 of the report, we learn that the NFL's 2004 letter "[SIZE=11pt]warned that disciplinary action against the Patriots could result if a similar incident occurred in the future because it could be interpreted as a competitive violation."[/SIZE]

Do you (or the Pats) really want to take the position that this doesn't constitute a "similar incident"?

 
Last edited by a moderator:
The avatar choices of the posters over there are lacking in imagination.
We've got a support thing goin' over there with a 12 av
I don't use the word 'hero' lightly, but you guys are the greatest heroes in American history.

 
2. For Indianapolis to WARN the league office before the start of the game about said balls and for them to STILL be tampered with indicates that this ball tampering was likely happening for a long time. Multiple teams all felt this was happening in Patriot games.
A similar thing happened with Spygate. Before it became a Superbowl controversy the Packers discovered it and the Pats were told to stop. and yet they didn't. It's easy to say "no big deal", but cheating seems to be part of that "Patriot Way" culture. It's almost seems naïve to think the 2 incidents for which they got caught is the extent of their cheating.

 
2. For Indianapolis to WARN the league office before the start of the game about said balls and for them to STILL be tampered with indicates that this ball tampering was likely happening for a long time. Multiple teams all felt this was happening in Patriot games.
A similar thing happened with Spygate. Before it became a Superbowl controversy the Packers discovered it and the Pats were told to stop. and yet they didn't. It's easy to say "no big deal", but cheating seems to be part of that "Patriot Way" culture. It's almost seems naïve to think the 2 incidents for which they got caught is the extent of their cheating.
I have posted several times that it would not shock me that the Patriots have straddled or crossed the line on many more things and these are the ones they have been caught on.

 
you know the last time I saw an athlete this mad and threatening to sue everybody over defamation...Lance Armstrong
i love the Lance Armstrong comparison.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/08/24/sports/top-finishers-of-the-tour-de-france-tainted-by-doping.html?_r=0

Since 1998, more than a third of the top finishers of the Tour de France have admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs in their careers or have been officially linked to doping. The grid shows the original top-10 placements in each of the past 15 years. Riders pictured have either tested positive, admitted to doping or been sanctioned by an official cycling or antidoping agency. Cyclists whose sanctions were later overturned are not included.
 
.

Brady can hire the best legal team in the world. It won't change the fact of what the rest of the world thinks about him and the Patriots. I am sure his games will get reduced, because the NFL would like a Brady-led Patriots playing Dallas and would like him to be sharp by allowing him to practice in week 4.
I understand you own a fantasy site, and all that, but you're spokesman for the whole world, now?

You won't have heard of these guys, but just a bit ago I caught pat kirwan and Jim miller on Sirius and it doesn't sound like you speak for them, but wtf are they, I guess

What's your favorite team, BTW?

 
The avatar choices of the posters over there are lacking in imagination.
We've got a support thing goin' over there with a 12 av
Quick PSA: if you haven't followed the link above and at least skimmed that thread, you're doing yourself a huge disservice. The unintentional comedy is off the charts.

 
I don't know if this has been posted already but i heard zolack a couple of minutes ago on NFL radio. he said Brady is absolutely livid and is looking at a defamation law suit. He also said hes never seen Kraft so angry, and between the both of them the summer is going to be filled with lawsuits and counter lawsuits.

OH one other thing, the opener will be treated like a regular season game. No stages, no concert, no pregame interviews, no banner, no Nothin
Dammit. The banners are the best part.
I like David Banner, the rest of them, not so much, including Joe Banner who sucks.
What about Rex Banner and his bananas kaboom?

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/yjcrmE7XRtI/hqdefault.jpg

 
.

Brady can hire the best legal team in the world. It won't change the fact of what the rest of the world thinks about him and the Patriots. I am sure his games will get reduced, because the NFL would like a Brady-led Patriots playing Dallas and would like him to be sharp by allowing him to practice in week 4.
I understand you own a fantasy site, and all that, but you're spokesman for the whole world, now?You won't have heard of these guys, but just a bit ago I caught pat kirwan and Jim miller on Sirius and it doesn't sound like you speak for them, but wtf are they, I guess

What's your favorite team, BTW?
don't bring up Jim Miller. everyone lost their #### when i mentioned him last time.

 
.

Brady can hire the best legal team in the world. It won't change the fact of what the rest of the world thinks about him and the Patriots. I am sure his games will get reduced, because the NFL would like a Brady-led Patriots playing Dallas and would like him to be sharp by allowing him to practice in week 4.
I understand you own a fantasy site, and all that, but you're spokesman for the whole world, now?You won't have heard of these guys, but just a bit ago I caught pat kirwan and Jim miller on Sirius and it doesn't sound like you speak for them, but wtf are they, I guess

What's your favorite team, BTW?
don't bring up Jim Miller. everyone lost their #### when i mentioned him last time.
Oh yeah, why's that?

Jiiimmmmmm miiiilllllerrrr's awesome.

And I said that way before he called the wells report garbage

 
Think this guy on the pats board nailed the secret of the 'deflator'

My latest theory is that, due to his hard rocking college days, his nickname has always been The Def Leopard, and his phone auto-corrected.

 
That guy's an idiot. He's pissed about the suspension, but at the 4:40 mark he agrees that if the NFL could conclusively prove that Brady broke the rules by doctoring footballs (or ordering them to be doctored), then yeah he should be suspended. Basically, he's talking about this issue with literally no understanding of the standard of evidence required in a case like this.

I have no real problem with some homer on a message board spouting off without knowing what they're talking about, but members of the media could try a little harder to get things straight. Peter King has been awful on this too.

Edit: Also, he compares the Wells report to the Warren Commission. :lmao:

 
Last edited by a moderator:
.

Brady can hire the best legal team in the world. It won't change the fact of what the rest of the world thinks about him and the Patriots. I am sure his games will get reduced, because the NFL would like a Brady-led Patriots playing Dallas and would like him to be sharp by allowing him to practice in week 4.
I understand you own a fantasy site, and all that, but you're spokesman for the whole world, now?

You won't have heard of these guys, but just a bit ago I caught pat kirwan and Jim miller on Sirius and it doesn't sound like you speak for them, but wtf are they, I guess

What's your favorite team, BTW?
Awful salty...surprised there is any salt left in your system after all of your tears.

 
Soundbite from Wells conference call yesterday. Can be heard being coached to say 'Lack of cooperation'

I don't know why the NFL had to moderate a conference call Well's wanted to have, but it was at the very least to make sure he said what they wanted him to say.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Good luck getting anyone to actually read anything.
Good luck getting some of you Pats fans to admit the team and Brady screwed up and deserve punishment.
Who's job is it to do that? Cause whoevers job that is - they are doing some pretty ####### terrible work.
I think its an impossible job...you all are too invested in the team to admit it despite what is all out there.

Instead...we get a ton of excuses.

 
Good luck getting anyone to actually read anything.
Good luck getting some of you Pats fans to admit the team and Brady screwed up and deserve punishment.
Who's job is it to do that? Cause whoevers job that is - they are doing some pretty ####### terrible work.
I think its an impossible job...you all are too invested in the team to admit it despite what is all out there.

Instead...we get a ton of excuses.
When you try to convince somebody of something and every step of the way someone can EASILY poke a hole in it, you're gonna have a terrible time.

As it stands, we have what amounts to 90 pages of posts of jackanapes parroting some out of context text messages proclaiming guilt - when the ####### report itself is built on assumptions. They chose a direction, they picked one - it wasn't the only one, and went with it.

There are plenty of physicists that have read the exponent report and the wells report and by simply taking the reverse of the assumptions come to the conclusion that absolutely no tampering occured - courtesy of the laws of the ####### universe.

The link 12punch made above in the quoted text is just one of many examples of such. I'm not wearing rose tinted glasses here, I think its entirely possible something could have happened - but the evidence provided is not sufficient and to me does not suggest that.

There are too many unique circumstances revolving this case to believe this wasn't calculated.

We don't know what the Patriots did.

We do know the league ####ed up multiple times. We do know the Wells investigation was anything but independent. We just don't know the reason - and there aren't many it could be.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Actually...with a pretty large certainty...anyone not wearing Pats glasses knows the Patriots tampered with the balls.

Which is why they lied and tried to cover it up...innocent people don't do such things.

That is the easiest way to poke a giant hole in the excuses made by the Pats supporters in this.

 
Actually...with a pretty large certainty...anyone not wearing Pats glasses knows the Patriots tampered with the balls.

Which is why they lied and tried to cover it up...innocent people don't do such things.

That is the easiest way to poke a giant hole in the excuses made by the Pats supporters in this.
Both sides are equally confident in their positions. It's just that the side not wearing Pats glasses is (approximately) 32x as big

 
Actually...with a pretty large certainty...anyone not wearing Pats glasses knows the Patriots tampered with the balls.

Which is why they lied and tried to cover it up...innocent people don't do such things.

That is the easiest way to poke a giant hole in the excuses made by the Pats supporters in this.
Both sides are equally confident in their positions. It's just that the side not wearing Pats glasses is (approximately) 32x as big
I dont believe pats fans are that confident. Just holding on to hope.

 
Actually...with a pretty large certainty...anyone not wearing Pats glasses knows the Patriots tampered with the balls.

Which is why they lied and tried to cover it up...innocent people don't do such things.

That is the easiest way to poke a giant hole in the excuses made by the Pats supporters in this.
Both sides are equally confident in their positions. It's just that the side not wearing Pats glasses is (approximately) 32x as big
I dont believe pats fans are that confident. Just holding on to hope.
Well, Idk why you would ever be exposed to it, but all the Patriots related things I spend time in or around have all been positive. Even /r/NFL has been pretty skeptical in general.

Ofc there are exceptions to rules, but in general I would say most of us aren't convinced.

 
Actually...with a pretty large certainty...anyone not wearing Pats glasses knows the Patriots tampered with the balls.

Which is why they lied and tried to cover it up...innocent people don't do such things.

That is the easiest way to poke a giant hole in the excuses made by the Pats supporters in this.
Come on now! Isn't it equally plausible that this was just the act of prankster ball boys and that Tom and Bill had no knowledge of it. I mean Tom Terrific has only been throwing footballs for 20+ years now. How can anyone logically expect him to know the difference in feel between a properly inflated one and one shrunk to his specifications?
 
Actually...with a pretty large certainty...anyone not wearing Pats glasses knows the Patriots tampered with the balls.

Which is why they lied and tried to cover it up...innocent people don't do such things.

That is the easiest way to poke a giant hole in the excuses made by the Pats supporters in this.
Both sides are equally confident in their positions. It's just that the side not wearing Pats glasses is (approximately) 32x as big
I dont believe pats fans are that confident. Just holding on to hope.
Well, Idk why you would ever be exposed to it, but all the Patriots related things I spend time in or around have all been positive. Even /r/NFL has been pretty skeptical in general.Ofc there are exceptions to rules, but in general I would say most of us aren't convinced.
Because even video evidence of Brady with a needle in a ball wouldnt cinvince you all.

 
I'm actually bind blown at how selfish

The avatar choices of the posters over there are lacking in imagination.
We've got a support thing goin' over there with a 12 av
Quick PSA: if you haven't followed the link above and at least skimmed that thread, you're doing yourself a huge disservice. The unintentional comedy is off the charts.
It actually blows my mind at how selfish almost all of those patriots fans seem to be. I thought we just had a few bad apples here in the Shark Pool. Would anyone feel any differently about the punishment if it happened to their own team? I know I wouldn't, but I can only speak for myself.

 
Actually...with a pretty large certainty...anyone not wearing Pats glasses knows the Patriots tampered with the balls.

Which is why they lied and tried to cover it up...innocent people don't do such things.

That is the easiest way to poke a giant hole in the excuses made by the Pats supporters in this.
Yeah, you never see innocent ppl running around proclaiming innocence, just guilty ppl covering up.

Good point

 
Actually...with a pretty large certainty...anyone not wearing Pats glasses knows the Patriots tampered with the balls.

Which is why they lied and tried to cover it up...innocent people don't do such things.

That is the easiest way to poke a giant hole in the excuses made by the Pats supporters in this.
Both sides are equally confident in their positions. It's just that the side not wearing Pats glasses is (approximately) 32x as big
I dont believe pats fans are that confident. Just holding on to hope.
Well, Idk why you would ever be exposed to it, but all the Patriots related things I spend time in or around have all been positive. Even /r/NFL has been pretty skeptical in general.Ofc there are exceptions to rules, but in general I would say most of us aren't convinced.
Because even video evidence of Brady with a needle in a ball wouldnt cinvince you all.
You say that, but there isn't anything remotely close to that here.

This isn't even like spygate, where they ####### showed the tapes on live television and people still spin tales of bull#### from a decade ago.

Because Brady chose not to hand over his phone to someone the team has said believed to have been working with the league to knock the Patriots down - he is guilty. Based on opinion, not evidence.

 
Actually...with a pretty large certainty...anyone not wearing Pats glasses knows the Patriots tampered with the balls.

Which is why they lied and tried to cover it up...innocent people don't do such things.

That is the easiest way to poke a giant hole in the excuses made by the Pats supporters in this.
Both sides are equally confident in their positions. It's just that the side not wearing Pats glasses is (approximately) 32x as big
I dont believe pats fans are that confident. Just holding on to hope.
Well, Idk why you would ever be exposed to it, but all the Patriots related things I spend time in or around have all been positive. Even /r/NFL has been pretty skeptical in general.Ofc there are exceptions to rules, but in general I would say most of us aren't convinced.
Because even video evidence of Brady with a needle in a ball wouldnt cinvince you all.
You say that, but there isn't anything remotely close to that here.

This isn't even like spygate, where they ####### showed the tapes on live television and people still spin tales of bull#### from a decade ago.

Because Brady chose not to hand over his phone to someone the team has said believed to have been working with the league to knock the Patriots down - he is guilty. Based on opinion, not evidence.
No matter how many times you and other Pats fans post this doesn't make it true.

 
I'm actually bind blown at how selfish

The avatar choices of the posters over there are lacking in imagination.
We've got a support thing goin' over there with a 12 av
Quick PSA: if you haven't followed the link above and at least skimmed that thread, you're doing yourself a huge disservice. The unintentional comedy is off the charts.
It actually blows my mind at how selfish almost all of those patriots fans seem to be. I thought we just had a few bad apples here in the Shark Pool. Would anyone feel any differently about the punishment if it happened to their own team? I know I wouldn't, but I can only speak for myself.
i would think that the punishment given to ANY team in ANY sport ...for THAT type of infraction ...would be far too severe

 
I'm actually bind blown at how selfish

The avatar choices of the posters over there are lacking in imagination.
We've got a support thing goin' over there with a 12 av
Quick PSA: if you haven't followed the link above and at least skimmed that thread, you're doing yourself a huge disservice. The unintentional comedy is off the charts.
It actually blows my mind at how selfish almost all of those patriots fans seem to be. I thought we just had a few bad apples here in the Shark Pool. Would anyone feel any differently about the punishment if it happened to their own team? I know I wouldn't, but I can only speak for myself.
i would think that the punishment given to ANY team in ANY sport ...for THAT type of infraction ...would be far too severe
I completely disagree.

 
I'm actually bind blown at how selfish

The avatar choices of the posters over there are lacking in imagination.
We've got a support thing goin' over there with a 12 av
Quick PSA: if you haven't followed the link above and at least skimmed that thread, you're doing yourself a huge disservice. The unintentional comedy is off the charts.
It actually blows my mind at how selfish almost all of those patriots fans seem to be. I thought we just had a few bad apples here in the Shark Pool. Would anyone feel any differently about the punishment if it happened to their own team? I know I wouldn't, but I can only speak for myself.
i would think that the punishment given to ANY team in ANY sport ...for THAT type of infraction ...would be far too severe
I completely disagree.
imagine that....shocker

 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top