8/3 MMQB Peter King Firmly In Brady's Camp Against Goodell

[shmessy]

Folks, as opposed to Florio (who has always been more of a bomb thrower) Peter King has usually been circumspect towards the league.

Not here.

he still isn't wording it like Florio, but today's MMQB is the Peter King equivalent of Mike Reiss telling Belichick to "eff off".

This is as extreme as King can go. And it's good news:

The Brady stuff is about halfway down, but he teases it at the beginnign of the piece with "Lots going on in the first week of NFL training camps, and lots off the field. We’ll get to the Tom Brady appeal ruling, and the justifiably bitter Patriots continuing to feed the Story That Won’t Go Away......"

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/08/02/nfl-training-camp-bruce-dehaven-cancer-carolina-panthers

 

[Rob0729]

Looks like League Owners and executives are turning on Goodell:

3. I can tell you that smart and influential executives are fed up with this story—fed up that it has bled into the 2015 season, and fed up that the league bungled some of the very basic elements, such as the Gardi letter. I’ve asked a few high-ranking team people in the past few days an open-ended question, with the proviso I wouldn’t use names. The clear sentiment: Teams think league officials are running scared after the Ray Rice verdict backfired on the NFL. Two thought it was ridiculous how long the Wells report took to finish, one saying if the league is going to hire an outside firm to investigate a case, there has to be a deadline. “Why are we fighting this fight now?” one top team executive said. “We should be getting ready for a new season, but we’ve got our biggest star firing bombs at the league and the league firing back, a month before the season starts. It’s ridiculous. The headlines aren’t football. They’re about a scandal that’s eight months old.” (Not quite eight, but you get the picture.)

Add the fact that three owners told Jason Cole off the record that they are upset how the League has handled this and that they want to strip Goodell of his power to hear appeals, the whole narrative that the 31 other owners are doing cartwheels about how Goodell has smacked down the Pats is falling apart.

 

[rexxar]

On page 113 of the Wells report, Wells says that the Patriots footballs would have been justified to have measured between 11.32 psi and 11.52 psi at halftime. The average of one gauge for the 11 balls was 11.49 psi, on the upper range of what the balls should have measured. The average of the other gauge was 11.11 psi, clearly lower than what the balls should have measured. Average all 22 readings, and you get 11.30 … two-one-hundredths lower than what the Ideal Gas Law would have allowed for balls that started the day at 12.5 psi. It is crazy to me, and just wrong, that the NFL issued a historic sanction when the inflation level of the football is so close to what science says it should be.

But the equipment guy called himself the deflator and Brady destroyed his phone.

I hate people.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

So we can add time as another ally. Good to know.

The real risk for the owners is having the inner workings of this investigation revealed to the public that still thinks the Patriots are cheaters and TB is guilty.

 

[shmessy]

BTW, King evidently hates ESPN as much as we do :

VI


SportsCenterVerified account‏@SportsCenter
BREAKING: Russell Wilson and Seahawks reach contract extension for 4 years, $87.6 million. (via ESPN and @SINOW)





"This was 60 minutes after I Tweeted: “Russell Wilson and the Seahawks have agreed to a 4-year, $87.6-million extension, per source,” and 50 minutes after Wilson himself Tweeted he was “blessed” to be a Seahawk four more years.

I didn’t realize the time involved until Awful Announcingreported ESPN’s bizarre attribution and reporting practices Friday morning. But there’s no excuse for it."

.

 

[shmessy]

.....and now even Breer is coming around:


Albert Breer ✔ @AlbertBreer
One possible way for Judge Berman to middle Brady decision: Cite Vincent/Goodell dynamic, vacate penalty, order NFL to appnt new arbitrator.

 

[Froob]

.....and now even Breer is coming around:


Albert Breer ✔ @AlbertBreer
One possible way for Judge Berman to middle Brady decision: Cite Vincent/Goodell dynamic, vacate penalty, order NFL to appnt new arbitrator.

Wouldn't the picks have to come back then?

 

[NashuaPats]

Peter King seems like he's mostly there, but not quite. Take this quote from the article...

"4. It would behoove the NFL, as much as Brady, to get this matter over now. There is a nuclear-winter scenario. I’ve mentioned it before. But follow me here. The NFL has laid out a plan to spot-check footballs during the course of the season. What happens if, say, the footballs in a northern city on a day when it’s 40 degrees outside lose 1.0 to 1.5 psi between the pre-game measurement and the halftime measurement? (Which, apparently, science would support.) That’s nearly what happened to the Patriots’ football that January day in Foxboro. If the NFL’s examination of footballs in 2015 shows that kind of deflation, naturally, the whole case should be thrown out. But by then, Brady might have already served his four games. This would be the ultimate nightmare for the league, and for Goodell. Of course, if the balls don’t deflate much at all, the league will be able to say it had it right."


He wrote "Which, apparently, science would support".... What does that mean? I don't think he's being sarcastic. This isn't a a debateable theory, this is a law. He goes on to say "if the balls don't deflate much at all". Again, I don't think he's being sarcastic. This is very basic easy to understand and easy to calculate science.

He mentions that the balls measure 11.49 on one of the gauges, but he left out the part on how that is the gauge the ref said he used.

I'm glad he's writing about these things, but he still doesn't quite get it. Is it a requirement to be a blockhead in math, science, and logic to be a sports writer? (Apologies to Florio, Jenskins, and a couple others)

 

[shmessy]

Peter King seems like he's mostly there, but not quite. Take this quote from the article...

"4. It would behoove the NFL, as much as Brady, to get this matter over now. There is a nuclear-winter scenario. I’ve mentioned it before. But follow me here. The NFL has laid out a plan to spot-check footballs during the course of the season. What happens if, say, the footballs in a northern city on a day when it’s 40 degrees outside lose 1.0 to 1.5 psi between the pre-game measurement and the halftime measurement? (Which, apparently, science would support.) That’s nearly what happened to the Patriots’ football that January day in Foxboro. If the NFL’s examination of footballs in 2015 shows that kind of deflation, naturally, the whole case should be thrown out. But by then, Brady might have already served his four games. This would be the ultimate nightmare for the league, and for Goodell. Of course, if the balls don’t deflate much at all, the league will be able to say it had it right."


He wrote "Which, apparently, science would support".... What does that mean? I don't think he's being sarcastic. This isn't a a debateable theory, this is a law. He goes on to say "if the balls don't deflate much at all". Again, I don't think he's being sarcastic. This is very basic easy to understand and easy to calculate science.

He mentions that the balls measure 11.49 on one of the gauges, but he left out the part on how that is the gauge the ref said he used.

I'm glad he's writing about these things, but he still doesn't quite get it. Is it a requirement to be a blockhead in math, science, and logic to be a sports writer? (Apologies to Florio, Jenskins, and a couple others)

You're parsing too narrowly in those examples.

.

 

[luuked]

.....and now even Breer is coming around:


Albert Breer ✔ @AlbertBreer
One possible way for Judge Berman to middle Brady decision: Cite Vincent/Goodell dynamic, vacate penalty, order NFL to appnt new arbitrator.

**** that. I hope Brady, Kessler & co. rip the league office completely apart up to the point where heads roll. I dont want thr situation to go away quietly and conveniently for everyone, but explode with as much league office blood as possible.

 

[shmessy]

**** that. I hope Brady, Kessler & co. rip the league office completely apart up to the point where heads roll. I dont want thr situation to go away quietly and conveniently for everyone, but explode with as much league office blood as possible.

OK, now back in the real world.........

This is pretty damn good. When even a consistent hater like Breer is tweeting stuff like what he tweeted this morning, it really is all over but for the shouting.

 

[Sicilian]

Wouldn't the picks have to come back then?

My guess is no, since the reason for forcing a neutral arbitrator would be because the process violated the player's rights under the CBA (which wouldn't apply to the team penalties).

 

[NashuaPats]

You're parsing too narrowly.

.

I don't think so. It's little details like that that keep many people saying, "I'm not sure, they probably did something"

 

[aluminum seats]

He wrote "Which, apparently, science would support".... What does that mean? I don't think he's being sarcastic. This isn't a a debateable theory, this is a law. He goes on to say "if the balls don't deflate much at all". Again, I don't think he's being sarcastic. This is very basic easy to understand and easy to calculate science.

Totally understand your point, but I wouldn't kill him too much on that one. It's a pretty mild hedge.

 

[smurfalarm]

Average all 22 readings, and you get 11.30 … two-one-hundredths lower than what the Ideal Gas Law would have allowed for balls that started the day at 12.5 psi. It is crazy to me, and just wrong, that the NFL issued a historic sanction when the inflation level of the football is so close to what science says it should be.

That's a much stronger condemnation than I expected. Intense criticism of the NFL's handling of the Brady case has become pervasive in national sports media outside ESPN and NFL Network/NFL.com over the last couple months, in a way I didn't expect. The NFL really shoot themselves in their own foot here by putting a foot on the scale several times in order to undermine Brady's and the Patriots' reputations. They could have so easily escaped the criticism they are getting now just by being transparent about the investigation, publicly reporting accurate information at the beginning, having Goodell directly apply whatever discipline he seemed appropriate, choosing one of the neutral systems arbitrators for the appeal hearing, and living with the final decision. It was only by deliberately maligning Brady with lies and slander and deception and tricks that they made this into such a huge media circus and ended up hurting their own reputations.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Peter King seems like he's mostly there, but not quite. Take this quote from the article...

"4. It would behoove the NFL, as much as Brady, to get this matter over now. There is a nuclear-winter scenario. I’ve mentioned it before. But follow me here. The NFL has laid out a plan to spot-check footballs during the course of the season. What happens if, say, the footballs in a northern city on a day when it’s 40 degrees outside lose 1.0 to 1.5 psi between the pre-game measurement and the halftime measurement? (Which, apparently, science would support.) That’s nearly what happened to the Patriots’ football that January day in Foxboro. If the NFL’s examination of footballs in 2015 shows that kind of deflation, naturally, the whole case should be thrown out. But by then, Brady might have already served his four games. This would be the ultimate nightmare for the league, and for Goodell. Of course, if the balls don’t deflate much at all, the league will be able to say it had it right."


He wrote "Which, apparently, science would support".... What does that mean? I don't think he's being sarcastic. This isn't a a debateable theory, this is a law. He goes on to say "if the balls don't deflate much at all". Again, I don't think he's being sarcastic. This is very basic easy to understand and easy to calculate science.

He mentions that the balls measure 11.49 on one of the gauges, but he left out the part on how that is the gauge the ref said he used.

I'm glad he's writing about these things, but he still doesn't quite get it. Is it a requirement to be a blockhead in math, science, and logic to be a sports writer? (Apologies to Florio, Jenskins, and a couple others)

I think he's just acknowledging that he doesn't personally know the details of the science, but the Wells Report itself states that the Pats balls should have reasonable deflated from 12.5 to 11.3, and lots of people (like @Palm Beach Pats Fan ) have spent a lot of time educating him enough on the issue that he knows there's definitely something there.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

saying "if the balls don't deflate much or it all" is equivalent to saying "if the balls float up into the sky when the refs put them on the line of scrimmage". It is. King is a moron.

 

[smurfalarm]

saying "if the balls don't deflate much or it all" is equivalent to saying "if the balls float up into the sky when the refs put them on the line of scrimmage". It is. King is a moron.

So he's not scientifically literate, but if he is saying that he will back Brady when the empirical evidence inevitably verifies the basic and immutable laws of physics, that still works in our favor. (The NFL will totally refuse to transparently release verifiable measurements though. Be prepared only to hear about measurements through biased leaks or to hear nothing at all.)

 

[hambone1818]

That's a much stronger condemnation than I expected. Intense criticism of the NFL's handling of the Brady case has become pervasive in national sports media outside ESPN and NFL Network/NFL.com over the last couple months, in a way I didn't expect.

The sad thing is how blatantly, overtly biased ESPN has been through all this. The entire nonsense started because one of their reporters was fed damaging but FALSE information, which was doubled down on when Mort questioned his 'sources'. They've been intensely biased throughout, from Brunell practically crying about Brady not admitting guilt and apologizing to SAS getting the targeted leak about the 'destroyed' cell phone to Mort not seeing the light of day since his initial report to an obvious muzzle on anything Reiss writes. Meanwhile they're completely mum on the initial leak, on anything to do with the context site, on any of the clear bias from the NFL.

ESPN is complicit in this horsesh*t nonsense. What a pile of garbage that network is.

 

[Wax Frog]

Wouldn't the picks have to come back then?

Only in a sane world... I'm still barely clinging on to hope that the ledger currently tilts that way, despite evidence so far to the contrary.