Anti-Patriots Bias on Committee!!!

[Bostonian1962]

There is one AFC GM that is and has been completely anti-NE Patriots over the years, and we all know that is Bill Polian of the Colts.

There are three AFC Head Coaches that over the last two years, that have expressed some serious anti-Patriots sentiment. One is Marvin Lewis, Mr. Insider/Off the Record Ron Borges anti-Patriot info feeder.

The loudest one since last year may be Jeff Fisher, who I use to like, but since he loathes my team, I now loathe him. And, to a lesser extent Jack Del Rio for some of the anti-Pats stuff from last year.

I get that all three have been involved in alot of important losses to the Patriots, but their unwillingness to hide their jealousy, or whatever causes their anti-Patriots spewing has ticked off alot of us for some time now.

So, I just did a web search. I thought I knew that Polian was a member of the Competion Committee, but I was wondering if Fisher, Lewis, and Del Rio were at all involved. Guess what?

THEY ALL ARE members of the 8 person committee. Can you freakin' believe it? The Pats were doomed before the review started. So now THIS committee is going to recommend taking away multiple draft picks from the Patriots??? That is a gigantic crock! This is wrong!

I have no clue if it's true that "all teams do" what the Patriots do. I don't even know what exactly is really being done with the cameras. I do know that having you main competion, and your biggest opponents deciding your fate is completely and totally wrong, unjust, and unfair.

Am I the only one that has blown my stack over this crap?

 

[PonyExpress]

Totally agree. We're looking at a Stalin show trial here.

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

Most definitely a conflict of interest situation.

 

[sanvara]

There is one AFC GM that is and has been completely anti-NE Patriots over the years, and we all know that is Bill Polian of the Colts.

There are three AFC Head Coaches that over the last two years, that have expressed some serious anti-Patriots sentiment. One is Marvin Lewis, Mr. Insider/Off the Record Ron Borges anti-Patriot info feeder.

The loudest one since last year may be Jeff Fisher, who I use to like, but since he loathes my team, I now loathe him. And, to a lesser extent Jack Del Rio for some of the anti-Pats stuff from last year.

I get that all three have been involved in alot of important losses to the Patriots, but their unwillingness to hide their jealousy, or whatever causes their anti-Patriots spewing has ticked off alot of us for some time now.

So, I just did a web search. I thought I knew that Polian was a member of the Competion Committee, but I was wondering if Fisher, Lewis, and Del Rio were at all involved. Guess what?

THEY ALL ARE members of the 8 person committee. Can you freakin' believe it? The Pats were doomed before the review started. So now THIS committee is going to recommend taking away multiple draft picks from the Patriots??? That is a gigantic crock! This is wrong!

The Pats should have thought about that before they started pulled this stunt don't you think?

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

The Pats should have thought about that before they started pulled this stunt don't you think?

Regardless of what the Pats may or may not have done it's still a conflict of interest situation to have your competitors choose your punishment. Duh!

 

[363839]

This should not be allowed to happen.

 

[Kdo5]

This sucks. Their hatred towards the Patriots is obvious....unbelievable...

 

[Bostonian1962]

The Pats should have thought about that before they started pulled this stunt don't you think?

Exactly what stunt was it that was pulled?

 

[nhpatsfan]

I do know that having you main competion, and your biggest opponents deciding your fate is completely and totally wrong, unjust, and unfair.

Am I the only one that has blown my stack over this crap?

I'm not so sure. We don't know what they know about their own teams and methods. Unless they are absolutely positive nothing can be proven against them if this thing breaks wide open, they might be cautious.

Then again, I could be wrong and they will just end up being spiteful SOBs

 

[cubicle_6]

The committee doesn't choose the punishment, only Goodell does.
The committee will recommend the punishment,
and Goodell is smart enough to know the the competition will recommend punishment just short of banishment from the league.
It won't have any affect on the ultimate penalty.

 

[Bostonian1962]

The committee doesn't choose the punishment, only Goodell does.
The committee will recommend the punishment,
and Goodell is smart enough to know the the competition will recommend punishment just short of banishment from the league.
It won't have any affect on the ultimate penalty.

We're in violent agreement. I said "recommend" in my post. The problem is, when you have a conflict of interest situation, as this clearly is, the whole thing smells funny.

In other words, you don't want the committees recommendation tainted, which this is. Would an impartial committee have come to the same conclusion? Sadly, we will never know.

 

[shakadave]

I'm not so sure. We don't know what they know about their own teams and methods. Unless they are absolutely positive nothing can be proven against them if this thing breaks wide open, they might be cautious.

Then again, I could be wrong and they will just end up being spiteful SOBs

You raise a very good point. If [whatever happened] is as widespread as some suggest, then the pot might not be able to call the kettle too black.

Also, put me in the camp who believe the Competition Committee reeks.

 

[Bostonian1962]

You raise a very good point. If [whatever happened] is as widespread as some suggest, then the pot might not be able to call the kettle too black.

Also, put me in the camp who believe the Competition Committee reeks.

ShakaDave, it does indeed reek. It's too bad too, because the NFL is the best league in sports IMO. They do most things right. This isn't one of them.

 

[dtbrks]

I believe PFT is also saying something to this effect, like it was a "sting" operation.

 

[Patriot_in_NY]

It's quite possible that the Competion Committee set this situation up for thier own agenda. They only were 2 votes short of getting the Defensive helmet mikes installed. What better way then exposing this "scandal" to drive that agenda. The fact that it was humiliating to the Patriots, was only gravy.

They approached Mangina (who actually was quilty of doing this stuff within the last few years - with the Pats), and not only knew how the Patriots did it, but who the guy was. He was the set up guy (****ing snake).

I'm appalled that BB allowed himself to be set up.

 

[Bostonian1962]

I believe PFT is also saying something to this effect, like it was a "sting" operation.

Interesting. There is so much we still don't know, some important, and some falls under the category of "it would sure be nice to know":

1. What exactly were the Patriots doing?
1a. What were they accused of doing?
2. Given the wording of the rules regarding taping, exactly what was the Patriots' interpretation?
3. If this was a sting, who ratted them out? Mangini? Somebody else?
4. Is this really wide spread?
5. How did the 8 members of the committe vote? Did the known Patriot haters (Polian, Fischer, Lewis, Del Rio) vote to have the team punished?
6. If they confiscated the video 6 to 8 minutes into a 60 minute game, how much could have been on it?
7. If sanctions are imposed, is there an appeal process?
8. If this is another case of the Competition Committee being anti-Patriot, will that force BB to bail on the league, ie, quit after the season?

Those are a few I'd love to know the answer to, off the top of my head. If you have any other good ones, feel free to add on:

 

[workhorse]

Regardless of who is on the committee or what they recomend, the commish is going to rule how he feels just. Not to mention that each time a punishment is handed down it sets a standard. So even if he does eaxctly what the committee recomends, they are not going to recomend anything out of line since their team could be the next team getting a penalized for the next thing coming up.

Don't read too much into this. There are only two real items with this story. One, did Mangini air out the Pats secret? Two, why did the Patriots continue to video tape the signs after they were caught once and after every team was warned.

I don't put too much stock into the "sting" idea. A sting implies some sort of setup. This situation was not a setup. If the competition committee really wanted to get 2 more votes out of this for the defensive helmet issue, all they had to do is go to Kraft and say we know your boys are doing this, get us 2 votes and it's water under the bridge. Kraft has plenty of influence with the other owners and could have pulled it off.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Bostonian1962]

Regardless of who is on the committee or what they recomend, the commish is going to rule how he feels just. Not to mention that each time a punishment is handed down it sets a standard. So even if he does eaxctly what the committee recomends, they are not going to recomend anything out of line since their team could be the next team getting a penalized for the next thing coming up.

Don't read too much into this. There are only two real items with this story. One, did Mangini air out the Pats secret? Two, why did the Patriots continue to video tape the signs after they were caught once and after every team was warned.

I don't put too much stock into the "sting" idea. A sting implies some sort of setup. This situation was not a setup. If the competition committee really wanted to get 2 more votes out of this for the defensive helmet issue, all they had to do is go to Kraft and say we know your boys are doing this, get us 2 votes and it's water under the bridge. Kraft has plenty of influence with the other owners and could have pulled it off.

Just my 2 cents.

You might be right, but it's hard to know what kind of influence the aforementioned GM/Head Coaches have on the Commish.

 

[marty]

Seems to me that Polian has been on this committee forever! Who exactly appoints these members and how often is it changed?

 

[DaBruinz]

The Pats should have thought about that before they started pulled this stunt don't you think?

Sanvara - You are such an incompetent fool. The Patriots did not do anything wrong other than supposedly taping a DC while he was sending in signals. Since it happened, NUMEROUS current and former players and coaches have come out and said that ALL the teams do this.

So, if everyone is doing it, why is the league focusing on the Patriots? Did you ever stop to think that MAYBE the Patriots are trying to point out the Anti-Patriot BIAS? Nah, couldn't be that.

What the Patriots did is NOT worse than the Broncos cheating the salary cap by some $29 million. And they only lost a couple of 3rd round picks. So, if the Pats get WORSE than that, Gooddell is a hypocrite because he helped weigh in on the punishment to the Broncos.

As for the Competition Committee, they are powerless to do a damn thing. Its not their job to recommend punishments. And its pretty clear that they have an Anti-Pats bias in terms of the rules that have been added or become a focus for referees.