I think Bruce Allen does have an interesting, and probably legitimate point in regards to the contrast in how the media is handling this story versus how they would report on this or a similar story if it were about the head coach of the NFL team in Foxboro.
I was curious to see what PFT had to say about it, because they are known as a site that will pull no punches in making accusations, or at least implications about alleged wrongdoing and rumors. Fan bases of all 32 NFL clubs are convinced Florio hates their favorite team, but in this instance let's just compare PFT's analysis and opinion on this matter versus the last one involving the Patriots.
On the Rams-Titans story, PFT's headline was that
Jeff Fisher thinks he beat his old team to draft Lamarcus Joyner. By contrast PFT ran not one, but three stories on an alleged leaked scouting report: "New England's Manziel scouting report is leaked'; 'Belichick claims to know nothing about leaked Manziel scouting report'; and 'Patriots, league not talking about Manziel scouting report'.
On the Rams-Titans story, while PFT does ask if the Rams knew something, their conclusion -
does Fisher just figure the Titans were probably high on Joyner because Fisher knows the types of players the Titans like? The Titans may have been upset when they lost out on Joyner. If they lost out on Joyner because someone in their own facility had loose lips, the Titans should be furious.
leads to the implicit conclusion that the Rams and Fisher are absolved of any wrongdoing, and the Titans have nobody but themselves to blame if the allegations are true.
By comparison, on the Pats-Manziel story, even though that report has been almost universally concluded to be a fake, PFT never once even considered that possibility in any of their three columns; in fact the first story has even been silently edited to address that question by stating that "
it looks legitimate". PFT's slant and tone causes the vast majority of its readers to assume it is real, which bypasses a very major issue with this news story.
Not only does Florio assume that it is real, but he goes on to chide Belichick and the Patriots in each article with comments such as "
the guy who acts like he’s above anything that isn’t what he cares about or knows about. But it’s unfair to the Browns or Manziel for Belichick to be flippant about a topic that possibly represents an effort by someone with the Patriots to smear Manziel by leaking confidential internal documents to the media." and then incredibly concluding that "
(i)t’s fair to infer that, in the absence of a statement from Belichick or the team indicating that the scouting report is fake, the scouting report is legitimate. If so, the question become whether the team or the league will investigate how a team’s entire scouting report on a player the team didn’t select managed to make its way to the hands of the media. Belichick should be far more concerned about the situation, both as to the fact that it harms Manziel and as to the possibility that it could happen again in the future."
The contrast in how the two stories are being handled by the same outlet (albeit different writers) is so stark that it is difficult to ignore. That's not to say that there definitely was something going on in St. Louis with a mole in Tennessee - it's about how a well-read media outlet can influence public opinion.
It is what it is.
