Vegas Rumour: No Punishment For Patriots

Rob0729 said:

There is no way this ends with no punishment. Goodell will have to give the Pats something or the league will come under fire.

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Punishing someone when you can't prove a thing sets a dangerous precedent. I think you did something, put simply, is not good enough.

Fixit said:

Why not? We still have no facts. None. If it comes out that the drop in psi is perfectly reasonable and attributable to weather, why would there be a punishment?

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Right now we don't even know what the drop in pressure was.

Fixit said:

Why not? We still have no facts. None. If it comes out that the drop in psi is perfectly reasonable and attributable to weather, why would there be a punishment?

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Why? Because the NFL is concerned about its brand and after sweeping the Ray Rice thing under the rug, they can't have the appearance of doing it again.

Goodell has the power to punish cheating with no evidence. And I expect him to do so.

ausbacker said:

Punishing someone when you can't prove a thing sets a dangerous precedent. I think you did something, put simply, is not good enough.

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Not really, the rule book gives him this power already.

Rob0729 said:

Not really, the rule book gives him this power already.

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How? How does the rule book give Goodell power to sanction a team when there is no proof of impropriety?

Brady_to_Moss said:

So your saying if they have 0 evidence...they will still fine 25k or whatever it is? It's not the same but how can you convict a drug dealer if there no evidence etc.

If they find pats...they will have to give us the facts. If they have none will they make a story up,,?

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They will give the Pats a huge fine and a loss of draft pick claiming they could not find any hard evidence of cheating, but there is too much evidence to know they had to have cheated in some way.

Rob0729 said:

Why? Because the NFL is concerned about its brand and after sweeping the Ray Rice thing under the rug, they can't have the appearance of doing it again.

Goodell has the power to punish cheating with no evidence. And I expect him to do so.

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So he'd rather go the other way and start punishing people with no evidence of any wrongdoing? That's not an improvement.

Rob0729 said:

They will give the Pats a huge fine and a loss of draft pick claiming they could not find any hard evidence of cheating, but there is too much evidence to know they had to have cheated in some way.

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I'll take that bet. A billion fake dollars.

ausbacker said:

How? How does the rule book give Goodell power to sanction a team when there is no proof of impropriety?

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Read the rules. If the Commissioner feels there is enough evidence to believe a team or player cheated, but no hard evidence they did, he can still punish them.

Of course everyone will now say 1) Goodell is helping his buddy Kraft; or 2) the pats still cheated - the league just didn't have any proof of it.

Rob0729 said:

Read the rules. If the Commissioner feels there is enough evidence to believe a team or player cheated, but no hard evidence they did, he can still punish them.

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You made the comment, not me. I'm asking you because evidently, you're the one who knows.

Rob0729 said:

They will give the Pats a huge fine and a loss of draft pick claiming they could not find any hard evidence of cheating, but there is too much evidence to know they had to have cheated in some way.

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If he did that he would be getting sued faster than he can say sorry.

Fixit said:

So he'd rather go the other way and start punishing people with no evidence of any wrongdoing? That's not an improvement.

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To most the country it is. In fact, even if they find no evidence, any punishment that doesn't include a suspension for Belichick and/or Brady will draw criticism from media outlets and people all over the country.

Big-T said:

If he did that he would be getting sued faster than he can say sorry.

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Doubt it.

Maybe just a fine for failure to provide footballs in spec. But also state clearly no evidence of tampering. One can hope right?

I think after this year of eons of negative press for the NFL, they are scapegoating the Patriots as they are easy prey in the court of public opinion.

I think they knew from the onset that the balls were not checked, thus they released well timed and well controlled snippet of information..

After being notified on Nov. 16 that there may have been some malfeasance, why wait for two months at half time of a Conference Championship???.. why would they risk "damaging the shield"????

How can you investigate anything without even talking to Brady??

So before the NFL can say anything conclusions have been drawn, and no one will believe them now as they will be part of this nefarious plot.. this whole situation backfired on the NFL...

Rob0729 said:

To most the country it is. In fact, even if they find no evidence, any punishment that doesn't include a suspension for Belichick and/or Brady will draw criticism from media outlets and people all over the country.

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Unless the NFL's report makes it clear that there's no evidence that the Pats tampered with the balls or the psi drop is reasonable and common. Why on Earth would he want to punish one of his bosses for doing nothing? I can't stand Goodell, either, but that seems to be a heck of a stretch.

It seems obvious that the pats gave the referees deflated footballs (like rodgers does in the opposite way) and the ref crew did not properly inspect them. It was the refs' job to inflate the balls to lesgue minimum. That's on the NFL.

ausbacker said:

You made the comment, not me. I'm asking you because evidently, you're the one who knows.

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I can't find it now. But there is evidence of cheating. The 11 ball is evidence. There is no evidence that that balls were tampered with, but the fact that all of the Pats' balls were deflated and the Colts balls weren't (if true) is enough for him to act.

I don't want him to do it. I just know that Goodell can't just say that they have no evidence and not punish the Pats. It is not going to happen. Anything short of a permanent ban of Belichick will draw criticism. No punishment especially after Ray Rice, will be a disaster.

Rob0729 said:

I can't find it now. But there is evidence of cheating. The 11 ball is evidence. There is no evidence that that balls were tampered with, but the fact that all of the Pats' balls were deflated and the Colts balls weren't (if true) is enough for him to act.

I don't want him to do it. I just know that Goodell can't just say that they have no evidence and not punish the Pats. It is not going to happen. Anything short of a permanent ban of Belichick will draw criticism. No punishment especially after Ray Rice, will be a disaster.

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Dang Rob, your killing the cautious optimism I was starting to have.