It is official! The league has made a bad situation a disaster

Joker · Jan 25, 2015

Exactly...there is a counterstrike coming from Herr Goodell.Every single time he's been questioned for any of his tactics he's fired back like a crazed water buffalo.

BelizePats · Jan 25, 2015

In this day and age it is truly extraordinary to see a multi billion dollar entity like the NFL floundering so consistently, at virtually every turn.
Any other corporation in the United States and Goddell would have been fired over the ugly way he mishandled the Ray Rice situation. Now this train wreck that should have been so easily avoided.
The NFL is, in essence, a rudderless ship. No captain, no leadership.

It speaks to how out of touch the 31 owners are (I don't count the GB collective) and how far removed they are from the reality of traditional business constraints.

Kdo5 · Jan 25, 2015

Bill's PC really resulted in egg all over the leagues face. One day after they announce names of investigators and ongoing work of forensic teams over a freaking under inflated ball, Bill comes out with fire and explains in detail his own investigation which he wrapped up WHILE trying to prepare for the Super Bowl.

He made them look like utter fools. And maybe I should lay off Kraft a bit here, particularly if he gave BB the blessing to do this. Maybe I was wrong and that Kraft did give Bill the go ahead to basically flip the bird to the league office.

Patriot_in_NY · Jan 25, 2015

BelizePats said:
In this day and age it is truly extraordinary to see a multi billion dollar entity like the NFL floundering so consistently, at virtually every turn.
Any other corporation in the United States and Goddell would have been fired over the ugly way he mishandled the Ray Rice situation. Now this train wreck that should have been so easily avoided.
The NFL is, in essence, a rudderless ship. No captain, no leadership.

It speaks to how out of touch the 31 owners are (I don't count the GB collective) and how far removed they are from the reality of traditional business constraints.

Not only that.............. But it boggles my mind that not one of them will step up and say something to he effect of "We are gonna spend HOW MUCH frikken $$ on this investigation into the ball inflation crap"?

RIpats88 · Jan 25, 2015

Patriot_in_NY said:
Not only that.............. But it boggles my mind that not one of them will step up and say something to he effect of "We are gonna spend HOW MUCH frikken $$ on this investigation into the ball inflation crap"?

the other 31 teams hate the patriots because we have beaten them at some point and have been consistently successful.

the patriots are the model of what any NFL fan would want in their team. consistently good for 15 years, great QB, great Coaching, and "right there" every year. But since most teams arent like that the "sisters of the poor" resent the patriots success. thats all this really is about.

Half the mediots calling for brady/belichicks head are guys that brady/belichick have beaten into submission.

zoostation · Jan 25, 2015

vyrago said:
I'll have to watch BB's presser again, but I thought I heard his voice break just a teeny bit when he began to talk about how hard this team has worked. I bet he's enraged with the blundering, idiotic NFL. Deflated balls. Come on, get serious!!

You're absolutely right. I caught that too. The team was getting beat down by the mediots after week 4 and they pulled together, won 5 out of 6 games in a very tough stretch, and became the best team in the AFC (maybe all of football). And after all that the mediots are trying to beat them down again for something that had nothing to do with their dominating play.

BB is all about the New England Patriots and he's fed up with letting people talk BS due to jealousy.

This gate, that gate. The only reason for any of these gates is domination. That's why I now term this fiasco WINGATE

zoostation · Jan 25, 2015

Rob0729 said:
I really don't get this "the league loves the publicity" angle people are floating. I can't see the League wanting this. The "no press is bad press" argument means that Goodell and Kraft are Skyping right now how to continue this story for another couple of weeks. Because if this bad press is good for the NFL and no press is bad press, then logic this is a bonanza for Kraft and the Patriots. They are getting bad press true and if bad press is good press, this is benefitting the Patriots' brand.

This is a nightmare for the League and especially Goodell. It is just another scandal to ruin the credibility of the League and especially Goodell. I can't think they are remotely happy with the attention this is getting.

Part of me has always believed the NFL is in no hurry to let this die down due to SB ratings. Every movie these days needs a villan in the storyline to sell. Fact is a small percentage of people who never watch sporting events will watch this because of the "mean and horrible" Patriots. A small percentage of people that do not watch sporting event is a big number because millions do not. That big number means better ratings and more money.

PatsFanInVa · Jan 25, 2015

robertweathers said:
Thats nonsensical. They wouldn't knock down a murder 1 to a misdemeanor.

The Pats go down hard or are fully exonerated. There is no in between now.

I could see Goodell basically ruling "you gave us 12.5 PSI balls on a cold night. No we cannot prove that you tampered with the balls. But (1) your intent was for the balls to be flatter as it got colder and (2) we can't rule out that you're guilty, since you didn't prove innocence."

It's not a court of law, it's the NFL. He could claim "you look a little tricky, $25K (or more) fine."

TomPatriot · Jan 25, 2015

upstater1 said:
Memo came out on sept 6, 2006. A year earlier

Yes, so he knew the League's interpretation.

RobertWeathers · Jan 25, 2015

PatsFanInVa said:
I could see Goodell basically ruling "you gave us 12.5 PSI balls on a cold night. No we cannot prove that you tampered with the balls. But (1) your intent was for the balls to be flatter as it got colder and (2) we can't rule out that you're guilty, since you didn't prove innocence."

It's not a court of law, it's the NFL. He could claim "you look a little tricky, $25K (or more) fine."

The league specifications are 12.5 PSI. You either meet them or not. The Pats met them.

However, because it's the NFL and their decadence is afforded to them at the expense of generating negative publicity on people that actually make the league run, it scares me to think you just might be right.

upstater1 · Jan 25, 2015

TomPatriot said:
Yes, so he knew the League's interpretation.

No, not if you take into account that the leagues interpretation emphasized "during the game," and in 2006, it came to the NFLs attention twice that teams taped the Patriots signals. The first time, in a Phins game, the NFLs Steve Lic responded, "that's football." In the second instance, it was the Jets. the NFL claimed the Pats gave the Jets permission to film from the field. permission to break the NFL rules? Huh?

The Patriots denied it.

It's understandable that anyone would wonder if the NFL was serious about a perfunctory memo when the NFL twice ignored it in Patriots games.

Oswlek · Jan 25, 2015

chasa said:
there are three ways the league could have handled this at different points during this whole dumpster fire.

1.) they could have told the patriots "hey the colts mentioned your balls seemed a little low, in the future please make sure that all footballs are no less then 12.5 psi" instead what they did was tried to setup a sting operation

2.)after testing the balls sunday, and finding them to be below 12.5 Issued a fine monday morning, for $25,000. No dragging it out, no "This is a serious investgation" just a simple fine for failure to maintain equipment to the proper standard set by the nfl. Instead the NFL launched a private investgaion, leaked information to the media, and then launched a public investagion by a third party the day they said their private investigation should have ended.

3.)Upon their private investgation ended, the league could have said "Nothing we have discovered shows any intent what so ever by the patriots to act against the rules in any way with regards to inflating footballs. What we have discovered are flaws in our own system which allows for unforseen variables to cause the quality of the balls to be altered after they have been approved for play. This has been a learning experience for the league. Once again thePatriots did not knowingly do anything wrong." instead the league decided ehh lets let them dangle in the wind.

Winner, winner chicken dinner.

RobertWeathers · Jan 25, 2015

chasa said:
there are three ways the league could have handled this at different points during this whole dumpster fire.

1.) they could have told the patriots "hey the colts mentioned your balls seemed a little low, in the future please make sure that all footballs are no less then 12.5 psi" instead what they did was tried to setup a sting operation

2.)after testing the balls sunday, and finding them to be below 12.5 Issued a fine monday morning, for $25,000. No dragging it out, no "This is a serious investgation" just a simple fine for failure to maintain equipment to the proper standard set by the nfl. Instead the NFL launched a private investgaion, leaked information to the media, and then launched a public investagion by a third party the day they said their private investigation should have ended.

3.)Upon their private investgation ended, the league could have said "Nothing we have discovered shows any intent what so ever by the patriots to act against the rules in any way with regards to inflating footballs. What we have discovered are flaws in our own system which allows for unforseen variables to cause the quality of the balls to be altered after they have been approved for play. This has been a learning experience for the league. Once again thePatriots did not knowingly do anything wrong." instead the league decided ehh lets let them dangle in the wind.

Only thing the league needed to do was make sure Kravitz kept his mouth shut and Irsay dummied up.

Bobsyouruncle · Jan 25, 2015

The NFL could and should have made a statement day one that said "We have received a complaint that the patriots manipulated football air pressure. As a precaution we rechecked the balls at half time to ensure it could not be a factor. Thus far we have no reason to believe any balls were manipulated, or that any competitive advantage could or would be gained. The NFL has many protocols to prevent anyone from being able to manipulate footballs, including a chain of custody and referee checks. The pressure in footballs can vary due to many factors. Though there is no evidence of wrongdoing yet, we take all allegations seriously and will conduct a thorough investigation into any accusations and all procedures."

Would it have prevented the s*** storm- no. But I bet would have made it smaller and we wouldn't have so many people who dug their heels in from the beginning. Saying we have under inflated balls and are investigating is true but it's a great way to stir the pot. And almost a lie by omission, leaving out what they surely know about temp and pressure and leaving people to speculate is just irresponsible.

The Gr8est · Jan 25, 2015

Joker said:
Exactly...there is a counterstrike coming from Herr Goodell.Every single time he's been questioned for any of his tactics he's fired back like a crazed water buffalo.

I don't think you need to worry about any counter strikes.

At least until we're within 48 hours of actually playing the game.

PatsWickedPissah · Jan 25, 2015

Slagathor said:
I have a buddy who lives in Pittsburgh that said everybody there is actually looking forward to this Super Bowl because of the controversy. It will be a ratings blowout. May have been the plan all along.

zoostation said:
Part of me has always believed the NFL is in no hurry to let this die down due to SB ratings. Every movie these days needs a villan in the storyline to sell. Fact is a small percentage of people who never watch sporting events will watch this because of the "mean and horrible" Patriots. A small percentage of people that do not watch sporting event is a big number because millions do not. That big number means better ratings and more money.

No, no, a thousand times no!
Rob has informed us repeatedly that this is bad publicity, the NFL will suffer, there will be no increased TV ratings, no increased advt fees for the next SB, etc.

What's ironic is that handling this issue like the moron he is will probably get Goodell a huge bonus from the owners.

Koma · Jan 25, 2015

SVN said:
I wonder if the league will launch another investigation to BB's claim that other teams were doing it too... Iam surprised rumor mongerers like Florio have not picked on it.

That doesn't fit their MO. Writing something balanced about the Patriots doesn't get near the attention that a negative article would. They just let comments like Belichick's slide by without comment.

An example of this was Goodell's press conference after meeting with Matt Walsh. He mentioned that Walsh told him he saw another team doing the same filming that he was. Goodell refused to identify the team (Arlen Specter was more honest and said it was the Jets) and that revelation didn't receive any more attention. If taping signals from the sideline was so serious, wouldn't everyone want to know how widespread it was?

BigEZPatsFan76 · Jan 25, 2015

PatsSox363804 said:
If the league finds no evidence and still tries to fine the Pats Kraft better appeal it.

Agree, and if cleared of all this, if "shifty Bob" decides to take the hit (fine) or whatever to "protect the shield", and cover for the NFL and Goodell, BB ought to tell shifty Bob, well you know what, if I you want to kiss Goodell's ass while he keeps allowing factions to shove it up yours, I have no desire to be a willing accomplice in this any more. He should resign and do a complete scathing "tell tale" of the crap he knows going on behind the scenes in the NFL. Especially after he, Brady, and others have taken a firm stand in defense of this organization. Sorry "taking the hit" for the "shield" last time did not work out well for us, won't this time. I think BB has finally had enough, especially when he sees the man who should MOST be supporting him cozying up and sucking up the greatest example of the "Peter Principle" that I have ever seen (Goodell), who keeps permitting his brand to be mudded.

phil112 · Jan 25, 2015

Finally! Video evidence of what actually happened to deflate those balls!
http://patsontap.com/2015/01/24/wee...***-and-were-not-surprised-by-their-findings/

IcyPatriot · Jan 25, 2015

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