Seriously...why is it taking so long?

It's been almost 3 weeks now and no decision by NFL. If the league thought we are totally innocent - wouldnt you think it would be pretty quick? The fact that they are taking a long time makes me worried that they are bent on finding something and give us atleast a fine. That would be horrible if they do that as the haters will say "see...you guys are guilty". Kraft needs to be strong.

I'd lean the other way. Similar to the ray rice fiasco, let the media uproar play itself out before releasing the findings that fly in the face of popular opinion months later.

The only official report said it would be 3 more weeks after 1 week of investigating, which means we could be waiting into next week.

it's going to take time to find out which colt deflated the intercepted ball and deciding who's banned from the nfl for it.

What's taking so long? The NFL had its mind made up on what took place and is having trouble finding evidence to support what they believe. Remember when they thought this would take 2-3 days?

I'm embarassed for them. They are a multi billion dollar entity. My 65 year old mother and her quilting friends could find out what's what after an afternoon.

If they are planning on telling everyone there was no wrongdoing, they may be trying to figure out a way to do it without looking like they are covering for the Pats. Or maybe if they come out and say there was no proof of wrong doing, that will allow everyone to say the Pats DID in fact cheat and did not get caught.

It is possible the Pats legal team explained to them that there are several scenarios that while would exonerate the team would make them look guilty in the court of public opinion.

The NFL might not be able to come out and say we have proof the Pats did nothing. So I think they are trying to figure out a way to have everyone come out clean. Unless they have something on the Colts which would be too good to be true.

If he comes out and says "We cannot prove a negative" so we cannot prove the Patriots didn't deflate, I will go apeshit. Hopefully the people there are smarter than pulling out such fallacies.

Goodell, or the investigators, should come out and make a positive statement that the accusations were false, and apologize profusely for the way the situation was handled, the damage that it did to our franchise, and the distress it caused the fans, players, coaches, and the rest of the organization. He should say that he is embarrassed by how unprofessionally it was handled, and announce severe disciplinary actions for those that leaked information in order to perpetuate the hysterical witch-hunt atmosphere that only served to prolong the bullying of the Patriots by the media and the stupid.

I think they are going to dump out the results of all the investigations at th same time. Jets, atlanta, pats, cle. This way they can bury the results of ones the public won't like with others that are harsh.

The reason it is taking so long is that have the conclusion and are trying to create facts to fit it.

I can tell you why it's taking so long with 2 words "billable hours".
Mr Wells and co are doing very nicely, thank you.

When we are exonerated there will be loud cries of "cover up" and so, from the NFL's point of view, it needs to come at a time when interest has waned a bit.

They could have exonerated us before the Super Bowl based upon the science alone, but that would have been hugely unpopular.

I think it's more that the likely truth is going to be very difficult for the NFL to punish and announce without the league getting a black eye and a lot of fans, who have been fed erroneous crap by the NFL for years, being upset and disbelieving.

The evidence strongly suggests that this was an attempted setup by at least the Colts, and the Colts or league official tampered with the ball in their possession to make their case.

How does the NFL properly punish the Colts and admit their own treacherous role in this?

The Gr8est said:

I think it's more that the likely truth is going to be very difficult for the NFL to punish and announce without the league getting a black eye and a lot of fans, who have been fed erroneous crap by the NFL for years, being upset and disbelieving.

The evidence strongly suggests that this was an attempted setup by at least the Colts, and the Colts or league official tampered with the ball in their possession to make their case.

How does the NFL properly punish the Colts and admit their own treacherous role in this?

Click to expand...

Pigs will fly first.

What I want to happen - the NFL to unequivocally clear NE.
What is going to happen - they will between the lines admit they have nothing, will use weasel words to smear NE, and will fine $25k or $50k, saying at least one ball was under 12.5 PSI.

If the latter happens, I want Kraft to refuse to pay and force the league to formally sue the team for it (and if the league simply offsets the fine against TV, etc. monies owned to NE, I want Kraft to sue the league to get it back). I realize this will be a lost cause given the league constitution and the convenants not to sue, but I want Kraft to make the league jump through the hoops as a protest.

neuronet said:

Goodell, or the investigators, should come out and make a positive statement that the accusations were false, and apologize profusely for the way the situation was handled, the damage that it did to our franchise, and the distress it caused the fans, players, coaches, and the rest of the organization. He should say that he is embarrassed by how unprofessionally it was handled, and announce severe disciplinary actions for those that leaked information in order to perpetuate the hysterical witch-hunt atmosphere that only served to prolong the bullying of the Patriots by the media and the stupid.

Click to expand...

You believe in unicorns, don't you?

I could not agree more with your 1st paragraph I did not quote.

In addition to hopefully definitively finding what did happen and deciding who gets punished, which would take more time than just finding a smoking gun with the Pats, like others have said:

Hopefully they're also working to find who made those initial BS leaks (my money's on Kensil). So they can fire some people in the league office on the same day they release the findings and apologize to Mr Kraft.

That way that part of the story will fly under the press' radar. The league office would probably want to downplay any misdeeds by their own personnel that occurred during all this mess.

The wait is still killing me. We'll probably get the report on Friday the 13th.

The Gr8est said:

I think it's more that the likely truth is going to be very difficult for the NFL to punish and announce without the league getting a black eye and a lot of fans, who have been fed erroneous crap by the NFL for years, being upset and disbelieving.

The evidence strongly suggests that this was an attempted setup by at least the Colts, and the Colts or league official tampered with the ball in their possession to make their case.

How does the NFL properly punish the Colts and admit their own treacherous role in this?

Click to expand...

That's one of the biggest hurdles in this situation. The media has never stopped beating the "They're cheaters!" drum over the last 8 years. That's not to say there hasn't been plenty of positive coverage (There's no way Brady gets a unanimous MVP without it), but the negative comments and insinuations never completely go away.

It could be PFT mining any negative Patriots angle for clicks (My favorite example: NE releases Kyle Love, in part due to his diabetes. Florio & Co turn out several negative articles, deeming the release a violation of Love's human rights. Love signs with Jacksonville and gets released by them a few weeks later. No reaction by PFT.), Warner and Faulk's annual whining about a something that never happened, or Esiason responded to Cowher's favorable comments about Belichick by bringing up Spygate. By comparison, you never hear or read anyone talking about Sean Payton's bounty program or prescription drug issues. You don't hear any of the studio hosts joking that Mike Tomlin might trip someone in the second half.

I would not be surprised if there were discussions in the league office about how to say they found no wrongdoing by the Patriots without dealing with negative feedback from the fans and media.

They need the time to write a report long enough so no one would read.