Wells reportedly keeping NFL in the dark on investigation

rlcarr said:

It might. Wells has an outside-the-NFL reputation to maintain, so I don't think it's crazy if he insisted in his engagement agreement that he would be left alone and that he would turn it over when done and nothing before that. Sure, the NFL is his client and so there will be some level of pro-NFL whitewashing and slanting, but he's gonna want the part of the process that he has control over to at least be dignified.

Having stuff leaking from his investigation makes him look bad and the only way to not have leaks is to not tell anyone anything. Surely he must know from past work that the NFL front office is a sieve.

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At this point it seems to me that the NFL itself is the focus of the investigation

The only thing we can say with absolute certainty is that there is a major media leak in Goodell's office which continued long after Goodell issued a gag order on his staff, with information leaked purposefully twisted to make the Patriots look bad

We still don't know all the facts about DeflateGate but we do know that

And the fact that there is a person or persons in the NFL HQ and apparently on other teams who would go out of their way to set up another NFL team is itself something that needs to be investigated thoroughly to ensure "the integrity of the game"

That might help explain the sudden drought in leaks and information since the leaks were all coming from the league, and if the league is now being embarrassed they won't want to continue notifying everyone about it.

VectorPrime said:

That might help explain the sudden drought in leaks and information since the leaks were all coming from the league, and if the league is now being embarrassed they won't want to continue notifying everyone about it.

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And that would mean we've seen the best of what they have to offer as far as painting the Patriots as cheaters. That's comforting.

That's the hope yeah

Not much to add, but it sounds to me like maybe just the report of the balls being measured was leaked, but it was reported with an agenda in mind with some incredible bias. As opposed to something like "only one ball overly low on air pressure." But no. I'm sure they debated a headline of "ALL BALLS DEFLATED!" and weighed the repercussions of a complete fabrication.

This may have some validity, as the NFL had a penchant early on to release snippets of information at opportune times.. middle of the Night to Kravitz, late in the night to Mort and early in the morning to King..

If the NFL had something or knew something they would be releasing small bits of info to keep the flames burning..

Either that or Goodell and his minions have finally realized with integrity means and are acting more appropriately, WRONG gotta be delusional to think that..

DarrylS said:

This may have some validity, as the NFL had a penchant early on to release snippets of information at opportune times.. middle of the Night to Kravitz, late in the night to Mort and early in the morning to King..

If the NFL had something or knew something they would be releasing small bits of info to keep the flames burning..

Either that or Goodell and his minions have finally realized with integrity means and are acting more appropriately, WRONG gotta be delusional to think that..

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My speculation is that Kensil has been the instigator on this and perhaps on other anti-Patriots matters and to some degree Goodell condoned it - and that Kensil continues to serve as the source for anyone who will be his mouthpiece in the media to let him anonymously twist the facts to make the Patriots look bad amid the investigation

Frankly I can't fault Kravitz for reporting his tips etc. - I just think he's an awful journalist for personally pre-judging the Patriots before the facts are in (presumably based upon what he's been told by his "sources" regardless of whether that was true.

But Kensil may have jumped the shark on Jim McNally - trying to implicate a guy who was just tossing a ball from one official (who has since been fired) to another - as I view him as the likely source of yet another false accusation

To do all of that AMID the middle of an investigation I'd say warrants the Wells team to take a good hard look and question who's going to police the NFL police?

oh yay

The NFL just doesn't want to look bad so they are having wells drag this out until nobody cares

meatface said:

The NFL just doesn't want to look bad so they are having wells drag this out until nobody cares

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Or at least until after these owners meetings are over.

if there are no conclusions to be had, then what is there to talk about?

the silence is probably due to the fact there is just more information about the colts/ravens backstab than there is about the pats doing anything wrong. That in the end, if all the 'facts' are put on the table, that the black eye the NFL could wind up getting is substantially worse than the black eye one team could get for potentially deflating footballs.

Imagine for a moment that the evidence shows a setup involving the colts and ravens that actually does not succeed in implicating......the guy is sitting there saying 'how am I going to present this?'

IllegalContact said:

if there are no conclusions to be had, then what is there to talk about?

the silence is probably due to the fact there is just more information about the colts/ravens backstab than there is about the pats doing anything wrong. That in the end, if all the 'facts' are put on the table, that the black eye the NFL could wind up getting is substantially worse than the black eye one team could get for potentially deflating footballs.

Imagine for a moment that the evidence shows a setup involving the colts and ravens that actually does not succeed in implicating......the guy is sitting there saying 'how am I going to present this?'

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I think there is a reason neither Pagano or Grigson have been offered contract extensions.

JoeSixPat said:

At this point it seems to me that the NFL itself is the focus of the investigation

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That is the conundrum. An attorney (Wells) has an obligation to zealously represent his client (NFL). What happens if the investigation he was hired to do ends up with a result that harms ( the reputation at least) of his client if it finds wrong doing on Park Ave. Does he report it or is it buried????

Wells is not going to ruin his well established reputation in his field or wreck his firm by burying or ignoring evidence. He's here to act as an impartial party and he will do so. Simple as that.

In what world have lawyers ever been synonymous with integrity? A lawyers reputation is about wins and losses and his responsibility to his clients. Always about the client, never about truth or justice!

First, stop watching so many legal procedurals on TV. They aren't real.

Secondly, this isn't even a win or lose case. This isn't a court of law. Wells is looking into what happened (or what didn't happen) and then presenting his findings. He's not 'defending' the NFL any more than he's defending the Pats.

Wells does not work for the NFL. He works for whatever big name super rich company who wishes to hire him for his services. He has no loyalty to the NFL and would never stake his reputation on them because if he did, and irregularities were to come out, then he'd never get another high profile client ever again.

1) You are very naive if you think there is integrity in the judicial system.
2) He works for his client, the NFL! He will not destroy his client in any report! Otherwise he won't have clients at all. If he was hired by Kraft, he could then find fault with the NFL.
3) The most he will do is privately point out any wrong doing and see how the NFL wants to proceed. If they want to go forward with the truth, then he will. If they do not want that truth published, then it will not be published.
4) As you say, this is not a court of law. There is no punishment for withholding anything.

Kraft is a billionaire. If he wants justice he'll get justice by hook or by crook. And it's an owner's league.

Patstopia said:

1) You are very naive if you think there is integrity in the judicial system.
2) He works for his client, the NFL! He will not destroy his client in any report! Otherwise he won't have clients at all. If he was hired by Kraft, he could then find fault with the NFL.
3) The most he will do is privately point out any wrong doing and see how the NFL wants to proceed. If they want to go forward with the truth, then he will. If they do not want that truth published, then it will not be published.
4) As you say, this is not a court of law. There is no punishment for withholding anything.

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Bob Kraft is one of the 32 owners paying for this investigation and report findings, it isn't coming out of Roger Goodell or Mike Kensil's pocket, and as such he will have full access to the complete Wells Report and not a Roger Goodell redacted report. A fact that those saying the Patriots will be sanctioned for no wrongdoing refuse to address because it doesn't fit their argument.

Ivan said:

Bob Kraft is one of the 32 owners paying for this investigation and report findings, it isn't coming out of Roger Goodell or Mike Kensil's pocket, and as such he will have full access to the complete Wells Report and not a Roger Goodell redacted report. A fact that those saying the Patriots will be sanctioned for no wrongdoing refuse to address because it doesn't fit their argument.

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All depends on what Bob Kraft we get...the one who came out guns blazin' the Monday of the Super Bowl, or the one who recently backed Goodell and said he has a very difficult job to do.

If he's 2007 'take one for the team in Spygate' Kraft then he may roll over...I hope that's not the guy we get, but he didn't become the most powerful owner in the most powerful league in the US by making corporate waves.