Curran article on Jets tampering

JMC00 said:

Except Johnson during a press conference said he wanted a player that was still under contract to another team. NFL defines any owner speaking openly about a player under contract to another team as tampering.

If that was Robert Karft saying how he would love to see Calvin Johnson in a Pats uniform we would never hear the end of it till the Pats were fined.

Let's also not forget how the media during SB week was trying to stir up that BB tampered with Blount.

I think us Pats fans are well within our right to want blood for this.

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It was a stupid comment by a stupid owner. It is tampering, but tampering is a minor crime since everyone does it.

The media cried about Johnson's comments too. And the whole Blount thing went nowhere.

If we want to ask blood for this, we cannot get upset when the media and Patriots haters want blood for DeflateGate (assuming there is any truth to it). Both are minor offenses that are getting blown out of proportion. I am not going to join the witch hunt brigade just because people do it to the Pats.

It is fair to complain about the hypocrisy of the enforcement of the rules and how the media and the public selectively focusing on allegations or violations of one team and not others, but I am not going to manufacture outrage that the Jets should be given a harsh penalty for an offense that is the equivalent of jaywalking and more the stupidity of an idiot owner than a real attempt to cheat.

I am upset that the Pats always get the fake outrage of the media whenever there is an allegation of cheating by the Patriots no matter how minor, but I cannot get upset about Woody Johnson just showing that his own qualifications to own an NFL franchise is that his grandfather was a business genius.

Ross12 said:

Good point. They were seriously drilling Blount. "Did Bill talk to you about coming here while you were still with Pittsburgh? Did he? Did he? DID HE? DID HE??????"

Meanwhile, the filmed plea by Woody to Revis who is still with NE continues to be ignored...

I mean seriously, why should we care if there's proof the Jets tampered with an NE player when we can THEORIZE about the POSSIBILITY that NE could have MAYBE tampered with a Pitt player if we close our eyes and play pretend?

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There is a difference. The MEDIA doesn't care about Johnson while they will look to manufacturer any allegation of cheating for the Patriots to go after them. That isn't selective enforcement by the league though. The league never took the Blount thing seriously. In fact, most of the rational media didn't either.

Yes, there is a significant part of the media that is out to bring down the Patriots every chance they can. That is different than expecting a harsh penalty from the league. I expect something similar to what the Lions got for their tampering.

But people on this board are doing what the media does to the Pats. Johnson is an idiot and made a stupid comment. And now people on this board actually are making the case that it will actually hurt the Pats' chances of getting Revis. Even though Revis already knows that if he hits the market that he will cash in and his agent and interested teams are most likely committing actual forms of tampering by talking numbers behind the scenes. Yet, people are outraged by a stupid owner making a stupid comment when he could have gotten away with tampering by just reaching out to Revis' agent at the Combine like probably a half dozen teams did last week.

Rob0729 said:

It was a stupid comment by a stupid owner. It is tampering, but tampering is a minor crime since everyone does it.

The media cried about Johnson's comments too. And the whole Blount thing went nowhere.

If we want to ask blood for this, we cannot get upset when the media and Patriots haters want blood for DeflateGate (assuming there is any truth to it). Both are minor offenses that are getting blown out of proportion. I am not going to join the witch hunt brigade just because people do it to the Pats.

It is fair to complain about the hypocrisy of the enforcement of the rules and how the media and the public selectively focusing on allegations or violations of one team and not others, but I am not going to manufacture outrage that the Jets should be given a harsh penalty for an offense that is the equivalent of jaywalking and more the stupidity of an idiot owner than a real attempt to cheat.

I am upset that the Pats always get the fake outrage of the media whenever there is an allegation of cheating by the Patriots no matter how minor, but I cannot get upset about Woody Johnson just showing that his own qualifications to own an NFL franchise is that his grandfather was a business genius.

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Rob0729 said:

There is a difference. The MEDIA doesn't care about Johnson while they will look to manufacturer any allegation of cheating for the Patriots to go after them. That isn't selective enforcement by the league though. The league never took the Blount thing seriously. In fact, most of the rational media didn't either.

Yes, there is a significant part of the media that is out to bring down the Patriots every chance they can. That is different than expecting a harsh penalty from the league. I expect something similar to what the Lions got for their tampering.

But people on this board are doing what the media does to the Pats. Johnson is an idiot and made a stupid comment. And now people on this board actually are making the case that it will actually hurt the Pats' chances of getting Revis. Even though Revis already knows that if he hits the market that he will cash in and his agent and interested teams are most likely committing actual forms of tampering by talking numbers behind the scenes. Yet, people are outraged by a stupid owner making a stupid comment when he could have gotten away with tampering by just reaching out to Revis' agent at the Combine like probably a half dozen teams did last week.

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I get your point but I still get pissed that others can do what we get nailed for. So let the league acknowledge it was tampering without a fine but be honest call a spade a spade.

Rob0729 said:

It was a stupid comment by a stupid owner. It is tampering, but tampering is a minor crime since everyone does it.

The media cried about Johnson's comments too. And the whole Blount thing went nowhere.

If we want to ask blood for this, we cannot get upset when the media and Patriots haters want blood for DeflateGate (assuming there is any truth to it). Both are minor offenses that are getting blown out of proportion. I am not going to join the witch hunt brigade just because people do it to the Pats.

It is fair to complain about the hypocrisy of the enforcement of the rules and how the media and the public selectively focusing on allegations or violations of one team and not others, but I am not going to manufacture outrage that the Jets should be given a harsh penalty for an offense that is the equivalent of jaywalking and more the stupidity of an idiot owner than a real attempt to cheat.

I am upset that the Pats always get the fake outrage of the media whenever there is an allegation of cheating by the Patriots no matter how minor, but I cannot get upset about Woody Johnson just showing that his own qualifications to own an NFL franchise is that his grandfather was a business genius.

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Unfortunately that sounds exactly like the type of 'high road' mentality that resulted in the Patriots not defending themselves adequately when 'CameraPlacementGate' first started.

The league sets the rules and the standard.

I don't need to 'fake outrage' when I see the Patriots being nailed to a cross for routine stuff while the NFL looks the other way under Jet-dells watch when the Jesters are involved.

ps Woody Johnson, while not of the 'genius' persuasion is also not the man of extreme low intelligence that you make him out to be. The guy knew what he was doing, and likely understood that his brazen 'tampering' would likely be brushed under the carpet.

livinginthe past said:

Unfortunately that sounds exactly like the type of 'high road' mentality that resulted in the Patriots not defending themselves adequately when 'CameraPlacementGate' first started.

The league sets the rules and the standard.

I don't need to 'fake outrage' when I see the Patriots being nailed to a cross for routine stuff while the NFL looks the other way under Jet-dells watch when the Jesters are involved.

ps Woody Johnson, while not of the 'genius' persuasion is also not the man of extreme low intelligence that you make him out to be. The guy knew what he was doing, and likely understood that his brazen 'tampering' would likely be brushed under the carpet.

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First, I cannot sell how low Woody Johnson's intelligence is. Everyone who knows him and is honest about talks about what a complete and utter moron Johnson is. He was asked a question about him regretting not trying to re-sign Revis and he put his foot in his mouth. It wasn't calculated. He is too dumb for that.

And to show how dumb he really is - The Jets were flush with cap space last year, desperately needed a CB, and Revis wanted to come back. If the Jets re-sign him, they would have looked like geniuses because they would have sent Revis to rehab in Tampa and gotten Sheldon Richardson out of the deal.

Now the Jets have tons of holes and are in rebuild mode and are going to overpay for a 30 year old CB who will be past his prime if and when the Jets are good again. Why? Because everyone talked about how stupid the Jets are for not trying to re-sign Revis and letting him go to the Pats. And now Woody wants to rectify that. How is that a smart owner? Or some calculated genius? Revis to the Jets makes little sense other than placate the Jets' fans who killed him for not trying to re-sign him. I think the fact he is going after Revis at all cost just shows how dumb he really is.

And we sound like Patriots haters who complain that Goodell let's the Pats get away with everything and how he is going to ultimate sweep Deflategate under the rug when we complain about Goodell's Jets' favoritism.

The league hasn't issued any punishments yet for Deflategate, Noisegate, Textgate, or the tampering. We have no idea what the Jets could get. To cry about Goodell going easy on the Jets when he hasn't even ruled makes us no better than Patriots haters who kill Goodell for letting Belichick coach in the Super Bowl because of rumors from Deflategate.

I'm sorry. What Johnson said was just dumb. If he truly wanted to tamper with Revis (and if he had half a brain), he would do what the other 31 teams do and do the tampering under the radar at the Combine. If Johnson was purposely tampering with Revis in that press conference, it goes against your theory that he was smart because it is the dumbest way to tamper with a player going. Everyone knows you can tamper just as well without bringing attention to the tampering by just going to dinner with his agent in Indianapolis under the guise of talking about other clients.

Brewskies said:

I get your point but I still get pissed that others can do what we get nailed for. So let the league acknowledge it was tampering without a fine but be honest call a spade a spade.

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That is a different argument. I don't think the Johnson thing is a big deal. But if the league nails the Pats for Deflategate and then gives the Jets' a pass, then it it is a whole different issue. I put Deflategate (even if the Pats deflated balls) on the same par with tampering.

Johnson deserves to be punished because stupidity is not a defense for violating the rules, but it is jaywalking form of violation. Hell, the league acknowledged that teams tamper so much that they actually instituted a league tampering period prior to free agency.

I guarantee you Mike Maccagnan (the Jets' GM) has met with Revis' agent already and expressed interest in Revis and what they are willing to pay. I guarantee you that probably another half dozen GMs have done the same thing. Woody Johnson saying something stupid at a press conference has little to no bearing on the Revis situation. People on this board are making it into something it isn't.

Rob0729 said:

If we want to ask blood for this, we cannot get upset when the media and Patriots haters want blood for DeflateGate (assuming there is any truth to it). Both are minor offenses that are getting blown out of proportion. I am not going to join the witch hunt brigade just because people do it to the Pats.

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That's ridiculous. Woody Johnson actually violated a rule that is in place. The Patriots did no such thing and that has been clear for some time now. The two are not comparable, at all.

There is no "witch hunt" because Woody Johnson word for word recited the very definition of tampering that the league has provided for us. Patriots fans are not against implementing rules. They are against Goodell misinterpreting and making up rules as he goes, and then handing out punishments with a maniacal whim only surpassed by King Joffrey.

Don't buy into the "we live on the edge" bullcrap that the media has created. It's not true.

And I don't think anyone is "asking for blood" when it comes to the Jets. Heck, I could live with the league issuing him a warning, a simple "that was against policy, don't do it again." Or, if they see fit, how about simply implementing the rule they came up with?

No, Johnson's faux paus is not tremendously significant, but it's also not completely trivial. If we get upset when the refs miss an inconsequential holding call in a win, we should probably get at least a little upset when an owner of another team openly covets a player on our team - one of the 5-10 best players in the whole world - and insinuates he's going to try and bring him back. That doesn't help our negotiations very much does it?

BradyManny said:

That's ridiculous. Woody Johnson actually violated a rule that is in place. The Patriots did no such thing and that has been clear for some time now. The two are not comparable, at all.

There is no "witch hunt" because Woody Johnson word for word recited the very definition of tampering that the league has provided for us. Patriots fans are not against implementing rules. They are against Goodell misinterpreting and making up rules as he goes, and then handing out punishments with a maniacal whim only surpassed by King Joffrey.

Don't buy into the "we live on the edge" bullcrap that the media has created. It's not true.

And I don't think anyone is "asking for blood" when it comes to the Jets. Heck, I could live with the league issuing him a warning, a simple "that was against policy, don't do it again." Or, if they see fit, how about simply implementing the rule they came up with?

No, Johnson's faux paus is not that significant - and neither should any punishment - but it's also not completely trivial. If we get upset when the refs miss an inconsequential holding call in a win, we should probably get at least a little upset when an owner of another team openly covets a player on our team - one of the 5-10 best players in the whole world - and insinuates he's going to try and bring him back. That doesn't help our negotiations very much does it?

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Again, the league haven't doled out punishments yet for anything. To kill the league for not putting out a punishment before they rule is silly. They haven't officially commented on any of the current investigations other than that they won't comment.

I expect them to get something similar to what the Lions got in 2011. A loss of a 7th and swap of 5th rounders.

You might be satisfied with just an acknowledgement, but I think you may be in the minority. I think many Pats fans will not be happy unless the Jets get what the Pats got for Spygate.

Rob0729 said:

I expect them to get something similar to what the Lions got in 2011. A loss of a 7th and swap of 5th rounders.

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Fair enough. From your post it sounded like you felt this was a non-issue that shouldn't even be addressed.

The league's no comment shows hypocrisy. What exactly are they going to "discover" into their investigation of the tampering charges that changes the fact that Woody Johnson couldn't have better matched the definition of a tampering comment if he tried?

BradyManny said:

Fair enough. From your post it sounded like you felt this was a non-issue that shouldn't even be addressed.

The league's no comment shows hypocrisy. What exactly are they going to "discover" into their investigation of the tampering charges that changes the fact that Woody Johnson couldn't have better matched the definition of a tampering comment if he tried?

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I never said nothing should happen. I think the league should be consistent with their punishments. And ignorance of the rules has never been an excuse the league has allowed. Shouldn't here.

I just think it is minor and stupidity on Johnson's part. I don't get how it was calculated because every team knows you can tamper behind the scenes and the league rarely if ever catches you. By doing it publicly, it just brings attention to yourself and a punishment of some sort. Johnson could be stupid enough to think he is being clever by tampering publicly because he is that dumb, but I think he was just dumb and isn't smart enough to think on his feet at a press conference.

And again, the league seem to be waiting to dump all the punishments from pending investigations on a Friday at 5PM in the next few weeks. Hell, maybe even today (although I doubt it). It seems the investigation of Noisegate is over and the Falcons are guilty, but there is no punishment yet.

And the league has not said much of anything about Deflategate. Certain member so of the league office might be leaking information (Mike Kensil), but the league have said almost nothing officially other than they won't say anything until the investigation is over.

Rob0729 said:

And the league has not said much of anything about Deflategate. Certain member so of the league office might be leaking information (Mike Kensil), but the league have said almost nothing officially other than they won't say anything until the investigation is over.

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They said "underinflated" footballs were played with in the AFCCG, which was enough to launch the media ****-storm. Had they said what actually transpired, that "depressurized" footballs were used, as they have presumably been used in thousands of NFL games played below room temperature, then maybe the Patriots wouldn't have had to spend time deflecting this thing when they should've been preparing for a Super Bowl.

I agree Johnson's comments don't warrant his head on a plate or anything. He was just being an idiot, but his idiocy is not helping what leverage the Pats would've had right now, and he really ought not to do that. I hope some acknowledgement of that is coming, as you say.

Rob0729 said:

Again, the league haven't doled out punishments yet for anything. To kill the league for not putting out a punishment before they rule is silly. They haven't officially commented on any of the current investigations other than that they won't comment.

I expect them to get something similar to what the Lions got in 2011. A loss of a 7th and swap of 5th rounders.

You might be satisfied with just an acknowledgement, but I think you may be in the minority. I think many Pats fans will not be happy unless the Jets get what the Pats got for Spygate.

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The reason people are "killing the league " is because this is one situation where an investigation is not required. The transgression was so textbook it is actually the example used in the rulebook, and it was done in full view of everyone. It is common knowledge that Revis is both under contract and entering contact negotiations with the Patriots and his former owner who is also a division rival went out and said he wants him on his team, that's as cut and dried as it gets, especially since he did it at a press conference that was on ESPN and the NFLN. I don't think the penalty should be anywhere near the Cameragate sanctions because those were ridiculous in and of themselves. The sanction however should be severe because it was cut and dried textbook tampering, he had already been warned about tampering earlier in the year, the transgression was in division, and the player is of the highest caliber. All of those reasons say the sanction should be significant and IMO should be a first round pick. It's the Jets fault and problem that pick is so high ás only they are responsible for sucking. And it shouldn't have taken the league more than ten minutes to conclude their findings and hand down the penalty.

Rob0729 said:

There is a difference. The MEDIA doesn't care about Johnson while they will look to manufacturer any allegation of cheating for the Patriots to go after them. That isn't selective enforcement by the league though. The league never took the Blount thing seriously. In fact, most of the rational media didn't either.

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"The Blount thing" wasn't actually a thing, whereas Johnson's comments were blatant tampering. They were almost word-for-word like the sample prohibited comment in the rule itself. There is no comparison between the two.

I agree with your general sentiment that had neither the tampering nor DFG were worth getting riled up about, but since they did for one and not for another, that is by definition selective enforcement.

KDPPatsfan85 said:

Knowing BB, trade down.

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While Belichick certainly has a reputation for trading down, bear in mind he's only twice had picks in the top ten of the draft, and both times used them in the top ten: 6th overall on Seymour, then he technically traded down a whopping three spots from 7 to 10 to take Jerod Mayo. If we had 6 overall this time, I'm confident it (or something close to it) would be used on a real good player.

BradyManny said:

They said "underinflated" footballs were played with in the AFCCG, which was enough to launch the media ****-storm. Had they said what actually transpired, that "depressurized" footballs were used, as they have presumably been used in thousands of NFL games played below room temperature, then maybe the Patriots wouldn't have had to spend time deflecting this thing when they should've been preparing for a Super Bowl.

I agree Johnson's comments don't warrant his head on a plate or anything. He was just being an idiot, but his idiocy is not helping what leverage the Pats would've had right now, and he really ought not to do that. I hope some acknowledgement of that is coming, as you say.

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The bleep storm was already there because Grigson leaked the story to the media. Nothing the league said caused the pre-Super Bowl crap storm.

Oswlek said:

"The Blount thing" wasn't actually a thing, whereas Johnson's comments were blatant tampering. They were almost word-for-word like the sample prohibited comment in the rule itself. There is no comparison between the two.

I agree with your general sentiment that had neither the tampering nor DFG were worth getting riled up about, but since they did for one and not for another, that is by definition selective enforcement.

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Again, my point that people are upset at the league when they should be upset with the media. The league to our knowledge never took the Blount allegation seriously. It was the media who were making it into a thing. And it was just a handful of media people while most of the media saw how illogical it was for this to be a real controversy.

So far, the league has not ruled either way about the Jets. Again, if it isn't a big deal right now, that is a media thing not the league. Until the league rules on the tampering charge, people are just speculating that they are going to give Johnson and the Jets a free pass. I am guessing they will get a similar punishment as the Lions.

Rob0729 said:

The bleep storm was already there because Grigson leaked the story to the media. Nothing the league said caused the pre-Super Bowl crap storm.

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I don't want to rehash deflate-gate, but let's just say they didn't help the cause, to say the least. Whether it was ignorance/stupidity or by design, I am not sure.

Ivan said:

The reason people are "killing the league " is because this is one situation where an investigation is not required. The transgression was so textbook it is actually the example used in the rulebook, and it was done in full view of everyone. It is common knowledge that Revis is both under contract and entering contact negotiations with the Patriots and his former owner who is also a division rival went out and said he wants him on his team, that's as cut and dried as it gets, especially since he did it at a press conference that was on ESPN and the NFLN. I don't think the penalty should be anywhere near the Cameragate sanctions because those were ridiculous in and of themselves. The sanction however should be severe because it was cut and dried textbook tampering, he had already been warned about tampering earlier in the year, the transgression was in division, and the player is of the highest caliber. All of those reasons say the sanction should be significant and IMO should be a first round pick. It's the Jets fault and problem that pick is so high ás only they are responsible for sucking. And it shouldn't have taken the league more than ten minutes to conclude their findings and hand down the penalty.

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Again, the league is just waiting to dump all their ruling at once.

Do you think the investigation to Deflategate is still going on and active. They may be waiting to interview a few people, but people aren't working on it every day. The league wants to just wait for the right time to dump these punishments when the media are either distracted or cannot turn it into a big media crap storm by dumping it late on Friday afternoon in a dead period when the media called it quits early.

BradyManny said:

I don't want to rehash deflate-gate, but let's just say they didn't help the cause, to say the least. Whether it was ignorance/stupidity or by design, I am not sure.

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The league screws up every controversy they are involved in. Why would Deflategate be any different. The difference between Deflategate and the Jets' tampering is the media cared about one and not the other. If the media barraged the NFL about Johnson's comments, they would have screwed that up too.

The league took almost a week to even acknowledge the Deflategate situation in any way and then they just went on to make a bad situation even worse every time they turned around. Just like they did in the Ray Rice case. And the Adrian Peterson case. And Spygate. And Bountygate. And everything else they touch.

Rob0729 said:

The league wants to just wait for the right time to dump these punishment when the media are either distracted or cannot turn it into a big media crap storm by dumping it late on Friday afternoon is a dead period when the media called it quits early.

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This I agree with 100%.