After having to deal with hourly “deflategate” stories for weeks at a time, it’s about time PFT took some time to discuss some REAL cheating.
This isn’t a case of “whining” like Mehta characterizes. If tampering IS truly a rule that the league intends to enforce, then this is a textbook example. Here’s why.
1. Johnson’s supposed “lip slip” wasn’t just a casual misstatement, it was a critical first shot. It also was almost word for word for what you are NOT supposed to do, as cited by the Tampering rule
2. This wasn’t Johnson’s first supposed “lip slip”. He had already been given a written warning within in the last year, to cease making tampering statements about other people’s players under contract.
3. At a time where the Pats were supposed to have EXCLUSIVE negotiating rights, “somehow” the Jets managed to have worked out a complex 5 year deal, front loaded in such a way, it made it impossible for the Pats to match. It was like the Jets knew exactly what the Pats offer was and how they wanted to structure the deal
You can’t tell me that the Jets managed to put this together in just a few hours after the real FA period began. No its a classic case of tampering, and if the league doesn’t come down hard on a REPEAT OFFENDER, then they should just do away with the rule entirely.
The hypocrisy of pillaring the Pats over a pound of air pressure for weeks on end, yet ignoring actual rule breaking over and over again, is sad. it would be just ANOTHER example of Roger Goodell’s ineptness, and the uneven enforcement of the rules.
If this was a first time offense, the punishment should be the Jets losing a low round pick, or swapping positions with the Pats on a mid round pick, like its been done in the past HOWEVER the Jets are multiple offenders, and the minimum punishment should be swapping 2nd round picks.
You can’t allow your good buddy Mehta to minimize this. They want’s to hang the Pats for supposedly breaking an obscure rule that could easily been explained by HS physics…..and they did it for weeks at a time and are spending millions of dollars to “investigate” what amounts to a Colt’s instigated bag job.
The Jets cheated, plain and simple, and after years of unfairly labeling the Pats with that moniker, the organization and their fans can’t deal with that FACT
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