Here is the question: Why did the Pats suspend lockerroom guys?

Brewskies said:

Right after the Wells report came out and before the penalties came out the Pats suspended McNally and Jastremski, Why? Kraft says no one did anything wrong! League says they can be reinstated but they must have nothing to do with the footballs! What's going on here between Kraft and the NFL League?

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Although some have overlooked it, while the Patriots may have proactively suspended them according to Troy Vincent this was a mandatory move by the Patriots. They likely complied and expected that would appease the NFL that had a Wells Report that stated "They Definitely Maybe Did Something"

Everyone is talking (including poorly informed "reporters") like this was a voluntary move and is a de facto admission of guilt

Troy Vincent's own statement makes clear it was not

The league announced that neither can be reinstated without league executive vice president Troy Vincent’s approval, and spells out that: “If they are reinstated by the Patriots, Jastremski is prohibited from having any role in the preparation, supervision, or handling of footballs to be used in NFL games during the 2015 season. McNally is barred from serving as a locker room attendant for the game officials, or having any involvement with the preparation, supervision, or handling of footballs or any other equipment on game day.”

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...s-equipment-assistant-suspended-indefinitely/

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Of course that doesn't stop idiot reporters from ignorning the links in their own articles that confirm this, and instead pointing to that as a "smoking gun"

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/05/patriots-suspended-deflator-robert-kraft-why-deflategate

My guess is that, having no choice, the Patriots suspended them and expected that would appease the league since their report basically gave a definitive "Maybe" on whether they engaged in deflation

Of course Vincent went further and suspended Brady and took away draft picks - so time to go nuclear on his ***

mcnally took the footballs to the field without permission and at no directive of someone n the pats organization.

ok, one guy doesn't even start work 'til august

TommyBrady12 said:

mcnally took the footballs to the field without permission and at no directive of someone n the pats organization.

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Sure - they probably have a half dozen reasons they can cite for suspending them - but it's clear the NFL wanted them gone, so you proactively implement a mandatory sentence and expect the League will appreciate the prompt compliance

It's not an admission of anything

Does anyone still not understand why you might suspend these guys, regardless of guilt/innocence?

TommyBrady12 said:

mcnally took the footballs to the field without permission and at no directive of someone n the pats organization.

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I've been thinking about this. Can't say I read the whole report but, were these guys ever asked about this directly? Were they ever asked: "Did anyone in the organization ask you to alter the footballs after they had been approved by the officials, and if so, who, and .. .did you do so?"

TommyBrady12 said:

mcnally took the footballs to the field without permission and at no directive of someone n the pats organization.

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And there is nothing wrong with that.
He had permission to take them into the sitting room, and when the NFCCG ended, someone said "Ok we'
re on" and McNally got up, and took the balls out to field walking through a large crowd of game and league officials.

Deus Irae said:

Does anyone still not understand why you might suspend these guys, regardless of guilt/innocence?

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I could understand suspending them to complete an investigation, but the Patriots have completed their investigation and found no wrongdoing. Unless you are talking about the F Tom comments, or the sneaker stealing, I'm not clear what you mean.

AndyJohnson said:

And there is nothing wrong with that.
He had permission to take them into the sitting room, and when the NFCCG ended, someone said "Ok we'
re on" and McNally got up, and took the balls out to field walking through a large crowd of game and league officials.

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Plus I am sure they can go back thru years of tapes to prove that it probably wasn't the first time he went unescorted to the field.
Nobody gave a crap about these things until the Colts whined about it. Now they are gonna have armed security and league officials dedicated to ball pressure before each ball reaches the field!

Patstopia said:

Plus I am sure they can go back thru years of tapes to prove that it probably wasn't the first time he went unescorted to the field.
Nobody gave a crap about these things until the Colts whined about it. Now they are gonna have armed security and league officials dedicated to ball pressure before each ball reaches the field!

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Tape doesn't exist, it overwrites itself every 10 days.
but you are correct otherwise

ChoWZa said:

I don't know what they pay these clowns but you're only going to get so much professionalism from two people at a given wage.

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I think you under-estimate how clever these two are. I mean MI/Bourne clever. McNally is able to haul his behemoth self and two big bags of balls across a crowded room and is unseen. He is able to walk past an NFL security agent like a ghost. He then is able to secretly deflate 12 balls just enough to be within the boundaries of the laws of physics and also take a leak in 90 seconds. They speak in a code that even after many man hours of trying to crack still leaves everyone confused on what was said. They have the skills to sneak into other teams stadiums and disguised as the regular ball attendants, deflate the balls in front of 70,000 fans and hundreds of cameras unseen.

RunAmok said:

I think you under-estimate how clever these two are. I mean MI/Bourne clever. McNally is able to haul his behemoth self and two big bags of balls across a crowded room and is unseen. He is able to walk past an NFL security agent like a ghost. He then is able to secretly deflate 12 balls just enough to be within the boundaries of the laws of physics and also take a leak in 90 seconds. They speak in a code that even after many man hours of trying to crack still leaves everyone confused on what was said. They have the skills to sneak into other teams stadiums and disguised as the regular ball attendants, deflate the balls in front of 70,000 fans and hundreds of cameras unseen.

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Next season McNally will deflate balls telepathically from his living room.
The Patriots have asked him to please not text anyone about telepathy, or we will lose 2 more picks, and Brady will be banned for life.

Deus Irae said:

Does anyone still not understand why you might suspend these guys, regardless of guilt/innocence?

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Here? Probably not - everywhere else? No - it's the smoking gun "proof" the Patriots admit they were involved in deflating footballs

Troy Vincent's quote makes it clear that this was something the NFL wanted and the Patriots took immediate action to comply the day the report came out

Frankly it's an easy appeasement - the NFL had questions - not proof - about these guys.

So, to make the NFL and everyone else feel better, to err on the side of caution and appease Goodell/Vincent/Kensil - the Patriots "suspended" them

Knowing this is being cited as proof of guilt, who knows, maybe Kraft would want to re-instate them now but Troy Vincent has SPOKEN!

But his statement IS proof the NFL wanted this done and the timeline makes sense of the Patriots hoping that would be the extent of the "punishment" for the "Definitely Maybe" finding

Deus Irae said:

Does anyone still not understand why you might suspend these guys, regardless of guilt/innocence?

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I can't remember working anywhere where people found to have stolen anything, including a soda, have been fired. Those text messages read like two guys involved in stealing stuff which belonged to either the Patriots or other Patriots' employees. That is more than enough reason to terminate, never mind, suspend.

h0c2000 said:

I can't remember working anywhere where people found to have stolen anything, including a soda, have been fired. Those text messages read like two guys involved in stealing stuff which belonged to either the Patriots or other Patriots' employees. That is more than enough reason to terminate, never mind, suspend.

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This is the most important thing to take from this. The investigation did show that these two were taking things that didn't belong to them. I'm sure that is not uncommon for low level employees at sporting events or movie sets, but they got caught in the media spotlight.

i think you are all asking the wrong question. Suppose for a second that McNally and Jastremski were part of a larger "conspiracy" to doctor the footballs, with Brady at the lead. The two co-conspirators could, theoretically, blow the lid off the enterprise at any second. Wouldn't the Pats/Brady then be obligated to protect them and keep them close within the organization in that circumstance? After all, if you make them "disgruntled" wouldn't they be more likely to "come clean"? That is what "hush money" or keeping them on the payroll, would be trying to accomplish. The decision to suspend them is an indication of Brady's innocence rather than guilt. Certainly it could be argued that way.