Did Bob Kraft throw Brady under the bus? I don't think so.

Clonamery said:

I don't know. If Kraft is so Machiavellian-like then how did his franchise get blind-sided once again by this commissioner/league office? Is he too busy dating?

C'mon. It's about the money. Brady can take of himself based on the evidence. Goodell whispered sweet dollar signs in his ear at the birthday party and he swooned and hugged his guiding light.

Brady can take care of himself based on the evidence.

He didn't get out of the way, he ran for the golden ring of the 32.

It's his product and if he hadn't sold us a pile of doing, I would not care.

Oh, and it's all about the fans. Ha ha.

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I have hated goodell and even I was surprised at the level of deviousness and ridiculous investigation/fines. Kraft left his wife's death bed because the dumbfark screwed the nflpa negotiations, so maybe he was shocked the ******* would do this.

He seemed shocked and pissed, but when you say Machiavelli, well Kraft did turn a worcester box company into 4 billion. so maybe he does play the long game.

I could be wrong, but, besides temporarily satisfying fans anger in a futile (Jonathan Kraft's words) gesture he has a long game which etails getting out of the way of the appeal and court case which is likely to succeed and working in the post NFLPA war scenario to rebuild the league, without goodell, I'm guessing.

Remember, outside of individual appeals that are fixed, goodell has a horrible record of making anything stick.

woolster22 said:

No. Not even close. All he had to do was quietly appeal to Goodell, and not make any statement after. Then he let's Brady and his lawyers rip the Wells report, and the front office apart in court. After they have been thoroughly admonished, strike through the press, hard.

Instead, booster seat let his appeal period pass, while making yet another statement supporting Roger responsibility Dodger. He also kisses the ass of the "old, old money" owners, speaking euphorically of the day he walked in one of them, 21 years ago. He then asks us to trust his judgement as "a fan."

Then, to make things even better, he shoots his mouth off while he watches Larry King wreck his call girl.

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"Quietly appeal?" So he not only wastes time, he doesn't even get credit for the pointless gesture to the angry fans.

Patstopia said:

So you are saying that Goodell, while sitting on a coach with Kraft. Informed him that no matter what evidence was brought to an appeals hearing. That as the person hearing the appeal, he had already decided that the punishment would be upheld?

And Kraft, who sat there and listened to an employee of league tell him he would circumvent league rules that apply to the appeals structure without a thought to whether there was a misjudgement?

And then Kraft decided, "Oh well, guess I'll just give up"? That is your opinion of what Kraft did? And you state it like it is a valid opinion? Or for that matter, a valid response if it were the actually truth?

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What is the appeals structure for owners?

patsfaninpa said:

Just maybe. The person whom he talked to that was going to hear his appeal, told him he was going to uphold the punishment. He'd have to sue the league and throw out the powers him and the other 31 owners voted to give said person.

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That's very plausible, but it doesn't contradict the points made in this thread and similar ones.

One of the commentators on TNT just said that they "confused" Lebron for Brady because there was a short clip of Lebron squeezing the basketball in his warmup.

It's this kind of casualness about it that really sucks.

VectorPrime said:

One of the commentators on TNT just said tha the "confused" Lebron for Brady because there was a short clip of Lebron squeezing the basketball in his warmup.

It's this kind of casualness about it that really sucks.

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But, but, but Kraft's surrender ENDED it.
I'm so confused.

RayClay said:

"Quietly appeal?" So he not only wastes time, he doesn't even get credit for the pointless gesture to the angry fans.

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Quietly doing it (you know, not leaking to media, not like nfl hq would play along), or at least appealing without a strong public statement should have had little to no impact with owners whose last name isn't Johnson...

VectorPrime said:

One of the commentators on TNT just said that they "confused" Lebron for Brady because there was a short clip of Lebron squeezing the basketball in his warmup.

It's this kind of casualness about it that really sucks.

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About a week ago one of the play by play guys lit up the nfl and the front office for such an "obvious smear campaign" on "one of, if not their best player ever." just because Barkley, or one of the other illiterate tards was spewing diarrhea of the mouth does not mean anything.

He absolutely did!!!

RayClay said:

What is the appeals structure for owners?

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I'd like to know this as well. It's not even clear to me that there IS an appeals structure for owners in a situation like this.

Of course he threw him under the bus. He said it himself the agenda of the Patriots is not more important to him than the wishes of the 32.
I'm not sure why people want to think Kraft said something different than he did, just because it is the opposite of what fans would want. He is who he is, why bend the truth so you can like the guy you create that he isn't?
The real hard time is yet to come. When Brady sues the league he is suing the 32. Hopefully Krafts effort to derail Brady's attempt to get a fair ruling will be behind the scenes so people don't have to make up reasons why they think it was the right thing to do.

AndyJohnson said:

Of course he threw him under the bus. He said it himself the agenda of the Patriots is not more important to him than the wishes of the 32.
I'm not sure why people want to think Kraft said something different than he did, just because it is the opposite of what fans would want. He is who he is, why bend the truth so you can like the guy you create that he isn't?
The real hard time is yet to come. When Brady sues the league he is suing the 32. Hopefully Krafts effort to derail Brady's attempt to get a fair ruling will be behind the scenes so people don't have to make up reasons why they think it was the right thing to do.

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That's what pissed me off so much he didn't even hide it he just flat out said nothing is more important than my 30 partners.

I don't even understand why he would say what he said. It's akin to sending a picture of the blonde you've been sleeping with along with your divorce papers. There is no reason to offer that information.

Had he just said I have no choice but to end this nothing positive can be gained it would have sucked and I might still see him as weak but it would at least not have felt like he slapped me right in the face.

signbabybrady said:

That's what pissed me off so much he didn't even hide it he just flat out said nothing is more important than my 30 partners.

I don't even understand why he would say what he said. It's akin to sending a picture of the blonde you've been sleeping with along with your divorce papers. There is no reason to offer that information.

Had he just said I have no choice but to end this nothing positive can be gained it would have sucked and I might still see him as weak but it would at least not have felt like he slapped me right in the face.

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I think he really thought that we were that stupid.

AndyJohnson said:

I think he really thought that we were that stupid.

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And that is why he is probably so stunned at the overwhelming justifiable vitriol on this board....and the other Patriots one as well..assuming somebody in the PR dept decides to share it with him in the ivory tower.....

In the same way that Kraft has thrown his support blindly to the league (because has has become convinced that supporting the league will maximize total profits in this revenue sharing organization), I think that Kraft applies that same standard to his fan base: that we have committed emotionally to his team and that will support him unconditionally (a view that is not 100% misplaced). The owners put Goodell in charge not because of his insight, but because they believed he would serve their interests in growing the power and wealth of the NFL (see Goodell's salary). Over his tenure, Goodell has made many dubious decisions but the money faucet continues to flow. With eyes myopically on the bottom line, the owners have become increasingly insulated from the realities of public perception. Reiss offers today--and who doubts it?--that the owners have not even read the Wells report:

it's my sense that many of them didn't even read the Wells report itself.

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http://espn.go.com/boston/nfl/story...riots-mailbag-fans-feel-betrayed-robert-kraft
What does this say about the owners? They are no more interested in the facts behind NFL decisions than their commissioner. That is because they are not interested in the ethics of their decisions; they have become true believers.

Mack Herron said:

What does this say about the owners? They are no more interested in the facts behind NFL decisions than their commissioner.

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Neither is the rules committee.

If they had any clue, or were awake at all, they would have adjusted the rule to state that the 12.5-13.5 psi requirement pertains to measuring pressure at room temperature.

They didn't.

Because they never tried to understand for even one second that pressure drops with temperature. The concept is still mysterious voodoo magic to them. They have been told that the Patriots cheated, and that under 12.5 means cheating is happening. PERIOD.

Kraft screwed himself by standing behind the fuhrer when he was meting out punishments willy nilly to other teams, he stood behind Goodell when the bountygate scandal came down, he stood behind him when the Ray Rice deal came down, its not surprising no other team is going to back Kraft here and I don't blame them, Kraft help create this monster, we can only hope Brady cuts him down to size.

The NFL went off the tracks before the ridiculous handling of the ball pressure allegation. Consider Tagliabue's responses in January:

The former commish takes Goodell to task for his myopic focus on the league's financial well being, especially in a year when its image has been tarnished by myriad off-field issues and its tone-deaf response to them. And when taken within the larger context of the NFL's ongoing – and , some would say, hypocritical – dealings with player safety, traumatic brain injuries and the health of former pros, Tagliabue can understand why Goodell's attention to the bottom line (above all else) is problematic, both within the league offices and the world at-large.

"If they see you making decisions only in economic terms, they start to understand that and question what you're all about," he said. "There's a huge intangible value in peace. There's a huge intangible value in allies."

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http://www.rollingstone.com/culture...rmer-nfl-commissioner-paul-tagliabue-20150126

Patriots fans are simply the latest group to be affected and to take notice. But there is no sign that the owners have taken notice, and no sign that Kraft recognizes the underlying reasons for the latest debacle or his role in creating them. He just doesn't seem to be much of an independent thinker or leader.

All Kraft had to do was throw up a stink fest. He did not have to make that announcement at the owners meeting. If he has all the credibility that everyone says he has then he should have used that by explaining that he felt this whole circus has been blown way out of proportion and that the punishment handed down was ridiculous. He could have left the meetings stating that he is still considering all his options. Hell, he never had to make an announcement at all. He could have paid the fine late. Anyways there were so many ways to comply with the punishment without looking like you folded.

On a side note, I think your post adds to a healthy discussion about these issues.

I think there is a better chance of you finding bigfoot than Kraft being able to influence anything in the League regarding the Patriots. His partners are friendly to his face but laugh at him behind his back. All you had to see that pathetic old man in his news conference practically begging not to be put at the kids table at the next meeting. Time for him to hang it up and maybe he will have more time for important things like the career of his protegee.

None of us know squat about the dynamics that caused the weird as hell Kraft statement. It's weird because of the pre-statement buildup. I don't understand the risk-benefit analysis that would have resulted from this, if this was planned.

This leads me to believe that he walked in to talk to Goodell in one frame of mind and walked out in another.

The frame of mind under which Kraft walked in was the frame of mind of the previous statements and the rebuttal.

The frame of mind under which Kraft walked out was what we saw at that presser.

He got beat bad in that room, one way or another - or else he got rewarded for his actions. I can think of all sorts of ways, including threats of things that would be very damaging to the Pats -- and those that would not be damaging to the Pats, but would be damaging to Kraft -- and the offer of something very rewarding to Kraft (per Clona's suggestion).

I can't "trust him" because he acted one way on one day, and another way the next, and did not offer a specific explanation. The turnaround is fishy.

On the other hand, I don't much give a crap about what other fans think. I'm not so much hating on Kraft like most here, more just disillusioned until/unless there's some specific reason to think this IS "best for the fans." I ain't holding my breath.

When I say specific, I mean beyond the fact that dragging this out would, well, drag it out. That in itself would be damaging, but that would not be new information he learned in his meeting w/Goodell.

He explains it with "I was mad but then I looked at it with a cooler head." I dunno, that's hard to buy from a billionaire businessman.