Big Ben Wants Brady to Play

http://espn.go.com/boston/nfl/story...rgh-steelers-matchup-better-tom-brady-playing

At least there are a few quarterbacks who won't shy away from it

Ben is a weird dude. He enjoys raping women, but at the same time enjoys getting raped by Tom Brady (as that is pretty much the same outcome every time NE plays Pittsburgh.)

Just kidding. Nice to see he still has respect for Brady.

The only reason Big Ben supports Brady is because he says championships defines a QB because nobody looks at him at the same caliber as the top QB's even though he's had two pretty damn good seasons the past two years.

Aside his early day off the field stuff, I've always had a ton of respect for Ben's game. It's laughable that some people don't think he's a hall of fame QB, or that he is in Eli Manning's class. In a big game, I'd take Ben over Peyton. (I'd also take Shooter McGavin though.)

Ice_Ice_Brady said:

Aside his early day off the field stuff, I've always had a ton of respect for Ben's game. It's laughable that some people don't think he's a hall of fame QB, or that he is in Eli Manning's class. In a big game, I'd take Ben over Peyton. (I'd also take Shooter McGavin though.)

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I respect the hell out of Ben's game. On the basis of what he does there, he's already a HOFer IMO, and with a couple more seasons like last season could work his way up to first ballot. It's everything he (allegedly) does off the field that's the problem.

Even as a Pitt fan I don't like the fact that Brady will (may?) be out. As a general principle you always want to play teams at their best...plus it's a no-win situation. If Pitt wins, really they've only beaten a young QB in his first start; if they lose, well they just lost to that same QB.

FWIW I think Jimmy G will play well and it wouldn't surprise me at all if NE would win even sans Brady. I'm sure the place will be rocking (what's the record on Thursday night openers for SB winners, like 10-0 right?)

Incidentally this is why I have a tough time thinking there's any full blown anti-Pats conspiracy in the league office...I just tend to think it is more easily explained by long-established incompetence on the part of Goodell with regards to league discipline, over many years dealing with many different cases. I just have a tough time thinking the league would actively chase after what's essentially a double black eye: for one, it's marquee kickoff game in its 50th SB anniversary season will miss its marquee player; for another, the entire leadup the game will be all about the relative suspensions of Brady (and bell for that matter) vs Ray Rice's initial (lighter) suspension from the year before, which will only serve to keep the league's ineptitude in the spotlight. If you believe (as I do) that Goodell's arrogance is a fundamental part of the problem, it seems like a leap to think he'd willingly chase an outcome that ultimately drags his name back through the Ray Rice "mud".

just my $.02 though

Big Ben is the one and only Steeler I will ever like...Blue Collar guy that sees through all the BS...

lillloyd said:

Incidentally this is why I have a tough time thinking there's any full blown anti-Pats conspiracy in the league office...I just tend to think it is more easily explained by long-established incompetence on the part of Goodell with regards to league discipline, over many years dealing with many different cases. I just have a tough time thinking the league would actively chase after what's essentially a double black eye: for one, it's marquee kickoff game in its 50th SB anniversary season will miss its marquee player; for another, the entire leadup the game will be all about the relative suspensions of Brady (and bell for that matter) vs Ray Rice's initial (lighter) suspension from the year before, which will only serve to keep the league's ineptitude in the spotlight. If you believe (as I do) that Goodell's arrogance is a fundamental part of the problem, it seems like a leap to think he'd willingly chase an outcome that ultimately drags his name back through the Ray Rice "mud".

just my $.02 though

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This is all due to Goodell's incompetence, but just imagine if the league office was filled with guys who worked for the Ravens and the league office was in Baltimore, and then handed out unprecedented punishments. Some doubts will start to creep in your mind that the league is unfairly treating your team.

The_Riddler said:

Big Ben is the one and only Steeler I will ever like...Blue Collar guy that sees through all the BS...

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What? You didn't like "Slash"?

If you wanna be the best you gotta beat the best, Ben understands that. The rest of the league want an easy way out, the only way they can beat Tom is by suspending him.

juny said:

This is all due to Goodell's incompetence, but just imagine if the league office was filled with guys who worked for the Ravens and the league office was in Baltimore, and then handed out unprecedented punishments. Some doubts will start to creep in your mind that the league is unfairly treating your team.

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Yeah I hear you. I just have never been a big conspiracy buff...I tend to look at things more from an 'Occum's Razor' perspective. The punishment can still be unfair and arbitrary, without it being some sort of larger, active campaign against a particular team.

For example, I always felt the Saints received punishments that were pretty draconian, in some respects as unfair as any penalty every levied by the Goodell administration. (Note I'm not saying the Saints should not have been punished - they should have -- but they had a player get 8 games for "obstruction" and banished a head coach for a year for an infraction that the league said he knew nothing about.) So I'm sure many Saints fans feel there's some sort of anti-Saints bias in the league office. I know there are Steelers fans who feel the roughness fines and suspensions were unnecessarily severe and think there is an anti-Steelers bias. But they can't all be right...to me it's more likely they've got a non-transparent discipline policy that they've been making up as they go along.

Maybe this is too soon, but is there any part of Pats nation that is kind of excited to see Jimmy G get real starts? He seems like the type of guy who would have success under BB (good football IQ etc.)

Too soon for me.

The_Riddler said:

Big Ben is the one and only Steeler I will ever like...Blue Collar guy that sees through all the BS...

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There are plenty of likable Steelers, IMO starting with Antonio Brown. If he played for the Pats we would love the guy. Same with Heath Miller, Brett Keisel, Cam Heyward, etc.

lillloyd said:

Maybe this is too soon, but is there any part of Pats nation that is kind of excited to see Jimmy G get real starts? He seems like the type of guy who would have success under BB (good football IQ etc.)

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Honestly, no. I mean, I definitely can't speak for everyone, but at least for myself. Under different circumstances, I would definitely be intrigued, but these circumstances are such ******** that I can't muster up any enthusiasm for it. That said, I think Brady will be on the field week 1 anyway, for the same reason Jonathan Vilma was post-Bountygate.

lillloyd said:

Incidentally this is why I have a tough time thinking there's any full blown anti-Pats conspiracy in the league office...I just tend to think it is more easily explained by long-established incompetence on the part of Goodell with regards to league discipline, over many years dealing with many different cases. I just have a tough time thinking the league would actively chase after what's essentially a double black eye:

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I don't follow the logic here. The league can't be anti-Patriots because being anti-Patriots would mean not punishing the Patriots for the good of the NFL?

I don't get it. By this logic the league has anti-Patriot bias, even to the extent of hurting league interests.

Regardless, no conspiracy is necessary. We recognize every fan base that follows the NFL has its own bias but somehow league people who invest their whole lives in the NFL don't have a rooting interest. They are cut from a different cloth than all other Americans?

I would consider the idea the league employees have no bias to be the most far fetched concept in this charade. The fact that they haven't taken steps to ensure such bias isn't balanced is the incompetence we see.

sphen22 said:

http://espn.go.com/boston/nfl/story...rgh-steelers-matchup-better-tom-brady-playing

At least there are a few quarterbacks who won't shy away from it

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Yeah, sure he does...

Bobsyouruncle said:

I don't follow the logic here. The league can't be anti-Patriots because being anti-Patriots would mean not punishing the Patriots for the good of the NFL?

I don't get it. By this logic the league has anti-Patriot bias, even to the extent of hurting league interests.

Regardless, no conspiracy is necessary. We recognize every fan base that follows the NFL has its own bias but sonehow league people who invest their whole lives in the NFL don't have a rooting interest. They are cut from a different cloth than all other Americans. I would consider the idea the league employees have no bias to be the most far fetched concept in this charade. The fact that they've taken no steps to ensure such bias isn't balanced is the incompetence we see.

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The one thing that stands out is the initial investigation. They took the 12 footballs in question off of the field at half time and measured them. They recorded the measurements. They find them to be underinflated. They then think the Pats were guilty. Why did they not keep the only "smoking gun" evidence they would ever need? Why they didn't keep the footballs that measured below standards? Why didn't they keep the evidence and put the back up footballs in the game? Instead, they re-inflate the footballs in question, the evidence, and put them back into the game. That is either because of extreme ignorance or it was someone was setting the up Patriots.

The_Riddler said:

Big Ben is the one and only Steeler I will ever like...Blue Collar guy that sees through all the BS...

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Yeah, he saw through all the BS in Milledgeville. He's a scumbag.

lillloyd said:

Maybe this is too soon, but is there any part of Pats nation that is kind of excited to see Jimmy G get real starts? He seems like the type of guy who would have success under BB (good football IQ etc.)

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