Wetzel: Patriots were naive to walk into Goodell's trap

shmessy said:

I agree. But Brady's first presser was a slow motion car crash. Stacey james should have prepped him. He looked like a deer in the headlights. Destroying the phone, while meaningless was simply a stupid thing to do in this context also.

The good guys have to start playing the game at the low level the NFL is. They need to open their freaking eyes.

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This was brutal but put yourself in his shoes and the only info they had was the lies in the Gardi letter which if were true, would have meant someone did something. This letter directly from the NFL and its false information was to me an intentional effort to squeeze the Patriots at a time when they should have been focused on SB prep. The only other explanation I can come up with for their 10.1 PSI lie was this is the PSI which would have been expected at the colder Ravens game proving this was all a set up.

shmessy said:

So is Brady.

Love the guy, but everyone simply pointing at Kraft are merely letting the good looking, but naive QB off the hook.

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remember a few ago when gisele said he was naive almost like a boy?

Froob said:

Does Belichick even sleep?

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Honestly, given the situation, those two weeks were probably his finest hours.

I don't think it really sunk in exactly how incredible it was that he juggled all that at the level he did.

YOUGOTMOSSED said:

I understand that he had other things on his mind, but the correct answer to any snarky "are you a cheat?" questions is an indignant "absolutely not" or "no and f*ck you" or something to that effect. A modicum of prep should have been enough for that.

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People have harped on that as if it was the only thing he said, and it WAS a rough moment, but these are also DIRECT QUOTES from TB at the press conference. A whole host of direct denials of wrongdoing, and yes, one wishy-washy answer.

-I didn’t alter the ball in any way.
-I would never do anything to break the rules.
-Once I approve the ball, like I said, that’s the ball that I expect out there on the field.
-I have no knowledge of any wrongdoing.
-I’m very comfortable saying that nobody did it, as far as I know.
- I would never do anything outside of the rules of play. I would never have someone do something that I thought was outside the rules.
- I go in there and I choose however many balls are necessary for the games. Sometimes it’s 12, 16, 18, 24. This last particular game was 24. I felt them. They were perfect. I wouldn’t want anyone touching those. I would zip those things up and lock them away until I got out on the field and an opportunity to play with them. That’s what I thought I was doing.
-The integrity of the game, I think that’s a very important issue to always be mindful of as an athlete, and fair play.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/f...press-confrence-deflategate-article-1.2088914

True, that the NFL has won the PR war and I honestly don't think the NFL has much left in the tank from a "reveal" point of view (without more outright lies).

Brady and his team might be late to the game, but they are in this for the long haul and the NFL has more points of failure. Only one of them has to crack for this to split wide open. And, I don't think we've even seen Brady/Kessler/Yee's end game yet.

While frustrating, I'm willing to see how this thing plays out. It may be Brady's team is making it up as they go along. it could be that they are letting out line to tire the fish out for an easy catch too. and, you have to remember, with the CBA, they've been playing against a stacked deck too. so they have to play smarter, not nastier.

Dr Pain said:

This was brutal but put yourself in his shoes and the only info they had was the lies in the Gardi letter which if were true, would have meant someone did something. This letter directly from the NFL and its false information was to me an intentional effort to squeeze the Patriots at a time when they should have been focused on SB prep. The only other explanation I can come up with for their 10.1 PSI lie was this is the PSI which would have been expected at the colder Ravens game proving this was all a set up.

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Once again, it didn't faze Belichick from putting on a genius performance for 55 minutes on a subject he just recently learned.

Brady is a nice kid and the greatest QB of all time. I want him as my QB in the 4th quarter of a tight SB. I don't want him in front of the cameras debating my side of any point. In less pressured interviews/pressers he'll give that "aw shucks' smile and the low slow laugh. In a tight situation, like that first Thursday of Framegate he goes deer in the headlights catatonic.

Let's just leave it that some people think that means he is a brilliant person who should run for national office. I'm sorry, but maybe he is what he is. And that's pretty damn good too!

This pains me, but here is the presser. If you have any children, you may want to move them away from the screen:

NashuaPats said:

This is similar to the Game of Thrones. The Patriots are acting like the Starks expecting integrity and character to persevere while Goodell and his minions are acting like the Lannisters and winning through deceit and corruption.

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Holy hell. This is the BEST analogy.

shmessy said:

Once again, it didn't faze Belichick from putting on a genius performance for 55 minutes on a subject he just recently learned.

Brady is a nice kid and the greatest QB of all time. I want him as my QB in the 4th quarter of a tight SB. I don't want him in front of the cameras debating my side of any point. In less pressured interviews/pressers he'll give that "aw shucks' smile and the low slow laugh. In a tight situation, like that first Thursday of Framegate he goes deer in the headlights catatonic.

Let's just leave it that some people think that means he is a brilliant person who should run for national office. I'm sorry, but maybe he is what he is. And that's pretty damn good too!

This pains me, but here is the presser. If you have any children, you may want to move them away from the screen:

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Did not the genius BB press conference come later? The BB press conference before this was a disaster and was viewed by most as throwing Tom under the bus. Again this was all based on the lie which was the Gardi letter from the NFL.

Dr Pain said:

Did not the genius BB press conference come later? The BB press conference before this was a disaster and was viewed by most as throwing Tom under the bus. Again this was all based on the lie which was the Gardi letter from the NFL.

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His first conference was great also (save for the part that SOME interpreted as throwing Brady under the bus).

His was in the morning and everything looked good, until Brady's Brady's appearance in the afternoon that day.

It's hard to answer absolute lies, like..

How did footballs get over 2 psi under specs? (they were not)
How is it that you couldn't tell they were flat, when D'Quell Jackson could? (D'Q J couldn't)
Is this a moment to just say ‘I’m sorry,’ to the fans? (sorry for WHAT?)
You said you didn’t want the balls to be touched after you approved them. You didn’t notice that 15 percent of the air was out of the ball when you started using it? (blatantly false)

BB's first presser was pretty good, as I recall. In that most of the tweeting mediots decided he was very credible and they believed him.

I agree, they have been unbelievably naive since day one. Why in the Hell would they have to sign an NDA about erroneously reported PSI. When they realized the league was operating in bad faith they should have called them on it immediately. They should have leaked the phony letter and the real numbers to the media immediately. Next, It seems that they along with everyone of us bought that Wells would be independent. After this, Goodell made himself the arbitrator? What an effing joke! It's like some bad western where the sherif is also judge and executioner. It felt to me like they kept believing that Goodell wasn't as deeply involved in this as anyone else, when he could and should have put the brakes on all of this the following day. I have never trusted this man and found it hard to believe that anyone would after spy gate. The actions he has taken completely mirror much of the crap that went down then, even to the timing of his pressers.

TriplecHamp said:

I don't think they really walked into anything. Brady has done everything he could do from the beginning and Kraft thought he was doing what he always did, make friends and settle out of court. The league is operating in a predictably unpredictable matter. The only person who made a mistake was Kraft but I think now he's officially drawn his line in the sand.

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Brady's statement in response to the ruling was the most definitive statement he has made about doing nothing wrong. That should have been said loudly, clearly and repeatedly from the beginning.

skinnydog said:

Brady's statement in response to the ruling was the most definitive statement he has made about doing nothing wrong. That should have been said loudly, clearly and repeatedly from the beginning.

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He's was working with pretty damning evidence from the beginning but non the less made it clear he never had any intention of circumventing rules. Remember at this time we were all operating under the assumption that the balls "were 2lbs under the legal limit." Im sure he had about as much idea of what had actually happened as any of us if that would have been true.

The very fact that Roger Goodell - a commissioner who at least one owner today stated he no longer had faith in (and that's effectively what Kraft said - let's see if he sustains it and puts anything behind that) - is recognized as trying to "trap" a player - in a scandal in which it's yet to be proven that any rule was violated - should tell the world that the Commissioner and the NFL Offices have NO INTEGRITY

And unless I'm mistaken the Integrity of the Game is what is at question here

I started reading Goodell's 20 pages of fiction

He has his first outright lie in the 2nd friggen sentence. "During the game a question arose as to whether the football being used by the Patriots were inflated to [proper levels]..."

NO ROGER - that question and allegation arose BEFORE the game. There are numerous sources who confirm that. This was a STING - a SET UP - right from the start.

And that set up continued with the NFL leaking, and in writing to the Patriots, false information to the public which, like the statement "Brady Destroyed His Phone" was intended to CREATE a scandal where none existed - at least according to scientific analysis of the data contained in the Wells Report.

Roger created a NEW scandal when he MANDATED what had NEVER been an issue or requirement of the league in their prior proceedings or discipline - yet is NOW the basis for Goodell the independent unbiased (yeah right) arbitrator upholding his own ruling.

Just saying - if Goodell has to lie by the 2nd sentence you know this is going to be vomit-worthy fiction

At the very least my initial skim of it makes clear that what it doesn't say is as important as what it does

I can find few areas where Goodell addresses the points made by the NFLPA in the hearing. It's like Brady's testimony never happened - or doesn't matter. And you know what? It didn't matter because if Brady had given over his cellphone Goodell would have demanded Giselle's or made some other crazy demand in order to get Brady and the NFLPA to reject it.

I have no idea if Brady can get the injunction and get this overturned - and I'd hope even more that he'd file a defamation suit when the season is over - but I hope once the legal wrangling is done he gives a thorough interview and has a chance to rip Goodell a new one in a public realm without interruption from the NFL - we've heard enough from them - we haven't even begun to hear Brady's side of things.

TriplecHamp said:

He's was working with pretty damning evidence from the beginning but non the less made it clear he never had any intention of circumventing rules. Remember at this time we were all operating under the assumption that the balls "were 2lbs under the legal limit." Im sure he had about as much idea of what had actually happened as any of us if that would have been true.

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I agree, but all the same he knows what he did or here did not do.

50-yard-line said:

Reads pretty well, but smacks of Monday-morning Quarterbacking.

Why in the world SHOULD Brady and the Pats have expected this overblown sh**storm in the beginning?

It boggles the mind, beyond belief.

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It's not the beginning so much as what followed.

Major, almost beyond argument blunders include:

• The verbiage around Kraft's surrender.
• What Brady's side allowed in the cell phone destruction spin.

Further, while the NFL has hit hard and played dirty to attack Brady's credibility, Brady and the Pats have done vastly less of that in return.

None of that is mere Monday-morning QBing.

I do think the "trap" metaphor is a bit off, but otherwise the article seems spot-on.

karguy85 said:

I only worry that it can be hard to overturn an arbitration decision in the courts. If the courts don't overturn the decision (which will be based on procedural issues) what more can Brady do (besides profess his innocence which he has already done)?

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I think you're right. Step 1 in a comeback is getting a chance to have the suspension vacated. Step 2 is actually getting it vacated. Step 3 is going on offense after that.

upstater1 said:

How so?

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Brady should have clearly stated his case near the beginning of this whole mess, along the lines of:

• "I'm completely innocent."
• "I would be shocked to discover anything other than complete innocence on the part of Jastremski and McNally as well."
• "I instructed my representatives to cooperate fully in almost all respects. However, in one exception, I'm standing on my rights regarding my personal cellphone."
• "I hope this mess doesn't contain an element of retaliation for me being the named plaintiff on a suit vs. the NFL."
• "Having said all that, I'm now going to shut up and lawyer up. There are ongoing administrative processes, and perhaps court cases after that. Also, I'm hoping to play 19 games of football next season, plus pre-season, and I need to fully prepare for that."

Palm Beach Pats Fan said:

People have harped on that as if it was the only thing he said, and it WAS a rough moment, but these are also DIRECT QUOTES from TB at the press conference. A whole host of direct denials of wrongdoing, and yes, one wishy-washy answer.

-I didn’t alter the ball in any way.
-I would never do anything to break the rules.
-Once I approve the ball, like I said, that’s the ball that I expect out there on the field.
-I have no knowledge of any wrongdoing.
-I’m very comfortable saying that nobody did it, as far as I know.
- I would never do anything outside of the rules of play. I would never have someone do something that I thought was outside the rules.
- I go in there and I choose however many balls are necessary for the games. Sometimes it’s 12, 16, 18, 24. This last particular game was 24. I felt them. They were perfect. I wouldn’t want anyone touching those. I would zip those things up and lock them away until I got out on the field and an opportunity to play with them. That’s what I thought I was doing.
-The integrity of the game, I think that’s a very important issue to always be mindful of as an athlete, and fair play.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/f...press-confrence-deflategate-article-1.2088914

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But that message didn't make it into the public consciousness.

Thus, he should have emphatically repeated it, as soon after the Super Bowl as he could get around to it, perhaps even in a format "I said X, Y and Z when the news first broke, and I emphatically stand by them still."

I'll add to my previous post that from time to time Brady should have put out the word:

• "My story hasn't changed."
• "I'm trying to do the right thing, which is follow the process rather than litigate this in the court of public opinion."
• "It's too bad that some on the other side are behaving this badly."

He could have had a representative do that, and then occasionally said he endorsed his rep's words 100%.

If he'd followed that kind of plan, even if he'd taken a bit of a rope-a-dope battering, he'd be -- and please forgive the mixed metaphor -- in a shallower hole now.