Let's all forgive Bob Kraft

Sure let's all forgive Bob, but I'd rather drink to the death of a clown.

Well, Robert, have you finally learned your lesson? This is the second time you've touched the top of the stove. Let's not have a third, eh? Good lad.

UK_Pat37 said:

He has only ever acted with this team's best interests at heart. He did what he did genuinely believing it would help this team and if you doubt that then you're a fool. After all these years of criticising Belichick and Kraft for numerous things have you NOT LEARNED???.

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Robert Kraft is a business man, his number one priority is and always will be to the business of the New England Patriots. His business is part of an organization of 31 other businesses, of which are branded in sum total under the NFL. The NFL's sole purpose is to grow the brand and thus the 32 businesses. Kraft has business incentive to do what is good for the team on the field as this helps his own individual franchise, but he also has just as much if not more business incentive to do what is right for the NFL as a whole. If you are a Dunkin Donuts franchise owner, you never want to hurt the DD brand in any way because your business is entirely dependent on it.

His words are really PR to his consumers. He accepts the punishments for nonsensical crimes (camera in wrong place, air pressure) because he has been convinced that it is the best thing to do for the brand of the NFL. He speaks publicly to the fans because he must appeal to his consumers so that he does not lose favor with them and ultimately money they would have spent on his product. He merely needs to *appear* to the fanbase as doing what is best for the team, and he was probably surprised by the amount of backlash he received for this. He was never going to and never will sue the NFL or fight back with anything more than words. Even if/when he is livid about decisions, he is still going to have to weigh the NFL's best interests, he's not going to cut off his nose to spite his face so to speak.

Ultimately, objectively, accepting spygate and deflategate punishments serves no purpose except for the greater goal of the NFL as a whole. No matter how much Kraft hates it inside or feels that is is unfair to his own team and fans, he is still going to make the best business decision possible, at least the one he believes is the best business decision.

I accept the reality of the business and do not fault Kraft for any of it, he has been able to balance the needs of the league with the quality of his product on the field for a very long time now, and I'm still impressed and thrilled to be a fan of this team. I have never and will never fault Kraft for the business realities, but I am not going to delude myself into thinking he is only concerned with what is best for the Patriots team.

Now hopefully the NFLPA will win this battle handily.

Tunescribe said:

First- and fourth-round draft picks (plus the $1 million) is WAY too high a penalty for an innocent man/franchise to swallow just for the sake of expediency. Losing those picks is a significant setback for the entire team and, by extension, those who root for it.

I don't care how Kraft reasoned it out, you don't just accept someone throwing the book at you if you're innocent. This was a colossal mistake.

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I agree that Kraft made a mistake and at minimum should have held out to bargain a better deal. I mentioned that, basically, in my OP that Kraft should have held out longer. However, the thesis remains correct: Kraft and Brady eventually operated under the same principal: Goodell/NFL has insane power, Cost/Effort to fight is high, chances of succeeding are iffy (even less for Kraft), going up against a media Goliath -- it is best to end it if feasible to do so.
Both thought that, both made a mistake, both realize Goodell lacks integrity. To an extent shame on both for operating otherwise.

Ivan said:

I guess haters are just gonna hate...........

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Do you remember our previous discussions about the Wells Report and Kraft's Influence in the League. I have learned over my life that talk is cheap and actions are what count. I was willing to give Kraft the benefit of the doubt when he made his first statement only to have him pathetically capitulate over one weekend. He no longer gets the benefit of the doubt. Time will tell if this is just a publicity stunt or a sincere first step to finally realizing he has no friends or influence in the League and must stand up for his team after eight years of slavish subservience to the POS commissioner. I am reserving my support at this time until he actually earns it, otherwise a lot of people posting are going to look even more foolish than before.

As long as he is done with his buddy...I am fine with him

If he meant it he would have called out league officials by name. He's basically apologizing for doing something that any smart person could tell wasn't gonna work. How did he become so rich and yet be so stupid?

Brady_to_Moss said:

As long as he is done with his buddy...I am fine with him

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then I fear you will be disappointed.

He never once said he made a mistake by putting faith in GOODELL. now we know Kraft would have won in court because it was about the science a d it's now obvious the science was proven wrong in Brady's appeal because now it's all about Brady's cell phone. The NFL knows they can't prove deflation at all anymore so it's all about the cell phone. I can't believe Goodell hates brady this much. All this over jealousy

flasox27 said:

Time will tell if this is just a publicity stunt or a sincere first step to finally realizing he has no friends or influence in the League and must stand up for his team after eight years of slavish subservience to the POS commissioner. I am reserving my support at this time until he actually earns it, otherwise a lot of people posting are going to look even more foolish than before.

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That seems to be a very reasonable stance to take.

It seems as though you aren't 100 percent convinced that he's entirely genuine after what happened. I can appreciate that, and it may prove to be the right way to go.

flasox27 said:

Do you remember our previous discussions about the Wells Report and Kraft's Influence in the League. I have learned over my life that talk is cheap and actions are what count. I was willing to give Kraft the benefit of the doubt when he made his first statement only to have him pathetically capitulate over one weekend. He no longer gets the benefit of the doubt. Time will tell if this is just a publicity stunt or a sincere first step to finally realizing he has no friends or influence in the League and must stand up for his team after eight years of slavish subservience to the POS commissioner. I am reserving my support at this time until he actually earns it, otherwise a lot of people posting are going to look even more foolish than before.

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There is a slight difference between "withholding support" and Third Reich analogies.

Would you have felt better if I said blaming the USSR and omitting Stalin. The fact remains that Kraft admitted that he was duped by the League and yet he never points a finger at the man who runs the League. Until he does that instead of looking others to blame as if Goodell was an innocent bystander, I have doubts of the strength of his convictions given his past history. I would not be surprised if Old get along Bob reappears after the next League meeting.

Kraft's "apology" to fans doesn't move the needle for me because I simply do not believe he could be so naive as to trust Goodell and the NFL front office after Cameraplacegate and after all the slanderous NFL leaks from January to May. Especially after the Wells report publicly admitted that the PSI info the Pats were given was bogus.

Unless he's completely senile (which I don't think he is, yet) there is no way he could be that naive. So I don't buy his "I trusted them! Boo-hoo-hoo!" spiel for a second. He showed his true colors when it mattered -- the Other 31 over his own team and player.

This act was shameless PR and I don't buy it unless we see public, concrete action behind it.

QuantumMechanic said:

Kraft's "apology" to fans doesn't move the needle for me because I simply do not believe he could be so naive as to trust Goodell and the NFL front office after Cameraplacegate and after all the slanderous NFL leaks from January to May. Especially after the Wells report publicly admitted that the PSI info the Pats were given was bogus.

Unless he's completely senile (which I don't think he is, yet) there is no way he could be that naive. So I don't buy his "I trusted them! Boo-hoo-hoo!" spiel for a second. He showed his true colors when it mattered -- the Other 31 over his own team and player.

This act was shameless PR and I don't buy it unless we see public, concrete action behind it.

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Here's the thing:

Even if we take Kraft at his word, it just means that he was stupid enough to believe that the same NFL that had hammered the Patriots in 2007, and the same NFL that had shown clear bias during the early days of the investigation, would suddenly do a 180 degree turn and head on over to Chummytown with the Patriots, when so many others knew the league couldn't be trusted So, even if he was being honest, which he wasn't, he'd still need to file suit (I was lied to and that won't stand!) or step down (I was duped, so it's clear I need to step down) in order to even begin to make things right.

Deus Irae said:

Here's the thing:

Even if we take Kraft at his word, it just means that he was stupid enough to believe that the same NFL that had hammered the Patriots in 2007, and the same NFL that had shown clear bias during the early days of the investigation, would suddenly do a 180 degree turn and head on over to Chummytown with the Patriots, when so many others knew the league couldn't be trusted So, even if he was being honest, which he wasn't, he'd still need to file suit (I was lied to and that won't stand!) or step down (I was duped, so it's clear I need to step down) in order to even begin to make things right.

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And the most maddening thing of all is he cynically played the fan base for suckers two days ago with his faux mea culpa knowing it would work (re., the ovation he received yesterday at training camp). I'm sure he's now struttin' around believing he's off the hook and everything's hunky dory.

I've been pondering what's more important -- next year's first- and fourth-round draft picks, or Brady playing this season's first four games. If it was MY choice to make, I'd roll the dice with Jimmy G. for four games and keep the picks. Not that Kraft actually had that choice, but he essentially has presented it as such when he should've been fighting this insanity tooth-and-nail from the very start.

Tunescribe said:

And the most maddening thing of all is he cynically played the fan base for suckers two days ago with his faux mea culpa knowing it would work (re., the ovation he received yesterday at training camp). I'm sure he's now struttin' around believing he's off the hook and everything's hunky dory.

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There's no reason for him not to. Hell, there's probably not a better informed group of fans than those that regularly follow Patsfans.com, yet we've got a significant group willing to play the chump on this. Think on that.

People here know better, yet they still let themselves be fooled. If the most knowledgeable are that willing to be played for chumps instead of being principled human beings, imagine how it played with the more ignorant fans.

Deus Irae said:

There's no reason for him not to. Hell, there's probably not a better informed group of fans than those that regularly follow Patsfans.com, yet we've got a significant group willing to play the chump on this. Think on that.

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Disturbing, to put it mildly. Frightening, when you extrapolate such behaviors to things that really matter.

Deus Irae said:

People here know better, yet they still let themselves be fooled. If the most knowledgeable are that willing to be played for chumps instead of being principled human beings, imagine how it played with the more ignorant fans.

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If everyone I dealt with was so easily manipulated, my life would be a walk in the park.

Tunescribe said:

Disturbing, to put it mildly. Frightening, when you extrapolate such behaviors to things that really matter.

If everyone I dealt with was so easily manipulated, my life would be a walk in the park.

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Or, maybe , just maybe, Kraft genuinely meant it?

Same as I feel about Tom Brady, I wish people would believe him too, maybe, just maybe, he is telling the truth.

I put my faith in both of them and after following both of them closely throughout their entire association with the Patriots, I think I am right, period.

fgssand said:

Or, maybe , just maybe, Kraft genuinely meant it?

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bwahahahahahahahahahahaha, u arent serious with this statement, right?