The league is in big, big trouble

varjao said:

Until something happens we better remain skeptical.

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Not to worry - if Brady has to sit all four games Belichick will go to Plan B - he'll simply use Goodell's new standard of "generally aware" plus "lack of cooperation" rule in the NFL to his advantage

Say, if a guy on the Ravens was taking PEDs (just hypothetically because I’m sure that doesn’t happen there) and Flacco saw him bulking up and was “generally aware” of PED usage

All Belichick has to do is start a rumor, initiate a sting (Goodell owes us one) and Boom – Kangaroo court, trump up some “evidence” and Flacco sits for four games (and the Ravens also lose a 1st and a 4th)

Given the standards Goodell has applied to the Brady case he actually doesn’t even have to have any credible blood test results.

And – yeesh – the NFL will begrudgingly admit that given the lack of clearcut evidence MAYBE Flacco was MAYBE aware of the fact that a guy was MAYBE taking PEDs

But still four game suspension even upon appeal to Independent Impartial Arbitrator Goodell!

See, you just gotta adapt and work the system set up by the Commissioner with the standards he sets

Belichick will have this figured out in no time - yeah, it will suck to be without Brady but we'll get the best players on every team suspended using the special "Goodell*" tactic to ensure we dominate the league

We'll have another Super Bowl before you know it

Ice_Ice_Brady said:

And also, the league is in big, big trouble. No really: the NFL is in big trouble.

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They don't know the half of it

Now apparently the Colts are being investigated by Wed Tells for "DeflateGate2"

http://www.battleredblog.com/2015/5...the-wed-tells-report-on-deflategate-2-are-the

This will be better than post spygate barring a major injury to brady. The league was lucky he tore his acl essentially taking out 2 years of him at his best, and that team aged quick starting 2008.

Right now we have a team with few holes and youth all around. The cb situation will get sorted and is already aided by a killer front seven. i think were lined up for another strong run as long as brady stays effective, which i think is a safe bet with this entire witchhunt.

My thoughts on Goodell....

Mack Herron said:

The voices are going to have to multiply and become more pointed. Meanwhile, we need a chant for opening night. Perhaps ending in "Goodell must go". 60,000 strong. People?

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Obviously it's Brady, Brady, Brady, which, as legend has it, was started in Joker's section and gained organic traction all through out the 2014 season. I think the 2014 season objectively places New England fans in the 1st tier of legendary fan bases. From the "Brady! Brady!" chants, to the "Brady's better!" chants during the Broncos game, to Brady chants echoing later through the Chargers home stadium.

I'll never so much as humor NE fans being called "bandwagon fans" with a dignified defense ever again. I'll just mock the bitter accuser for the jaded tool that he or she is.

Pats fans #1.

Season ticket goers #1a.

If you mean the "NFL Office" is in trouble, that has a slim chance of being correct.
If you mean the NFL product is in trouble then put the crack pipe down .

The product itself is incredibly strong. Go to a site like TvByTheNumbers to see last year's TV ratings and check what soon will be this year's numbers. The NFL, figuratively of course, owns TV. You take the 25 most watched shows on TV and the NFL probably is 23 out of 25 of them. And while other shows hold near peak audience numbers for X, the NFL holds these levels for X2 or X3. Bottom line is if you want the best way to get your product or message out to consumers/the public -- especially to demos that are desirable yet otherwise increasingly hard to reach(due to the rise of Internet content) -- then you have to go see the network that in turn has to kowtow to the leader of the NFL product.


As far as Goodell himself/the NFL office being in trouble, 'deflategate' is very unlikely to cause any change in the employment status of RG and his underlings. Sure, maybe RG could throw an underling or two under the bus if push comes to shove in order to look like he's 'fixing the problem', or the owners decide it is time to show 'we care!' by asking Goodell to say "I'm leaving/retiring to spend more time with my family". But the self serving, bullying, lying and obfuscating done by RG and his office are not uncommon in arenas like this and often can be a means to success. Take a trip to DC or any state capital to see a ton of examples of this behavior and not being held accountable. And in the instances they actually are held accountable it is based on the gullible and lethargic nature of a knee jerk public's imagination catching hold. However, reaching the public's 'outrage' button is most often a controlled process by a media that flat out 'sucks', and is for sale to a business that let's say owns, figuratively, TV.

It is what it is. Accountability for this fiasco will be for the Patriots to win the SB and watch the NFL office choke on it.

The fact that the appeal hearing files were made public is a huge precedent and a significant win for the NFLPA.

PATS16N0 said:

Obviously it's Brady, Brady, Brady,

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Cheering for the hometown QB is nice and all, and he will undoubtedly be cheered. But that will only bring an "everything is fine with our league" smile to the faces of Goodell and the owners. I want something that captures the sentiment: tilting the field against the Patriots for years to come by levying unprecedented and illegitimate penalties based on the prejudice and ignorance of the NFL front office is not okay. There will be repercussions.

JoeSixPat said:

Not to worry - if Brady has to sit all four games Belichick will go to Plan B - he'll simply use Goodell's new standard of "generally aware" plus "lack of cooperation" rule in the NFL to his advantage

Say, if a guy on the Ravens was taking PEDs (just hypothetically because I’m sure that doesn’t happen there) and Flacco saw him bulking up and was “generally aware” of PED usage

All Belichick has to do is start a rumor, initiate a sting (Goodell owes us one) and Boom – Kangaroo court, trump up some “evidence” and Flacco sits for four games (and the Ravens also lose a 1st and a 4th)

Given the standards Goodell has applied to the Brady case he actually doesn’t even have to have any credible blood test results.

And – yeesh – the NFL will begrudgingly admit that given the lack of clearcut evidence MAYBE Flacco was MAYBE aware of the fact that a guy was MAYBE taking PEDs

But still four game suspension even upon appeal to Independent Impartial Arbitrator Goodell!

See, you just gotta adapt and work the system set up by the Commissioner with the standards he sets

Belichick will have this figured out in no time - yeah, it will suck to be without Brady but we'll get the best players on every team suspended using the special "Goodell*" tactic to ensure we dominate the league

We'll have another Super Bowl before you know it

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That "generally aware" standard means that the Rats will continue to never be punished for anything.

There is no more clueless or "generally unaware" franchise in the history of sports.

The Gr8est said:

That "generally aware" standard means that the Rats will continue to never be punished for anything.

There is no more clueless or "generally unaware" franchise in the history of sports.

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You know, I've given this some thought and I'm really having a change of heart

I think the bottom line here, even from the league's latest effort to vacate the ruling, is that Brady isn't being suspended for deflating footballs

He's being suspended for not cooperating and assisting Roger Goodell in framing him

The CBA makes clear that Roger Goodell has the authority to frame players - and then when they resist, he can suspend them for 1/4th the season and dock a team a #1 draft pick

The CBA specifically says all this - the NFLPA should have known better than to sign that!

So this is really THEIR fault when you think about it. And if they'd just let Goodell frame players and get it over quickly we'd all be better off. Brady should just accept the 4 game penalty like a man.