Patriots Harrassed by NFL/Jets Over Bugging/Electronics Suspicions - Conflicting Reports

Jackson 2 said:

Unless you're on the receiving end of it...

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Exactly. 15 minutes can be a hell of a long time depending on the circumstances.

Bobsyouruncle said:

Add in that many teams used wristbands where the signal would just be the number on the wristband. Without the wristband, signals are worthless.

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Guys stop. They were not taping OFFENSIVE coach signals.

Florio has more details. The following dialogue is made-up by me, but pretty much what happened:

Robert Mastroddi (Jets Security Director): "What are those 2 guys doing over there by the Patriots bench in Patriots gear with headphones?"

Lenny Bandy, NFL Security (goes up to the individuals): "What are you guys doing?"

Employee #1: "I am responsible for maintaining the batteries in the referees' microphone"

Mastroddi (and this one is a direct quote): "People responsible for maintaining the referee’s microphone should be League contractors and not Kraft Sports employees wearing Patriots gear.”

Bandy: "I'll check with the league office on this."

League Office: "Uh, actually, that Patriots employee is right; the teams are responsible for maintaining the ref's gear, not the league office or league contractors."

I AM BLEEPING PISSED AT THIS ENDLESS WITCHHUNT

XLIX said:

Florio has more details. The following dialogue is made-up by me, but pretty much what happened:

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It's a good reminder that while Bowles seems like a nice enough guy, they're still the stupid Jets. F*ck them.

Jesus, even the Jets security personnel are inept at their jobs.

So what's the big deal here guys? They tried to weasel us and found nothing, pretty much like the Steelers headset issue.

Joey007 said:

So what's the big deal here guys? They tried to weasel us and found nothing, pretty much like the Steelers headset issue.

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Considering the Pats have already been framed once and the NFL refused Kraft's request to sweep locker rooms before games, it's hard to imagine a Pats fan not thinking this is a big deal...

Galeb said:

Considering the Pats have already been framed once and the NFL refused Kraft's request to sweep locker rooms before games, it's hard to imagine a Pats fan not thinking this is a big deal...

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There is that. In the case though it's surprising the NFL didn't frame us in this scenario with the Jets. Would have been the perfect opportunity to get what they want.

Joey007 said:

So what's the big deal here guys? They tried to weasel us and found nothing, pretty much like the Steelers headset issue.

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You know what, IMHO, the big deal is? The Patriots are held to an obscenely higher standard than everyone else. What would have happened if those were 2 minimum wage employees who didn't realize that they had to be outside the 20 yards line but were standing 5 yards out of position?

I bet that if you look at every single obscure rule in the Game Operations Manual detailing where personnel are allowed to be, then every single team probably has about a dozen or so guys out of position every single game. I don't mean they are doing anything maliciously, just having people inadvertently out of position because maybe they don't know that Section 8, Paragraph 5, Section A, Subsection iii says that the waterboy has to be 7.5 yards away from the head coach when the opposing team is in the red zone.

If the Chargers waterboy is out of position, no one cares.
If the Rams waterboy is out of position, no one cares.
If the Patriots waterboy is out of position, it makes national headlines for weeks/months, and we get a million dollar fine and loss of 1st rounder.

I heard Kraft caved in because he wanted to save the NFL DraftKings deal and that Kraft is a big investor while Jerry Jones is a big investor in FanDuel. I think Daily Fantasy Sports is about to get nuked in the courts so if the preceding sentence is true, perhaps Kraft will focus on whats in the Patriots best interests in the future rather than DraftKings.

Joey007 said:

There is that. In the case though it's surprising the NFL didn't frame us in this scenario with the Jets. Would have been the perfect opportunity to get what they want.

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I would expect that the Pats have their own security with the NFL when they do their post-game sweep. It would be neglectful to do anything less.

I guess the only funny part about this is that the Jets still think that the Brady-Belichick Patriots can only beat them by cheating somehow.

Who even knows, the only thing I know is this isn't what I want to have to talk about in the middle of the season.

The NFL has become like discussing corrupt politics, and I'm really not a political guy. It's not our fault what's happened, but I miss when we didn't even have to talk about the NFL front office because it used to actually do its job the right way. We just cared about the sport itself, and not court cases, appeals, frame jobs and what have you.

But you know why this isn't being reported on many major media outlets?

Because the Pats were found clean.

fair catch fryar said:

Because at some point, an opportunity will present itself for one of the media jackals to expose Goodell and/or someone high up in the NFL and it won't be pretty. You know as well as I do they are like piranhas and once there's blood in the water, Goodell will go down. He can't continue this absurd witchhunt without screwing up at some point.

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Maybe. It certainly seems like there's been plenty of opportunity for that already though. Not to mention that there /are/ people who've made an effort, Steph Stradley, the writer at the Wash Post, Mike Florio. It doesn't seem to do much other than get the league to double down on the stupid.

Dr Pain said:

I heard Kraft caved in because he wanted to save the NFL DraftKings deal and that Kraft is a big investor while Jerry Jones is a big investor in FanDuel. I think Daily Fantasy Sports is about to get nuked in the courts so if the preceding sentence is true, perhaps Kraft will focus on whats in the Patriots best interests in the future rather than DraftKings.

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That seems like a major conflict of interest to me.

NFL owners being major investors in fantasy football....?

robertweathers said:

That seems like a major conflict of interest to me.

NFL owners being major investors in fantasy football....?

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On Jerry's stake in Fanduel

Jerry Jones defends investment in DraftKings

Krafts interest in DraftKings

DraftKings CEO: Early interest From MLB, Kraft Group ‘Eye-Opening’ | Xconomy

These DFS are a way of making people follow crap games because of a single player.

Dr Pain said:

On Jerry's stake in Fanduel

Jerry Jones defends investment in DraftKings

Krafts interest in DraftKings

DraftKings CEO: Early interest From MLB, Kraft Group ‘Eye-Opening’ | Xconomy

These DFS are a way of making people follow crap games because of a single player.

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I hadn't read this. Thanks for sharing.

The Krafts should wise up. So long as Tom Brady is the Patriot's QB and Bill Belichick the
coach, the other 31 owners will press Goodell to find ways to weaken them. The Krafts have
the choice of getting rid of Brady and Belichick to appease the other owners or fighting back
against the NFL.

Dr Pain said:

I heard Kraft caved in because he wanted to save the NFL DraftKings deal and that Kraft is a big investor while Jerry Jones is a big investor in FanDuel. I think Daily Fantasy Sports is about to get nuked in the courts so if the preceding sentence is true, perhaps Kraft will focus on whats in the Patriots best interests in the future rather than DraftKings.

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Kraft is doing what's best for the 32 and his overpriced purse, in other words, if the 32 stay successful, the league and Kraft too will continue to make that cash. No way will Kraft put his billions on the line for the working man. When the league goes down Kraft goes down with it. Is Brady worth the trouble? I believe so, I don't believe in the "greater good" philosphy but I can understand Kraft's position and why Brady may side with him. It also gives me reason to believe that Brady won't pursue a defamation suit against the league because he cares for Kraft. Having friends in high places is valuable to Brady. If he plans to keep the TB12 center running, after he retires, and seek other business endeavors in the future, it would be wise to have a guy like Kraft on his side. The only way to do that is to keep those devils in NYC pleased. This is the way of business. They dont care about us little people. Utilitarianism always wins.

Brady going after the league is no more than a fantasy, unfortunately.