Brady's Original Legal Team Screwed Up

the Patriot said:

They screwed up the worst when they thought it was a good idea to tell the NFL that Brady destroyed his cell phone at the appeal hearing on the day he met with Wells. You can argue the cell phone is irrelevant. You can't possibly argue it was a savvy move to voluntarily disclose that information, as if it would help Brady's case. Why would you do that? Why give Goodell the ammo? How does that help Brady's case? Why not stick with the original argument that Brady's cell phone is personal and the NFL can't have it???

Revealing that information allowed Goodell to completely sidestep the holes in the Wells report and create a media firestorm about the cellphone. And the appeals judge was ultimately partial to that information.

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First of all, the meeting with Wells was an interview, not an Appeal hearing.
Secondly, Wells had already informed them PRIOR that the phone wasn't needed. So, him asking for it that day doesn't make a difference.
Third, Goodell changed the punishment at the Arbitration hearing, which was months after the interview. The phone is and was always a red herring. And Arbiters are not supposed to change punishments. Goodell broke Labor Law and Arbitration Law. Why the 2CA didn't acknowledge this is something we'll never know.

And no, Article 46 does not allow the Commissioner to break the law.

TommyBrady12 said:

you don't know what chin and parker were thinking. however, i do know that kessler is not an appeals lawyer.

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Sure we do. They said exactly what they were thinking. Chin said Brady was guilty based on the "evidence". Claiming otherwise isn't dealing with reality..

upstater1 said:

The lawyers/agent also screwed up when they told the NFL the phone was destroyed.

All they had to say is that they would only provide a manuscript of his phone calls and texts, not the actual phone.

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I'll agree to an extent. Brady had already told Wells and the NFL that under no condition would he turn over his private cell phone. Favre said the same during seemyjunkgate and so did Goodell during the Rice fustercluck. That was never going to change.

Telling the NFL that it was destroyed created bad optics but it should have had no real change to any decison made in the process. Either in arbitration or the court cases. Destroying the phone gave Goodell a bit of air cover and the media/trolls something else to grasp onto.

TBH, I don't think anybody thought Goodell would have the hubris to change the rules in the middle of the process. In the end it really does not matter as Goodell was going to hold to the suspension and the corts were going to rule the way they wanted. In fact, adding the cell phone BS really gave Brady's team more ammo when they argued in front of Berman.

PatsFanInVa said:

What's missing, however, is the angle that the League* essentially colluded to strip the Pats of draft picks and suspend Brady. That's the real bullcrap here. It's a "Break up the Patiots" move, and it would be good if somebody outside the Pats' fan-base called that one as it is.

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It's kind of hard to believe that no one has done that yet. It's been addressed in the past that the major news outlets have ties to the NFL, either through broadcasting their games, or, like CNN, being under the same corporate umbrella as a network that has a financial interest in the NFL. Still, there are news agencies out there that aren't influenced by the league and the NFL is not loved by everyone.

It's not even like an investigative journalist would have to do a ton of digging or work to find sources and connect the dots. All this information is readily available:

• That the league fed false information to the media and to the Patriots after the AFCCG.
• Blandino lied about when the league became aware there was an issue.
• The Wells Report was not independent as the Goodell claims to this day.
• The "proof" in the Report was presented in a way to make the Patriots look guilty (claiming Anderson was 100% reliable about everything except which gauge he used almost 50 times to measure the balls, manipulating images of the two gauges to make them look as similar as possible, dismissing every explanation given by the Patriots personnel while accepting every explanation that favored the league's viewpoint, presenting the "deflator" text out of context and then using nearly 20 times in the report, etc.)
  
• Refusing to allow Brady's representation to view the interview notes from Wells investigation

There are more, but that's just off the top of my head. Someone with some connections and access should be able to find even more.

Someone should be asking why the league created a distraction for the Patriots prior to SB 49, deliberately hamstrung the team for this season based on a made-up controversy and sabotaged them in the future by stealing the first round draft pick. In a different thread, it was discussed how the NBA "wants" teams like the Lakers to advance over teams like the Kings. I can see the reasoning behind that, as the Lakers are a big market, dynasty type franchise. People will watch to see if they win or lose. The NFL is doing the opposite. They are trying to derail one of the great teams in league history. If they are willing to do this, it opens the door to wonder about what other unsavory things the league has done.

Yee screwed up.
Kessler dropped the ball in the endzone on the 2 min warning.
Chin was not impartial.

DaBruinz said:

First of all, the meeting with Wells was an interview, not an Appeal hearing.
Secondly, Wells had already informed them PRIOR that the phone wasn't needed. So, him asking for it that day doesn't make a difference.
Third, Goodell changed the punishment at the Arbitration hearing, which was months after the interview. The phone is and was always a red herring. And Arbiters are not supposed to change punishments. Goodell broke Labor Law and Arbitration Law. Why the 2CA didn't acknowledge this is something we'll never know.

And no, Article 46 does not allow the Commissioner to break the law.

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At the appeal hearing with Goodell, Brady's lawyers told Goodell that Brady got rid of his phone the day he was interviewed by Wells. Goodell then used this information against Brady to sway public opinion back toward the NFL.

I agree with everything else you said. It was still a dumb move to tell Goodell the phone was not retrievable.

varjao said:

Yee screwed up.
Kessler dropped the ball in the endzone on the 2 min warning.
Chin was not impartial.

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Once again.. Chin being partial means Kessler got railroaded, not that he dropped the ball. The two judges that looked at this based on the arbitration and not the evidence that had more holes in than swiss cheese ruled in favor of Brady.

Koma said:

It's kind of hard to believe that no one has done that yet. It's been addressed in the past that the major news outlets have ties to the NFL, either through broadcasting their games, or, like CNN, being under the same corporate umbrella as a network that has a financial interest in the NFL. Still, there are news agencies out there that aren't influenced by the league and the NFL is not loved by everyone.

It's not even like an investigative journalist would have to do a ton of digging or work to find sources and connect the dots. All this information is readily available:

• That the league fed false information to the media and to the Patriots after the AFCCG.
• Blandino lied about when the league became aware there was an issue.
• The Wells Report was not independent as the Goodell claims to this day.
• The "proof" in the Report was presented in a way to make the Patriots look guilty (claiming Anderson was 100% reliable about everything except which gauge he used almost 50 times to measure the balls, manipulating images of the two gauges to make them look as similar as possible, dismissing every explanation given by the Patriots personnel while accepting every explanation that favored the league's viewpoint, presenting the "deflator" text out of context and then using nearly 20 times in the report, etc.)
  
• Refusing to allow Brady's representation to view the interview notes from Wells investigation

There are more, but that's just off the top of my head. Someone with some connections and access should be able to find even more.

Someone should be asking why the league created a distraction for the Patriots prior to SB 49, deliberately hamstrung the team for this season based on a made-up controversy and sabotaged them in the future by stealing the first round draft pick. In a different thread, it was discussed how the NBA "wants" teams like the Lakers to advance over teams like the Kings. I can see the reasoning behind that, as the Lakers are a big market, dynasty type franchise. People will watch to see if they win or lose. The NFL is doing the opposite. They are trying to derail one of the great teams in league history. If they are willing to do this, it opens the door to wonder about what other unsavory things the league has done.

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It also calls into question the rest of what we've seen from the "sports media." Their bread and butter is "Player X is faster but player Y has softer hands" and "What Team X does is different from other teams in situation Y and it's very interesting." I don't think they're up to the task on these stories... they're "bombshells" that can pull in eyeballs and feed the infotainment complex.

I hate to say it but they're looking for the angle that sells. Here and there they'll give the Pats a "devil's advocate" nod, but we're the football version of the 90s Yankees. The money is in hating on the Pats, not investigating the charges.

Some outlets have published stories that really do say it's all BS... I believe the NYT did... but that's not the "real" sports media. Sports Illustrated and the like just aren't interested.

I'm convinced that the NFL used inside information to know from which pool of judges they would most likely be assigned when they filed for appeal.

I've seen it happen at the lower levels and I'm sure it could of easily happened here with the amount of money at stake. All it would take is for one person with inside knowledge of the scheduling process to let the NFL know the most favorable timing to appeal. It could be anyone from a Judge to the scheduling clerk.

Before you say it sounds crazy, remember the NFL got screwed and practically laughed at by a non-favorable judge when they were forced to file the initial motion at a moments notice to ****-block Brady's legal team. But then lo and behold, against 0-1 odds, they pull 2 out of 3 favorable judges when they got decide the timing of when to file the appeal. Seems fishy to me.

So, I'm not sure who to blame when up against that.

blackglass3 said:

Brady screwed up only when he didn't come out on fire at his first press conference like Peyton did. Would it have made a difference? Not sure, but it could have.

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Would it really though?

I wish people would watch that press conference instead of assuming both situations are similar. Brady was responding to the lie that was the Mortenson BSPN report AS WELL AS going over the game plans for the SB against the Seahawks.

Had the NYJFL*/Mort corrected the lies that were put out that Monday evening, none of this gets as big.
The press conference was the beginning of a year-long Brady smear campaign that rivals an election. They put out false leaks that got so out of control that every single crap-ass media outlet picked it up and said it over and over again. Sometimes they even added things in. "The Patriots in another SCANDAL?" "Controversy". "Trouble". Those are some of the buzzwords used by the media to frame this story for it to garner attention. By the time the press conference was going on Brady gets hammered with asinine questions that were based on lies and manufactured details. What the heck would you say besides No and "Hell If I know"? Going all HAM and calling everybody liars from the media to the refs wouldn't have done him any good. The narrative was out.

That ****in rat Mort still didn't come to public to say anything about that false leak, come on he's 7 feet under he just need to lay down why having such fidelity to the NFL, have they promissed anything to him or his family? Scumbag, liar, I hope he rots in hell.

the Patriot said:

At the appeal hearing with Goodell, Brady's lawyers told Goodell that Brady got rid of his phone the day he was interviewed by Wells. Goodell then used this information against Brady to sway public opinion back toward the NFL.

I agree with everything else you said. It was still a dumb move to tell Goodell the phone was not retrievable.

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Wrong. The information about the phone came out along with the Wells report. Goodell changed what the punishment was for at the appeal hearing. Which is against Arbitration law..

cscirpoli said:

I think I'm more mad at Brady's legal team than anything else. Letting what's his face lead the CA2 proceedings. That was what lost them this. As soon as the NFL hired the big guns, Brady's legal team should have gotten Olsen. They must have thought justice, being right, and the universe was on their side. When will anyone learn that money talks in this country and justice is really just the guy with the deepest pockets...

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I completely agree - though it's also clear how it happened in hindsight.

The issues as presented from the start were all about procedure - all the legal experts correctly explained that what the courts were examining was not Brady's guilt or innocence but whether or not Goodell had the authority to do what he did, without evidence or cause and in moving the goal posts as Arbitrator, with a new requirement/penalty related to the new 180 degree turn in position of now requiring Brady's phone

This was a blatant rope a dope if there ever was one - though it wasn't until Berman released information to the public - which I think demonstrated his clear disdain he held for the NFL's version of justice and fair due process - did the case begin to be about the lack of evidence that the NFL actually had - and really began to show just how deep corruption in the NFL went

Bear in mind at this juncture Brady's attorneys were focused on procedure - not guilt or innocence - though the facts certainly illustrated that and Berman found in favor of Brady and the NFLPA with a slam dunk chiding of Goodell's brand of industrial justice

Yet even here, Berman kept his ruling to procedure and the lack of fairness leaving a few other items of legal note off the table in case the appeals court remanded it to him on appeal

Upon appeal, Brady's attorneys - now riding high with the notion that the District court is seldom over-ruled, and that Berman's decision was SO strongly worded in Brady's favor, then once again did what all legal experts suggested they should - focus on the legal reasons why Berman's decision was correct - not whether Brady was guilty or innocent

Unfortunately in this case the NFL itself presented their brief recapping what technically they shouldn't have - their lies and half truth version of what transpired leading them to find Brady guilty. This fiction was apparently believable to the 2nd circuit judges - or at the very least they were making a legal point of saying, "As judges, we're bound to accept the word of an arbitrator as truth"

Obviously the Chief Justice disagreed with the two others - but armed with the NFL's brief with their version of the story of Brady's "guilt" and Brady's attorneys arguing about more arcane legalities to affirm Berman's decision, that miscalculation clearly came back to haunt them

In some respects I do understand - I think they are limited in the length of their briefs and Brady's attorneys chose to use their space to affirm the legalities of Berman's decision - rather than illustrate just how corrupt and unfair Goodell was. Perhaps they figured that could all be covered with amicus briefs filings, though those only really poured in after some of the judges questions made it sound like they ACTUALLY believed the NFL's version of the story.

Hindsight is 20/20 but this was such a miscarriage of justice from the start, I think that should have been a consistent component every step of the way - yet from start to finish, with the exception of Berman himself seeking info on just how unfair the NFL's procedure was in this case, Brady's and the NFLPA attorneys paid little attention to the proof of his innocence

Instead they focused on why Goodell did not really have the authority to do what he did - technically the right route, but in hindsight - clearly the wrong one - especially since that's an argument they stood a greater chance of losing, compared to all the evidence proving Brady's innocence.

Us as this went through the courts.

Brewskies said:

Brady himself screwed up. Way back in the beginning when he didn't take the charges seriously.

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Don't pretend that something as stupid and meaningless as this should ever have been taken seriously by anyone. They were just as stupid back then as they are now.

AtomicDawg said:

Would it really though?

I wish people would watch that press conference instead of assuming both situations are similar. Brady was responding to the lie that was the Mortenson BSPN report AS WELL AS going over the game plans for the SB against the Seahawks.

Had the NYJFL*/Mort corrected the lies that were put out that Monday evening, none of this gets as big.

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Agreed. If there was ever any sure fire evidence of an agenda in play, it's this. It's galling how quickly the NFL can issue a correction to something the media erroneously reports - when they want to, that is.

Our reaction as this went through the courts in one nostalgic GIF.

yup.......idiots want to put the whole thing on kraft while brady spoke like a total moron in his initial response

I can bet you he'll never leave himself open that way again.......

XLIX said:

Agreed. If there was ever any sure fire evidence of an agenda in play, it's this. It's galling how quickly the NFL can issue a correction to something the media erroneously reports - when they want to, that is.

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yup, and this whole things was actually over the very fist week while kraft and brady didn't realize the nature of the agenda......

krafts only real fault was that he thought he could navigate the issue using regular business savvy......it blew up in his face....probably helped undermine brady's case, but if you believe it was intentional, then you're a moron

DaBruinz said:

Wrong. The information about the phone came out along with the Wells report. Goodell changed what the punishment was for at the appeal hearing. Which is against Arbitration law..

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No it wasn't. The Wells Report only said that Brady refused to turn over his phone. At the appeal hearing, Brady's lawyers told the NFL for the first time that the phone had been destroyed and the data was no longer retrievable (except for the record of text message recipients). It leaked to the public for the first time through Stephen A. Smith in August and then Goodell confirmed it in his ruling. Remember the ****storm last year?

Was the phone a red herring? Yes.
Was it a smart lawyer decision to tell Goodell that the phone was destroyed? No.