Curran article on Jets tampering

[Steve102]

The league (and the media) does not care about the rules, or being fair. The league is interested in one thing: money. There's more money to be made in league parity then there is in continued Patriot domination. Better to have all the AFC teams, and most certainly, the one in NY, propped up and made stronger by making the #1 team weaker. No one except us want to watch the Pats go 13-3, 12-4, 14-2 and roll through the post season. Since they can't beat us on the field with X's and O's, they'll try to level the field by looking the other way when the poorer sisters of the league violate rules. They'll find a way to level the field in the board room or, if they have to court room.

It's all about money. Parity = $$.

 

[Ivan]

Again, my point that people are upset at the league when they should be upset with the media. The league to our knowledge never took the Blount allegation seriously. It was the media who were making it into a thing. And it was just a handful of media people while most of the media saw how illogical it was for this to be a real controversy.

So far, the league has not ruled either way about the Jets. Again, if it isn't a big deal right now, that is a media thing not the league. Until the league rules on the tampering charge, people are just speculating that they are going to give Johnson and the Jets a free pass. I am guessing they will get a similar punishment as the Lions.

Couldn't disagree more Rob. While the media is a disgrace it was the league that turned naturally deflated footballs into Watergate. A minor issue that should have been handled by changing league protocols was blown up into a national scandal by a league official with an agenda, and it was the 44 million dollar a year Commissioner who should have stepped up and done his job and killed the issue the moment it came up. Instead he is so paralyzed by his own ineptitude that he didn't have the courage to do his job and declare the matter dead on arrival and instead signed off on a long term multi million dollar investigation into nothing, and in the process allowed the reputation of the best franchise in the league to be dragged through the mud all the way up to the Super Bowl and beyond.

As for the tampering it was, once again, a cut and dried textbook example of tampering and Goodell should have simply done his job and handed down the sanction immediately.

The media is by no means innocent in these issues, in fact they are exceptionally biased and covered themselves in sh.t over the so called "deflategate" issue, but both should have been handled properly from the outset and it's Göodell's incompetence that they weren't.

 

[Oswlek]

Again, my point that people are upset at the league when they should be upset with the media. The league to our knowledge never took the Blount allegation seriously. It was the media who were making it into a thing. And it was just a handful of media people while most of the media saw how illogical it was for this to be a real controversy.

So far, the league has not ruled either way about the Jets. Again, if it isn't a big deal right now, that is a media thing not the league. Until the league rules on the tampering charge, people are just speculating that they are going to give Johnson and the Jets a free pass. I am guessing they will get a similar punishment as the Lions.

Who do you think kept leaking details to the media about DFG? Who did so with a complete non-story even after the SB when no one even cared about DFG any longer?

I'm not speculating at all, I'm dealing with the facts as we know them to be. The league made a far bigger deal about DFG and contributed to the frenzy whenever possible, while hiding behind a "pending investigation" for Johnson when one is totally unnecessary.

As more information comes in, I'll adjust my assessment.

 

[Ivan]

The bleep storm was already there because Grigson leaked the story to the media. Nothing the league said caused the pre-Super Bowl crap storm.

Huh?

League officials repeatedly and systematically leaked bits and pieces of information designed to make the Patriots look as guilty as possible, and withheld any information that was exculpatory. The media ran with it but it was the league that was feeding them pieces of raw meat.

 

[Rob0729]

Who do you think kept leaking details to the media about DFG? Who did so with a complete non-story even after the SB when no one even cared about DFG any longer?

I'm not speculating at all, I'm dealing with the facts as we know them to be. The league made a far bigger deal about DFG and contributed to the frenzy whenever possible, while hiding behind a "pending investigation" for Johnson when one is totally unnecessary.

As more information comes in, I'll adjust my assessment.

I think Mike Kensil was leaking stuff to the media. Possibly to deflect the inevitable blame that will be laid on him in the Wells' Report on how he let a NFL employee under suspicion for stealing footballs on the field during the AFCCG and then turning the attention to the Pats when the their is something fishy with the balls he is in charge of than that guy along with the fact that he didn't record the PSI of the footballs and just re-inflated them at halftime. Kensil is going to look bad in the Wells Report even if they do not go to where the Pats want them to go and accuse Kensil of setting up the Pats.

I don't blame Goodell and his office for actually leaking stuff. It seems pretty clear most of the stuff came from one person - Kensil. I blame them for not bottling it up.

And the league is pretty consistent about all the open investigations of cheating. They have not ruled on any of them yet. Atlanta admitted to wrong doing and there has been no punishment. It has been reported that the league has proof of cheating with the Browns and there has been no punshiment. They are waiting to dump everything at once.

 

[Rob0729]

Huh?

League officials repeatedly and systematically leaked bits and pieces of information designed to make the Patriots look as guilty as possible, and withheld any information that was exculpatory. The media ran with it but it was the league that was feeding them pieces of raw meat.

Mike Kensil has systematically leaked information. And most of it have been half truths to draw attention away from his own incompetence and/or questionable actions.

 

[Ivan]

The league screws up every controversy they are involved in. Why would Deflategate be any different. The difference between Deflategate and the Jets' tampering is the media cared about one and not the other. If the media barraged the NFL about Johnson's comments, they would have screwed that up too.

The league took almost a week to even acknowledge the Deflategate situation in any way and then they just went on to make a bad situation even worse every time they turned around. Just like they did in the Ray Rice case. And the Adrian Peterson case. And Spygate. And Bountygate. And everything else they touch.

So because the league is incompetent they aren't to blame?

 

[Ivan]

Mike Kensil has systematically leaked information. And most of it have been half truths to draw attention away from his own incompetence and/or questionable actions.

Rob, he is a high ranking league official and as such they are responsible for his actions. You are actually arguing that the league isn't responsible because they both did it and they are incompetent.

 

[Rob0729]

Couldn't disagree more Rob. While the media is a disgrace it was the league that turned naturally deflated footballs into Watergate. A minor issue that should have been handled by changing league protocols was blown up into a national scandal by a league official with an agenda, and it was the 44 million dollar a year Commissioner who should have stepped up and done his job and killed the issue the moment it came up. Instead he is so paralyzed by his own ineptitude that he didn't have the courage to do his job and declare the matter dead on arrival and instead signed off on a long term multi million dollar investigation into nothing, and in the process allowed the reputation of the best franchise in the league to be dragged through the mud all the way up to the Super Bowl and beyond.

As for the tampering it was, once again, a cut and dried textbook example of tampering and Goodell should have simply done his job and handed down the sanction immediately.

The media is by no means innocent in these issues, in fact they are exceptionally biased and covered themselves in sh.t over the so called "deflategate" issue, but both should have been handled properly from the outset and it's Göodell's incompetence that they weren't.

I blame the NFL for drawing this out, but that is because Goodell is gun shy because of Ray Rice, Bountygate, etc. where he looked to rushed to judgement and looked horrible after the ruling is issued. The league feel they need to look like they are doing a thorough investigation because people are calling for blood.

Again, if they weren't holding off issuing punishments for every allegation of cheating, I would agree that their lack of action against the Jets is significant. But they are waiting to dump the punishments all at once on a Friday at 5PM.

 

[Rob0729]

So because the league is incompetent they aren't to blame?

Never said that. I am saying incompetence is different than what people are arguing in terms of favoritism to the Jets or trying to use the Pats as an example.

 

[Ivan]

So it isn't the league fault because they are waiting for a plane crash to publish their findings?

 

[Rob0729]

Rob, he is a high ranking league official and as such they are responsible for his actions. You are actually arguing that the league isn't responsible because they both did it and they are incompetent.

No. I am saying it is one employee with an agenda who is directly related to the investigation. It isn't like the league is calculating to leak information to hurt the Pats. It is one rouge employee with an agenda.

The league is responsible to button him up, but let's not act like it is the league trying to make the Pats look bad. It is one guy trying to cover his own ass.

 

[Ivan]

Never said that. I am saying incompetence is different than what people are arguing in terms of favoritism to the Jets or trying to use the Pats as an example.

People are arguing favoritism towards the Jets because both Goodell and Kensil worked for them and they haven't ruled on a textbook case of tampering that required no investigation to rule on it. In other words there is good reason to suspect favoritism and they will have to expect that until they diffuse that suspicion.

 

[Rob0729]

So it isn't the league fault because they are waiting for a plane crash to publish their findings?

No. It is that they are consistent in how they are planning to release their findings/punishments with all the allegations out there.

What's the difference if they issue a punishment to the Jets today, January, or late March? It won't prevent them from going after Revis if he becomes a free agent. In fact, if they sign Revis, it might make it easier to give a harsher punishment to them.

 

[Ivan]

No. I am saying it is one employee with an agenda who is directly related to the investigation. It isn't like the league is calculating to leak information to hurt the Pats. It is one rouge employee with an agenda.

The league is responsible to button him up, but let's not act like it is the league trying to make the Pats look bad. It is one guy trying to cover his own ass.

If a high ranking league official is systematically leaking bits of information to the media the league is responsible for it, period. There is no excuse for that.

 

[Rob0729]

People are arguing favoritism towards the Jets because both Goodell and Kensil worked for them and they haven't ruled on a textbook case of tampering that required no investigation to rule on it. In other words there is good reason to suspect favoritism and they will have to expect that until they diffuse that suspicion.

Why do they need to investigate the Johnson situation? Why is it favoritism if they delay announcing the punishment for the Jets?

Say they take away a third round pick from the Jets for a hypothetical. Are they really playing favorites to the Jets if they announce it in late March rather than December?

Until we see the league issue a punishment to the Jets or say no punishment for them, we have no evidence that they are playing favorites towards them. Until we see the results of the Welss Report and whether Kensil is punished or not, we do not know if the league are playing favorites to him.

 

[Ivan]

No. It is that they are consistent in how they are planning to release their findings/punishments with all the allegations out there.

What's the difference if they issue a punishment to the Jets today, January, or late March? It won't prevent them from going after Revis if he becomes a free agent. In fact, if they sign Revis, it might make it easier to give a harsher punishment to them.

The difference is in the perception they have created and the damage they have done to the Patriots in the process. You are clearly saying the league is doing this to hide their incompetence and that is inexcusable.

 

[Rob0729]

If a high ranking league official is systematically leaking bits of information to the media the league is responsible for it, period. There is no excuse for that.

They are responsible for bottling up leaks, but that doesn't mean they are systematically leaking information. We have no idea if Kensil has been or will be punished for this. For all we know, after the Wells Report is issued, there will be enough evidence against him for incompetence or shady dealings that they fire him.

 

[Oswlek]

Rob, he is a high ranking league official and as such they are responsible for his actions. You are actually arguing that the league isn't responsible because they both did it and they are incompetent.

Yeah, that argument is nonsensical. Whether the person in question is incompetent or mischievous, he is still a high ranking official which makes "the league" appropriate shorthand.

The fact that other teams were also caught cheating and haven't been dragged through the mud doesn't invalidate the accusations, it just changes them from Jet favoritism to NE mistreatment.

 

[Froob]

How weren't the Jets punished last year for talking about DeSean Jackson? I thought ignorance was not an excuse according to Godell?