Did Bob Kraft throw Brady under the bus? I don't think so.

[everlong]

People can try to explain away Bob's actions all they want but at the end of the day the guy he handpicked as commissioner shoved it straight up his blow hole to resolve his own PR nightmare. What does Bob do? Hugs it out because he didn't want to be ostracized by the other 31 owners. For the last time only the lunatic fringe thought he was going to bring this to federal court. He could have used it as additional leverage until he got some concessions to weaken Fraudger's power. All he's done now is strengthen it. For those who think he's going to backdoor Fraudger now that's about as likely as Bob taking the NFL to court. It's game over and Fraudger made Bob his b!tch for all time.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Never seen some of the posters here so mad. Some that you may call blatant homers are furious with Kraft and rightfully so. He took the loyalty of his players and his fans he tossed it in the garbage with a hug and kiss to the Devils Advocate himself.

I'm sad to see posters like AJ and PWP for examples trashing the owner. But it tells you how serious Kraft's decision shook the core of Patriots fans everywhere. He deserves to be trashed in every way, tbh I'm still just as angry as I was when Kraft surrendered. I'm angry but I think I'm heart broken as well that the loyalty was never returned. And really, it wouldn't of taken much on Krafts part. Every time I see an article or post trying to comprehend or find a way to side with Spineless Bob I almost laugh.

 

[Observer]

Kraft made it abundantly clear which side he stood on in this battle. The ball is in th fans' court now.

 

[Eric Manchester]

One thing that just occurred to me, is that do you think there is any chance Kraft feared that if their penalty was lessened in an appeal, this might make Goodell less inclined to cut Brady slack? Obviously, he very well might not anyway, but perhaps Kraft thought that Goodell would not want to lose so much face by lessening two penalties, but just one might be less incriminating. Seems like a possible stretch, but it is not impossible, IMO. The Pats had less reason relative to the Wells report to be penalized (I believe had no reason, but I am speaking about from Wells' and Vincent's logic), so Kraft might have figured that Goodell would be more inclined to cut the team slack if he did so for anyone, and that might hurt Brady's chances. Who knows.

 

[IndianPat]

Is there a two pronged attack by the Patriots? First by the ownership through the publication of Well rebuttal and the Peter King interview, which by itself is a significant revolt within the ownership circles, followed by a Brady attack?
Kraft could have folded knowing that he has no further ammunition left. I do not think I felt so disheartened when he made the announcement. But the team strategy could be to let Tom take it the distance knowing very well that a complete clearance of guilt is the only acceptable outcome. I am sure there have been serious discussions between Kraft and Brady regarding this crisis. Let's see what the future holds regarding this matter.
I wonder if Kraft took the saying "he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day" to heart.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I could get on board with this way of thinking if Kraft had just filed the appeal. If you believe a punishment is unjust and/or unwarranted, you appeal it. Even if you're not going to win, you appeal it anyway.

That about sums up my position. I've never argued that Kraft should or should not go to court, simply because I have felt all along that I don't have enough information to draw either conclusion, but that I would have had a lot more information had he appealed.

As to whether what he has done so far helps or doesn't help Brady, that's not something we can know.

I think the big decision will be Brady's.

Does he take the NFL to court if his suspension is not completely overturned? If he does, he will be able to subpoena the communications of NFL Officials, Colts officials, Ravens Officials and others during Discovery, including with members of the media. At the minimum, what will come out will be hugely embarrassing to many.

If I were Brady, I'd say publicly that I'm "keeping all my options open," but otherwise I'd be playing my cards very close to my vest as to what I plan to do.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Kraft taking the NFL to court is a straw person.
Kraft could have appealed the team penalties w/o an expensive court battle. He caved without a fight.
He had a chance, albeit tiny, to get team penalties reduced. Instead, he surrendered.

 

[Ring 6]

Kraft taking the NFL to court is a straw person.
Kraft could have appealed the team penalties w/o an expensive court battle. He caved without a fight.
He had a chance, albeit tiny, to get team penalties reduced. Instead, he surrendered.

The logic some people are displaying is ridiculous to me.
People want you to belief that Kraft EMPLOYS Goodell, Kraft knows the team is innocent, but Kraft was emasculated because Goodell told him he won't even listen to proof, he could care less about innocence or the reputation of Kraft's business and told him to shove his appeal up his @ss and Kraft said OK.
Kraft had an excellent chance in the appeal, because the truth is they are innocent.
Of course Goodell accepted Wells report before it was rebutted, just as any non-Patriot fan would have. Goodell delegated finding guilt to Wells. That means the Patriots needed to rip the report to shreds.
There is no reason to believe Goodell would refuse to listen.

What happened is the other owners spoke to Kraft about the owners POWER OVER THE PLAYERS and explained to him that they felt his team getting screwed didn't matter, because challenging the league weakens the commissioner and subjects them to even more PLAYER lawsuits.
Kraft should have had the balls to fight, tell the other owners he won't stand for it, and when it's all said and done, Goodell will be out for incompetence and they will be better off with a strong commissioner who isn't shlt for brains.

 

[flasox27]

Let me just reiterate that Kraft's pathetic supplication at the feet of Goodell is the culmination of actions since 2007 in which he stopped being the owner of the Pats and became an insignificant partner in terms of influence in the fraternity of owners. By throwing BB under the bus in accepting the biased judgement of the POS Goodell without protest he only set the stage for the latest fiasco in which Brady is the next victim.
Obviously these actions are taken for the sole purpose of bringing the Pats back to the pack and to dicredit the achievements of the team which Kraft has in his deeds has acquiesed to. Even the addict owner of the Colts isn't treated with the same contempt by the League as Kraft and the Pats. Their overt violations of the rules were ignored by the League.

 

[Tony2046]

I'd like to know this as well. It's not even clear to me that there IS an appeals structure for owners in a situation like this.

It starts by not folding at the owners meeting. He did not have to give that announcement then. He could have left the owners meeting without making any decision and just continue on using his credibility to express dissatisfaction with the fines etc... I do not know if there is an official appeals process but an unofficial appeal would have gotten his point across and possibly made him less of a target for future sting operations.

 

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

Let me just reiterate that Kraft's pathetic supplication at the feet of Goodell is the culmination of actions since 2007 in which he stopped being the owner of the Pats and became an insignificant partner in terms of influence in the fraternity of owners. By throwing BB under the bus in accepting the biased judgement of the POS Goodell without protest he only set the stage for the latest fiasco in which Brady is the next victim.
Obviously these actions are taken for the sole purpose of bringing the Pats back to the pack and to dicredit the achievements of the team which Kraft has in his deeds has acquiesed to. Even the addict owner of the Colts isn't treated with the same contempt by the League as Kraft and the Pats. Their overt violations of the rules were ignored by the League.

What's more is he stood up for Rog during the Rice fiasco. After 2007 Bob should've taken any chance to dislodge the cowardly commissioner. Bob isn't biding his time to unseat Rog, he's stocking up on lube and applying balm to his anus in preparation for the next rogering.

 

[JoeSixPat]

I guess I'm not surprised by the continued anger here folks - but I'm really not sure if Kraft had really had a lot of great routes for legal recourse seeing as he IS the NFL as a team member. It's not just about money - it's the fact that I believe he would be pursuing a case that could undermine the NFL itself and like it or not he has a vested interest in NOT undermining his own league

Personally, I think Brady has numerous routes of recourse in the legal system to clear his name and I think that's where this battle needs to be fought. An NFL vs. NFL fight doesn't make sense but I think Kraft has been and will be cooperative and supportive of what I expect will be the Brady v. the NFL

I'm no lawyer but I think Brady has an excellent defamation case to bring against the NFL - as the Wells/Goodell verdict won't withstand the least amount of scrutiny

If Brady hired me as his PR guy I'd take the NFL for every penny I could get and then donate every dime to charity. All he/we want is his good name back.

That would put Goodell in his place once and for all and create some good out of yet another one of Goodell's faux "scandals" designed to take attention away from how lax he is against abusers and teams like the Colts who purposefully tank games.

 

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

I guess I'm not surprised by the continued anger here folks - but I'm really not sure if Kraft had really had a lot of great routes for legal recourse seeing as he IS the NFL as a team member. It's not just about money - it's the fact that I believe he would be pursuing a case that could undermine the NFL itself and like it or not he has a vested interest in NOT undermining his own league

Personally, I think Brady has numerous routes of recourse in the legal system to clear his name and I think that's where this battle needs to be fought. An NFL vs. NFL fight doesn't make sense but I think Kraft has been and will be cooperative and supportive of what I expect will be the Brady v. the NFL

I'm no lawyer but I think Brady has an excellent defamation case to bring against the NFL - as the Wells/Goodell verdict won't withstand the least amount of scrutiny

If Brady hired me as his PR guy I'd take the NFL for every penny I could get and then donate every dime to charity. All he/we want is his good name back.

That would put Goodell in his place once and for all and create some good out of yet another one of Goodell's faux "scandals" designed to take attention away from how lax he is against abusers and teams like the Colts who purposefully tank games.

He dug his own grave. He backed Rog and then doubled down. If he didn't want to be in this situation he shouldn't have helped put and keep Rog in power.

Brady's case undermines the league in the same way Bob's would've. He's going to back a side, but it isn't going to be Brady's.

 

[Deus Irae]

Did Bob Kraft throw Brady under the bus?

Why, yes. Yes, he did.

 

[RayClay]

Is there a two pronged attack by the Patriots? First by the ownership through the publication of Well rebuttal and the Peter King interview, which by itself is a significant revolt within the ownership circles, followed by a Brady attack?
Kraft could have folded knowing that he has no further ammunition left. I do not think I felt so disheartened when he made the announcement. But the team strategy could be to let Tom take it the distance knowing very well that a complete clearance of guilt is the only acceptable outcome. I am sure there have been serious discussions between Kraft and Brady regarding this crisis. Let's see what the future holds regarding this matter.
I wonder if Kraft took the saying "he who fights and runs away lives to fight another day" to heart.

He never had any ammunition in the first place.

Here would be the transcript of his appeal, which would have been presided over by judge jury and executioner goodell.

Kraft: We didn't do anything, you didn't prove anything, you should rescind the punishment.

goodell: No.

If anyone disagrees, come at me.

 

[RayClay]

Why, yes. Yes, he did.

You're a lawyer, right? Tell me how Kraft wins an appeal when the person judging the appeal is the one who authorized the punishment.

And that person has been shown to be a liar, inconsisent in his judgments, deciding cases based only on the power given to him as dictator.

 

[RayClay]

He dug his own grave. He backed Rog and then doubled down. If he didn't want to be in this situation he shouldn't have helped put and keep Rog in power.

Clairvoyant, in other words. I'll admit, that is a new one.

 

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

Clairvoyant, in other words. I'll admit, that is a new one.

I guess most Patriots fans are clairvoyants. I remember a lot of upset fans when Bob backed Rog in the Rice fiasco.

As for backing the initial hire. It wasn't unforeseeable that Rog was going to struggle in the discipline department.

 

[RayClay]

I guess most Patriots fans are clairvoyants. I remember a lot of upset fans when Bob backed Rog in the Rice fiasco.

As for backing the initial hire. It wasn't unforeseeable that Rog was going to struggle in the discipline department.

I admit 32 people were poor judges of character. Was it foreseeable he would actually try to destroy any Patriots teams that were successful, or only Patriot teams, or successful ones?

I don't see how that could be foreseen. Tagliabue is from New york and goodell likely kissed his ass an was seen as the natural successor after working years in the league.

If you take any kind of ridiculous result you could say everyone involved could have seen it coming, but why bother?

I prefer to take us from the ludicrous Orwellian nightmare, where illegally heating balls on live TV gets only a "don't do it again" by the VP of officiating, while some trumped up charge, not even said to be proven results in a punishment worthy of aggravated manslaughter.

3:00 in. The league didn't care that balls were illegally altered until the sting.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...ms-not-to-warm-footballs?campaign=Twitter_atl

People can hate on me, but i think we need to wake up to the fact that the fix is in against our team, there is no fairness and no legitimate appeal [then lawsuit]process other than with the NFLPA, who is an adversary of the owners.

Whether it's because we're the Patriots, or because we're successful doesn't matter, it's because of the idiot in charge and the owners who will support him until he has been proved to be damaging the league, because they are making money. The NFLPA can do that.

 

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

I admit 32 people were poor judges of character. Was it foreseeable he would actually try to destroy any Patriots teams that were successful, or only Patriot teams, or successful ones?

I don't see how that could be foreseen. Tagliabue is from New york and goodell likely kissed his ass an was seen as the natural successor after working years in the league.

If you take any kind of ridiculous result you could say everyone involved could have seen it coming, but why bother?

I prefer to take us from the ludicrous Orwellian nightmare, where illegally heating balls on live TV gets only a "don't do it again" by the VP of officiating, while some trumped up charge, not even said to be proven results in a punishment worthy of aggravated manslaughter.

3:00 in. The league didn't care that balls were illegally altered until the sting.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...ms-not-to-warm-footballs?campaign=Twitter_atl

People can hate on me, but i think we need to wake up to the fact that the fix is in against our team, there is no fairness and no legitimate appeal [then lawsuit]process other than with the NFLPA, who is an adversary of the owners.

Whether it's because we're the Patriots, or because we're successful doesn't matter, it's because of the idiot in charge and the owners who will support him until he has been proved to be damaging the league, because they are making money. The NFLPA can do that.

The extent wasn't foreseeable, but it was that a PR guy would dole out punishment based on popularity. Bob backed a company guy who was likely to excel at growing the league and struggle at protecting the integrity of the sport. That could be forgiven because it was unforeseeable just how terrible Rog was going to be.

It's how this story has turned in the past year that's unforgivable. This has made it clear that the league is number one, and the Patriots and the integrity of the sport are at best distant after thoughts.

I think we're in agreement on the rest. I just think Bob is at best reluctantly supporting that nightmare, but is most likely just supporting it.