There seemed to be some sort of screwup and the commish had to get involved when the Patriots jumped ahead of the Ravens to grab Gronk. Were the Raiders running out of time? I was holding my breath; can you imagine if Oakland had screwed it up so that time expired and the Ravens jumped in and grabbed Gronk? That would been a controversy that would have lasted years....every time Gronk scored a TD for the Ravens Felger
would twist the knife.
From what I've been able to glean from recording the draft and jumping around on various messageboards,I think this was exactly what happened.All night long there was a chess game going on between BB and Ozzie Newsome.
It has happened in the past that teams have been past their allotted time to make their pick and I believe that the NFL allows a little "leeway"(cough,cough),as long as you have it written down on the card or inform the NFL "runner",that a trade has taken place.
BB definitely F'd the Ravens by jumping up for Gronkowski,as they would have grabbed him,imo,and went for Dennis Pitta,right after.It helped that BSPN and NFLN seemed to go to commercials everytime the Patriots made a pick.If this had been an on camera drama,I think the result might have been a huge controversey.
As a sidelight........BB played Dallas like a banjo to keep Dez Bryant away from the Ravens in the First round.I think Jerry Jones and BB discussed this possibility before the draft and that's why we didn't try to "grind" Dallas for more compensation.
Another cute piece of "intrigue" was New Jersey giving 124 and 198 to the Panthers for 112 to move 1 spot in front of the Pats at 113.They,then supposedly,"stole" the RB McKnight from the Pats.
This is beyond ridiculous,as BB immediately went for another TE(Hernandez).
This foolishly giving up a 6th rd choice was,simply,
an ego-driven........"shot across the bow" by T-Rex and Tannenbaum.Wasting a draft choice just to show up BB is like playing checkers with Bobby Fisher...........the envy is just "palpable" coming from the NJ Swamplands.
The ego and testoserone that flows during the draft and the trades that are made,and NOT made,are the most fascinating nuances of the whole process for me.
There are Chess Masters like BB and Ozzie and Stratego players like Andy Reid and Scott Pioli.......most of the rest are just playin' Checkers