Mr Kraft, The Time has Come To Ask: Whose Side Are You On?

[dales804]

Again, the league wants this resolved as quickly as the Patriots. They do not want this to be one of the biggest storylines next week. It isn't in the best interest of the league.

I hope it's over today. It should not take this long to find a ball, get it's PSI, and if it's below the threshold, find out why. It should take no more than 1 day.

 

[Jackson 2]

It is splitting hair here. It is just a different way of publicly denying the allegations. Publicly demanding a quick investigation will do nothing to getting a quick investigation.

If Kraft wants a fast resolution, he is fighting for it behind the scenes. That is how you get things done. Goodell is not going to act faster because Kraft demanded on publicly.

Again, the league wants this resolved as quickly as the Patriots. They do not want this to be one of the biggest storylines next week. It isn't in the best interest of the league.

The recent history of how this league handles things doesn't suggest to me that they're particularly adept at it.

 

[Rob0729]

Didn't the league come out yesterday and say this wouldn't be resolved until the offseason? I do think the league is fine having this hang over them [the Patriots]. They realize it's trivial and does little to nothing to damage their reputation.

What the league doesn't want is its larger problems being discussed in the next two weeks - the things its worked hard to sweep under the rug the last several years: player safety & domestic violence. They are super-consciouss of these things and don't want you thinking about them (just ask Rihanna, she had it right when she ripped them for pulling her song.) With the current political and social climate, you can be sure they were expecting this to be an issue in the coming two weeks. But wait - great news, another Patriots nontroversy to the rescue!

The aren't going to wait until the offseason unless they have the Pats dead to rights. It is the lead story on Good Morning America this morning. The league wants this resolved by tomorrow so it isn't the main story all next week. Next week is the biggest week of the NFL year and they do not want the focus to be on a cheating scandal especially this year.

There is no evidence they can get in the next few weeks that they haven't gotten in the last 24 hours. Delaying a finding would just hurt the league. Even if the Pats did deflate footballs, they probably would never be able to prove it unless there are three or four balls deflated. Do you think that an equipment manager will come forward in a few weeks?

 

[Rob0729]

The recent history of how this league handles things doesn't suggest to me that they're particularly adept at it.

I am sure they will screw it up, but it is in the league's best interest to get this resolved today or tomorrow. I fully expect it will be done by the end of the day.

That said, I expect Goodell to screw it up somehow.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

If the league announces tomorrow that there was nothing to this do you guys give kraft back the manhood you are taking from him?

No, I don't -- unless he publicly slams Cokehead Irsay. I'm tired of him balllessly refusing to stand up for the team and playing kissyface with the other owners who stab him in the back anyways.

 

[BradyManny]

The aren't going to wait until the offseason unless they have the Pats dead to rights. It is the lead story on Good Morning America this morning. The league wants this resolved by tomorrow so it isn't the main story all next week. Next week is the biggest week of the NFL year and they do not want the focus to be on a cheating scandal especially this year.

There is no evidence they can get in the next few weeks that they haven't gotten in the last 24 hours. Delaying a finding would just hurt the league. Even if the Pats did deflate footballs, they probably would never be able to prove it unless there are three or four balls deflated. Do you think that an equipment manager will come forward in a few weeks?

I agree there is no reason for this to take until the offseason. Yet:

Per a league source, the Patriots officially have been informed of the investigation, and the investigation will be thorough and transparent. Consequences, if any, will come in the offseason, with a full explanation from the NFL as to what happened and why punishment was (or wasn’t) imposed.

It appears (granted, the source is dubious in PFT) the NFL is OK with this dominating headlines for two weeks. And why wouldn't they be? Why does this harm the NFL in any way? The Patriots cheater headline is seven years old and hasn't hurt the NFL one bit.

As I said, I think the NFL is content to let this trivial story dominate while more important ones go unnoticed. They know that Super Bowl week a certain % of non-sports reporting journalists will be covering them. What were they writing their stories about as of a week ago? What will they be investigating now? No, this is a great diversion for the NFL.

 

[PatsBoy12]

Would be very nice. Hate that these false accusations taint our wins in some minds.

Respect. I certainly don't. I could care less what anyone else thinks about our wins. I don't think a single one is tainted . . . not to me.

 

[sb1]

Like I said before. The league has taken a lot of grief for "burning the tapes". They don't want the same perception this time. It's not surprising at all that they are putting on a face of being thorough for this one.

 

[PatsBoy12]

I can't bring myself to take this "ball deflation" thing seriously enough to get upset about. I think it's really minor and silly and inconsequential. Maybe Kraft and the Patriots feel the same way. If anything truly comes of this I'll be very surprised.

/thread

 

[sb1]

Respect. I certainly don't. I could care less what anyone else thinks about our wins. I don't think a single one is tainted . . . not to me.

Only tainted if there was hardcore proof of cheating. I will admit... the Rams walk through tape had it existed would have been a smoking gun...

 

[PatsBoy12]

Only tainted if there was hardcore proof of cheating. I will admit... the Rams walk through tape had it existed would have been a smoking gun...

Hey SB1, that's kind of my point. None of these allegations, even Spygate, was ever followed by hard evidence. Even the Cleveland tape that was released was nonsense. There apparently was more that nobody ever saw except the Commish and maybe a few others. Whatever. LOL

To me, this is just a dominant team that knows how to win. Deflated balls or not, the Colts couldn't stop Blount. They couldn't do anything else very well either. Whatever.

 

[Rob0729]

I agree there is no reason for this to take until the offseason. Yet:



It appears (granted, the source is dubious in PFT) the NFL is OK with this dominating headlines for two weeks. And why wouldn't they be? Why does this harm the NFL in any way? The Patriots cheater headline is seven years old and hasn't hurt the NFL one bit.

As I said, I think the NFL is content to let this trivial story dominate while more important ones go unnoticed. They know that Super Bowl week a certain % of non-sports reporting journalists will be covering them. What were they writing their stories about as of a week ago? What will they be investigating now? No, this is a great diversion for the NFL.

PFT also reported that they heard Randy Moss was being cut on the 53 man cutdown day in 2007.

If the league thinks it is trivial to let an accusation of cheating by one of the Super Bowl participants being the dominant story the week of the Super Bowl, Goodell is an idiot. He may be a bad commissioner, but he isn't an idiot. There is no way the league wants this story to linger and be the main focus of next week.

And I guarantee you that Kraft is working behind the scenes to push for this investigation to be over.

 

[Galeb]

Didn't the league come out yesterday and say this wouldn't be resolved until the offseason?

According to Florio, who also appears to be the source of "multiple balls". According to Rapaport there was one ball and this should be resolved within a couple of days.

 

[Galeb]

Like I said before. The league has taken a lot of grief for "burning the tapes". They don't want the same perception this time. It's not surprising at all that they are putting on a face of being thorough for this one.

**** the league. All the league had to do was release a statement confirming that taping signals was illegal, but it was the position of the camera that was the problem. Thing is, they couldn't do that cuz Goodell went way overboard on the punishment. Goodell is a douche and Kraft did himself, the team and the fans a disservice by bending over for Goody.

 

[BradyManny]

Goodell is an idiot.

Fixed your post for you.

What evidence do we have so far that the league is troubled by accusations of the Patriots cheating? For seven years, they have done nothing to diffuse a single controversy aimed at the Patriots, and if anything, have flamed the fires several steps of the way. In this entire period of time, they have done nothing to dispel the notion of us as cheaters - and not only have they had no negative repercussions for it, it has been the golden age of football with the sport, ratings, popularity, etc. all at an all-time high. They are fine with us being the big, bad Patriots who bend the rules. It's worked out beautifully for them thus far.

I strongly object to your notion that the NFL considers its reputation at all tied to that of the Patriots. We have seven years of history suggesting otherwise. The league is concerned about advertisers - the only thing that threatens that is the domestic violence issue. No one is going to pressure advertisers over the Patriots deflating balls. Advertisers will take heat if people start focusing on weightier issues.

 

[Rob0729]

According to Florio, who also appears to be the source of "multiple balls". According to Rapaport there was one ball and this should be resolved within a couple of days.

If it is one ball, there is nothing here. The one ball was handled by the Colts' equipment manager. So there is no chain of custody that they can prove that it was deflated by the Pats or by the Colts or was it done naturally.

 

[Rob0729]

Fixed your post for you.

What evidence do we have so far that the league is troubled by accusations of the Patriots cheating? For seven years, they have done nothing to diffuse a single controversy aimed at the Patriots, and if anything, have flamed the fires several steps of the way. In this entire period of time, they have done nothing to dispel the notion of us as cheaters - and not only have they had no negative repercussions for it, it has been the golden age of football with the sport, ratings, popularity, etc. all at an all-time high.

I strongly object to your notion that the NFL considers its reputation at all tied to that of the Patriots. We have seven years of history suggesting otherwise. The league is concerned about advertisers - the only thing that threatens that is the domestic violence issue.

What evidence do I have that the league is troubled by the accusations of the Pats cheating? The fact that it is the lead story on a non-sports story national television show. The league desperately wants this to be over next week.

The last thing they want is the entire Super Bowl week to be dominated by a scandal of any sort especially after what they went through this year. They want this over as fast as possible. It isn't about the Pats' brand. It is about the league's brand.

 

[BradyManny]

According to Florio, who also appears to be the source of "multiple balls". According to Rapaport there was one ball and this should be resolved within a couple of days.

Yikes, Florio vs Rap, an epic battle of wrong-ness. I'm not sure who is wrong more often. It will be interesting to see who will out-wrong the other. Rap is usually wrong with good intentions, at least Florio's a troll.

 

[BradyManny]

What evidence do I have that the league is troubled by the accusations of the Pats cheating? The fact that it is the lead story on a non-sports story national television show.

That's not evidence that the league is troubled by the accusations.

The league desperately wants this to be over next week.

Says who? So far, the only evidence is that they'll address it in the offseason.

The last thing they want is the entire Super Bowl week to be dominated by a scandal of any sort especially after what they went through this year. They want this over as fast as possible. It isn't about the Pats' brand. It is about the league's brand.

When has the league's brand EVER taken a hit for what the Patriots have done? Seriously? The height of the cheater stuff was 2007, and the NFL has only taken off further since then.

 

[dales804]

What evidence do I have that the league is troubled by the accusations of the Pats cheating? The fact that it is the lead story on a non-sports story national television show. The league desperately wants this to be over next week.

The last thing they want is the entire Super Bowl week to be dominated by a scandal of any sort especially after what they went through this year. They want this over as fast as possible. It isn't about the Pats' brand. It is about the league's brand.

The league will be fine. I agree it's not good to have this the lead story for SB week but it's the Patriots brand that's taking all the hits on this. The NFL isn't going to suffer at all. That's why I say Kraft should do something besides possibly trying to hurry this along behind the scenes.