Reiss's mailbag this week

[SVN]

quite a few ESPN related answers. i particularly liked this one
http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/extras/askreiss/03_03_09/?page=full

Hi Mike, ESPN is insinuating that the Pats disclosed to the Globe that the Broncos were interested in dealing Cutler so that BB could stick it to McDaniels. I was flipping between numerous websites when news of the trade broke and I recall that while other sites were indicating there was a "mystery" team and that the KC/Pats deal was not complete, you were reporting that the paperwork had indeed been filed. I don't recall the Globe mentioning the Broncos until the live chat Saturday night. Prior to the chat, Adam Schefter had broken the Broncos story and several other sites were discussing it. I realize that you cannot disclose who told you what, but I think it would be good if you could discuss when you actually reported about the Broncos being interested. This seems pretty irresponsible for a news organization (ESPN) to insinuate that the Pats leaked a story to attempt to harm a former assistant when it does not appear that the facts support the insinuation.
Adam, Burlington

A: I checked on this Adam, because I was pretty surprised to see that ESPN was speculating that the Patriots leaked the Broncos' supposed interest to the Boston Globe. That information printed by ESPN is not correct. Not even close. No one from ESPN contacted me before printing that, and I don't believe they contacted my colleague Christopher L. Gasper either. Christopher reported the information about the Broncos' interest on Sunday. In the Saturday night chat, I was simply referencing what had been out there Saturday -- I believe from Adam Schefter of NFL Network. In terms of what ESPN was "reporting", I spoke/e-mailed with the people involved with printing/posting of the insinuation that the Patriots leaked the information to the Globe -- which couldn't have been further from the truth. I think there was a consensus that the guess about a leak was in poor taste. I'm not sure what good that does two days after the fact, but that was the story.

 

[patriot lifer]

i almost forgot why I don't watch NFL Live and ESPN...and now I remember

 

[dtbrks]

I read all of this too. No one except that pats organization knows exactly what was offered and when. Media reporting nowadays sucks and they seem to trust their "sources" way to easily.

 

[BPF]

This is interesting:

Once Cassel signed his tender, the Patriots called around the league to gauge the trade market and realized they only had one suitor -- Kansas City. They called Detroit -- not interested. They called Minnesota -- not interested. They called San Francisco -- not interested. They called Tampa Bay -- not interested. And on and on. As much as I think front-office people in the NFL can be deceptive at times, I don't think the Patriots had any reason to believe there was enough interest in Cassel to warrant waiting.

 

[Mike the Brit]

Lesson for young journalists: how to be a nice guy and polite but not be a push-over to the unprofessional. Well done, Mike!