The tide is turning...

[Big-T]

It's deep routed jealousy across the league, that's why.

The league office is swimming with bitter former Jets employees and the rest of the league will no doubt be sick of the Patriots always winning.

So why not risk the antitrust exemption to try take down the most consistent team for the benefit of the 31 other teams?

 

[ensoul]

Good read. Problem is that this will fall on deaf ears as 95% of what's out there wants thier pound of flesh. Goodell wants to appease the masses not the minority

Goodell will not hurt his reputation one bit by suspending Brady for 6 games. He will improve it.

 

[PatsfanTN]

And another thing, why not really push back on the investigation and ask for the calibration records of the Psi guages? So many rabbit holes, the NFL should have just made a call when they first heard of this. Now its full blown stupid. And you cant fix stupid.

 

[The Gr8est]

True and I agree with you. I trust Florio and King as far as I can throw them. However, this is starting to feel like a slow backtrack. Feed it slowly, see what happens. As more start it will build until that report is laughed at and Wells will never, ever be looked at as a person with impeccable integrity. In fact I feel a bit spotty for him. He ran intoo the wrong fan base in the wrong area of the country. NE is a tough town. If at one time they kickstarted a country, this Wells report...yeah good luck with that Wellsie.

Plus the Pats fan base has been under seige so much since Spygate. We know what it is like to get railroaded and what happens when you don't fight back and just let the league and media set the narrative.

We fought back early and often, unlike with Spygate, and it may be making a difference.

Also, while it was way overblown and overpunished, there WAS wrongdoing in Spygate, Deflategate was a witch hunt from day one, and the Wells Report was a vedict looking for a crime to attach itself to.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Nice to hear from people with some real background, unlike the ESPN clowns that buy this as Gospel. Its obvious that this was a bag job from the start.



Yup, I think it means Brady/Pats/NFLPA know that if and WHEN the NFLol suspends Brady. They get to destroy the report and possible peak into Goodell's private communications. I'm sure theyre salivating.

While I am not a lawyer, I've been fairly active on the law side of the discussions. My lot in life is "corporate development" which basically means I direct lawyers to do "stuff" in the high-tech sector.

As a professional, if I wanted to create a foundation to serve as my baseline for potential litigation, I would have told Wells to do exactly what he has done. However, I would expect my firm to tell me, "dude, you got nothing. I suggest you look for an alternative path to resolution.".

If Wells was a good attorney, he would have told Goody, "you don't have the evidence, you need to call off the dogs here.". Now, I'm assuming that NFL GC and Goody told Wells to go find "something" because the believed that they did "have something" to support their assertion and paid Wells into conducting his investigation. As an attorney, he is responsible for generating revenue for his firm. While some attorneys are ethical will do the right thing, Paul ,Weiss LLC and Wells will argue that the sky is filled with pink polka-dots if you pay them enough. OR, they will tell their client to find evidence.

Wells only does what he is told and was hired to write a narrative that the NFL can use to destroy TB12 and support the justification of it's sting operation which is completely ludicrous b/c it allowed for "deflated" balls to be used DURING A TITLE GAME.

Chatham is right. The NFL was more concerned with nailing the Pats than enforcing the integrity of the game.

Pathetic.

 

[The Gr8est]

I don't know why anyone even bothered.

If the Commish is involved, you know it's complete ****ing ********. Forget the science, the report, the weather, whatever. The minute that ****ing moron Goodell thinks it matters, you know it's worthless and stupid and wrong.

I am not advocating harm to the commissioner and I would never wish harm upon anyone, but you honestly cannot say the world is better off because he was born. He has done nothing good in his life and continues to **** up everything he touches. He's basically a waste of air and resources. I could find millions of people who could do a better job for 1/10 his pay.

Sure, but being the son of a Senator has certain advantages not available to the unwashed masses.

Any million people that you find don't stand a chance if they lack the proper privilege.

 

[The Gr8est]

It's "very probable" that Goodell lied when he said he first found out about the investigation after the AFCCG. Seriously?? Everybody else in NFL HQ on Park Ave knew about concerns of deflated balls except the commissioner????
Tagliabue said it best when asked. He said he would have called the Pats up and let them know there were concerns and the balls would be examined more carefully to ensure no hanky panky. Problem solved without a cluster*%&k of a joke investigation...

Wish they had asked Tagliabue about the Revis tampering decision while they were at it.

 

[SVN]

Mike Reiss ‏@MikeReiss 1h1 hour ago
On @theMMQB, @SI_PeterKing lists the reasons why Tom Brady shouldn't be suspended, and why he should be suspended: http://on.si.com/1cI7Ity

 

[The Gr8est]

^^ this all day long. I cant stop coming back to that, why would you set up one of your own when you could just have made a call, "knock it off" if it was happening. This is fully being driven by the fact that, at least in the national media, Tom Bradys ball pressure is far more diabolical than ISIS.

At the end of the day Roger needs to ask himself the question, "What course of action will best help the Rats overcome the Pats'dominance over them?"

 

[IllegalContact]

Wells only does what he is told and was hired to write a narrative that the NFL can use to destroy TB12 and support the justification of it's sting operation which is completely ludicrous b/c it allowed for "deflated" balls to be used DURING A TITLE GAME.

Chatham is right. The NFL was more concerned with nailing the Pats than enforcing the integrity of the game.

Pathetic.

This is a huge point and a simple question needs to be asked: "If you were aware of a potential situation, then why did you NOT assure that the AFCC game would spend any time playing with 'illegal balls'?"

It would have been easy to do this....it would have been easier to just approach the team before the game

 

[hambone1818]

Holy crap, Peter King on MMQB is even starting to come around:

But...

then he backs off a bit

That's about as far as I'd honestly expect a mouthpiece of the NFL would ever go, to be honest. He says Wells was neutral and not looking to prosecute the Pats, but then questions the data. He calls for a suspension of 1 game (2 max) not for any wrongdoing but for Brady not cooperating with the investigation.

It's not right, and I believe Brady would fight any suspension, but I actually think that might be the direction this is headed to be honest. Media members, King included, are seeing how faulty the data is in this report, I give him credit for calling it out at the least because he's normally nothing but an NFL cheerleader.

 

[IllegalContact]

Plus the Pats fan base has been under seige so much since Spygate.

I haven't been under siege.......it's like being under siege for your favorite movie

 

[50-yard-line]

Casper was very disappointing on News Center 5 Overtime last night. He kind of poo-poo'd the whole thing then said Brady should be punished because of the texts - "the Delfator" in particular.

I can see where he'd get that, but I would have expected some anger from him, or at least concern, about how badly the NFL screwed everything up, yet again.

 

[hambone1818]

Anybody that listened to AM national news reports would certainly not gree that the tide is turning.

I heard the usual, cheating must be punished or else the wrong message is sent to the parents of today's children (it's ok to abuse, rape and murderthough).

And of course the usual, what will poor roger do? Is he in krafts pocket or can he " protect the shield".

Sorry to be Debbie downer this AM, but, I don't see the real truth getting out at all, at least not yet.

The cave trolls on am radio will never change their tune. I'm not concerned with them, at all. We've seen PFT and King start to question parts of the report, and Reiss has done good work even if it's buried in the Patriots blog of ESPN. I think 538 will follow with a breakdown soon, I'm surprised they haven't already (beyond their 'live blog' when the report was released, which was based on a lot of the noisy headline-grabbers) so that'll get some ESPN exposure.

These things take time, the momentum suggests people are rightly questioning the report. If an appeal to a penalty is made then, I'm sure, even more evidence will come out to support Brady and the Patriots cause.

The imbeciles on am radio are unreachable, they'll never be convinced and most fans of 31 other teams will count this as another cheating mark against the Cheatriots, it was always gonna be that way no matter what the report said. We need the real media to turn the tide for reasonable fans, and give us ammo to use against the dumbasses who continue to slander the Pats reputation, but they'll never change their tune.

 

[FCB02062]

Mike Reiss ‏@MikeReiss 1h1 hour ago
On @theMMQB, @SI_PeterKing lists the reasons why Tom Brady shouldn't be suspended, and why he should be suspended: http://on.si.com/1cI7Ity

How to ride that fence, Pete...

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Sure, but being the son of a Senator has certain advantages not available to the unwashed masses.

Any million people that you find don't stand a chance if they lack the proper privilege.

I agree, although I meant simply on qualifications and actual performance capabilities.

 

[hambone1818]

Good read. Problem is that this will fall on deaf ears as 95% of what's out there wants thier pound of flesh. Goodell wants to appease the masses not the minority

Goodell will not hurt his reputation one bit by suspending Brady for 6 games. He will improve it.

I actually disagree, and I think this is what Goodell/Vincent are weighing right now. 31 fanbases are calling for a long suspension, he knows it'd be the best way to bury this issue and come out smelling like a rose across most of the NFL...until an appeal comes. And the Wells reports bias is set out in plain view. And questions about the sting and media leaks start popping up.

I have no doubt in my mind Goodell wants this buried and over with asap, this report is a steaming pile of garbage and he knows it, it would get torn to shreds by an arbiter. So does he appease the masses only to see it come back to bite him, or does he play the middle ground and give Brady 1 game, 2 max (as seems to be the common penalty called for by a number of the more reasoned national writers) and hope Brady doesn't appeal?

I'm going with the latter. And I hope Brady still appeals and tears Goodell/Wells/Exponent to shreds.

 

[RobertWeathers]

This is a huge point and a simple question needs to be asked: "If you were aware of a potential situation, then why did you NOT assure that the AFCC game would spend any time playing with 'illegal balls'?"

It would have been easy to do this....it would have been easier to just approach the team before the game

In the report, Wells said that a "sting" was not in place. If you argue that a sting is a deceptive act to catch someone in the process of an illegal act, by SIMULATING the actual scenario, then they did not have a sting.

They did not want to tell the Patriots because they wanted evidence. They were hell-bent on catching them using under-inflated balls and IF Yee and team suponea email and text records from Wells, Goody, Kensil and others, they show the NFL Executive Offices and Paul, Weiss, LLC discussing the potential investigation of the New England Patriots BEFORE the AFCCG as that is what Wells would advise his client....get the evidence first and I can create the narrative.

Basically, they wanted to catch them.

 

[Rob0729]

How to ride that fence, Pete...

He was far more critical of the Wells report and defensive of Brady on Twitter. But when it comes down to it, King will never take sides against Goodell in print or on his website. It is all about not having a real opinion.

 

[reflexblue]

Agreed, Darryl, but I'd take it even further. This is what a good boss/CEO would have done at the receipt of the first sniff of a concern about deflated footballs from another team: called NE and said, "Hey, this is what we've been told, what can you tell me about it?" Then the good boss/CEO would have said, " If there's nothing to it, there's nothing to it. If there is something to it, just knock it off." End of story.

This is one of the reasons goody is so incompetent, no one MADE him do any of this. When grigson complained goody should have said 'ok, i'll take care of it' and called the patriots and said 'look i'm hearing that your messing with the footballs' 'knock it off'. Instead HE Goodell makes a big issue out of it and now has put himself in a spot. Hes damned if does, and damed if he doesn't. If he suspends brady, brady will come after him along with the union, and it could get real ugly for goody, it would be Must see tv. If goody doesn't suspend brady fans will come after him with pitch forks, tar, and feathers because hes bff with kraft and let the pats off the hook. He made his own bed, he needs to lie in it, hopefully he loses his job.