Vegas Rumour: No Punishment For Patriots

[upstater1]

To most the country it is. In fact, even if they find no evidence, any punishment that doesn't include a suspension for Belichick and/or Brady will draw criticism from media outlets and people all over the country.

The NFL is going to be criticized no matter what. They already are. People are saying the Patriots always get off lightly. This is before the investigation is concluded.

People gin up outrage to crank up the penalties.

Doesn't reeally matter what the NFL does.

And, furthermore, a smaller penalty is going to give the appearance of going lightly. Ie. a 3rd rd pick. Whereas "we have no evidence that they did it" is cut and dried.

 

[Galeb]

The only punishment/fine/suspension I'm looking for is the one imposed on the Colts, for (hopefully) having been found to have tempered with the Patriots balls.

I doubt the Colts tampered with Pats balls. They probably new that Brady liked his on the on the softer side and purposefully filled their balls to 13.5 PSI with cold air.

 

[dannydyn]

It doesn't matter if the NFL has no evidence, it doesn't even matter if they come out and say 'the Patriots did nothing wrong and we apologise to them'. The public and the media still hate them and there will always be a belief that the NFL is hiding something. I live in Vancouver surrounded by Seahawk fans ,even the few that are not, do not want the Patriots to win, think they are cheaters blah blah blah !! This is the public perception and will always remain the same till BB and Brady leave the NFL
I don't even know if I want to watch this game. I don't see how we win. The league won't allow it. Every time the Pats even look at the Seahawks they'll get a penalty !! This was supposed to be two glorious weeks leading up to the big game and its just left such a sour taste in my mouth.
( OK, I will watch the game but with a very nervous and tense feeling )

...and I live dead smack in the middle of Jets/Giants land.... - My response?....

**** YOU HATERS!

 

[QuantumMechanic]

BTW, you are wrong about how they check balls. They do check with a pressure gauge. MMQB.com followed a ref crew around in 2013. And they filmed them checking the pressure.

http://mmqb.si.com/2015/01/22/deflategate-video-how-nfl-officials-check-game-ball-pressure/

That means nothing. Of course the refs are going to follow official protocol with the Official League Mouthpiece hovering over them. We also have ballboys saying refs would often just squeeze them. Further, if refs always gauge-tested balls, why would the Packers bother to submit over-inflated balls? It would be pointless.

 

[Rob0729]

If that's the case then the NFL adheres to Banana Republic justice, and the media is now in charge of who should get 1st round draft picks, or who should get fines, because they have the power to drum up a mob against a team which the NFL then needs to appease by handing out punishments.

Ridiculous if true

Am I the only one who paid attention to the Ray Rice case? Rice got a two game suspension from the league. The video came out and the public was outraged and Goodell changed the punishment because of the public outcry.

If this is the case?!? This case was already proven.

 

[TomPatriot]

Maybe. He's shown that, so far, he has none. He stood in front of the mirror, Buffalo Bill style, and tucked them between his legs during Spygate. Hopefully this ridiculous scandal is different.

You can understand it though at the time. The punishment was stupid, but Kraft agreed with the League on the infraction. A memo went out clarifying the rule and BB broke the rule anyway to gain no competitive advantage. He acted like a stubborn mule. Kraft was right; BB was being a schmuck, but everybody makes mistakes, even the great ones.

The worst thing about Spygate is that after paying the fine, losing the draft pick, accepting the blame, receiving the punishment and saying the mea culpas, it is raised time and time again, by the mediocre, the stupid and the dishonest.

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

We've reached critical stupid when news that punishments will not be handed out for crimes that didn't occur is considered controversial.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

BTW, you are wrong about how they check balls. They do check with a pressure gauge. MMQB.com followed a ref crew around in 2013. And they filmed them checking the pressure.

http://mmqb.si.com/2015/01/22/deflategate-video-how-nfl-officials-check-game-ball-pressure/

Seratore's crew seems very thorough, particularly with a film crew there.

Different ref, no camera, who knows?

 

[QuantumMechanic]

However, and ominously, the Official League Mouthpiece has a piece up on MMQB this morning saying that "all 24 balls" were tested and were OK before the game, 11 of 12 NE balls were low at halftime, and "all 24" balls were fine after the game.

I interpret the "all 24" balls fine after the game to be referring to the 12 Colts primary balls and the 12 NE backup balls (since the 12 NE primary balls were taken out of the game at halftime). That is bad. Why? Because it means:

1. Colts balls ok before, ok after.
2. NE primary balls ok before, bad at halftime.
3. NE backup balls ok before, ok at halftime (they were reportedly tested again), ok after.

If true, this blows away the "refs didn't check" theory and it also blows away the weather theory (because NE primary and backup balls were both in cold and rain for half the game and primaries deflated while backups did not).

 

[The Gr8est]

I doubt it. My guess is that Kraft will sign off on the punishment which should be a fine and a loss of a draft pick. Kraft cares too much about the league to sue.

I'm liking Bob Kraft a whole lot less than I used to. Maybe it's time for Jonathan to take over.

 

[Fixit]

Wait a second. Me believing the reports may be true is guessing, but your opinion that this is a witch hunt and a smear campaign against the Pats and they are manufacturing reports are true.

We have no idea what the facts are.

BTW, you are wrong about how they check balls. They do check with a pressure gauge. MMQB.com followed a ref crew around in 2013. And they filmed them checking the pressure.

http://mmqb.si.com/2015/01/22/deflategate-video-how-nfl-officials-check-game-ball-pressure/

They were on camera, Rob. Of course they were going to do everything by the book. QBs and ballboys tell a different story.

 

[Rob0729]

The NFL is going to be criticized no matter what. They already are. People are saying the Patriots always get off lightly. This is before the investigation is concluded.

People gin up outrage to crank up the penalties.

Doesn't reeally matter what the NFL does.

And, furthermore, a smaller penalty is going to give the appearance of going lightly. Ie. a 3rd rd pick. Whereas "we have no evidence that they did it" is cut and dried.

They will be criticized any way they do it, but if they don't punish the Patriots at all it will be a doomsday scenario. The public and media have already convicted the Patriots. No punishment and the media crap storm would ten times worse than it is now.

 

[stealthdog]

There is no way this concludes with no penalty. Whether the Patriots did anything wrong (I have no idea) is completely irrelevant. The case has already been tried in the court of public opinion with no evidence and only speculation. The league will at minimum fine the Patriots and Kraft will agree to it.

All the clown "analysts" that have already judged Brady and the Patriots (with no evidence, of course) have holes all throughout their "analysis." They are hacks. They have a conclusion they want and then they try to fill in the blanks to support that conclusion. Aikman says the Patriots should be punished more than the Saints for Bounty Gate because there was no evidence on the field that linked bounties to actual plays. Well....where is the evidence that a Patriots employee deflated footballs when the footballs were in their possession after they were approved by the referees before the game? There is none. But it doesn't matter.

The masses want a lynching and the Patriots will get slapped with a token penalty. It won't satisfy all those "analysts" out for blood, but it will at least allow them to pat themselves on the back and justify their righteous accusations and let them say "see....they did cheat!" Whether the Patriots actually did anything really doesn't matter anymore. The league created a controversy (probably because they wanted a story during this dead week) and can't let it end without them being "right."

Didn't a fake controversy also surface before the last Patriots Super Bowl that also turned out to be completely unfounded?

 

[Ivan]

Am I the only one who paid attention to the Ray Rice case? Rice got a two game suspension from the league. The video came out and the public was outraged and Goodell changed the punishment because of the public outcry.

If this is the case?!? This case was already proven.

And it was overturned.

No Rob, you arent the only one paying attention, we just disagree with you.

 

[Rob0729]

Seratore's crew seems very thorough, particularly with a film crew there.

Different ref, no camera, who knows?

Again, the refs could have screwed up, but there is no evidence of it. We don't want the league to punish the Pats with no evidence and then saying that the refs are the reason the this whole mess happened with even less evidence of that.

 

[Ivan]

They will be criticized any way they do it, but if they don't punish the Patriots at all it will be a doomsday scenario. The public and media have already convicted the Patriots. No punishment and the media crap storm would ten times worse than it is now.

Doomsday, Really Rob?

You really are listening to the hype way to much.

 

[Rob0729]

And it was overturned.

No Rob, you arent the only one paying attention, we just disagree with you.

It was overtuned by an arbitrator, not Goodell. Doesn't change the fact the that Goodell doesn't use public pressure to control his rulings. And the Ray Rice case was overturned because of double jeopardy and not because of the abitrator felt that the punishment was not justified for the act.

 

[Jackson 2]

However, and ominously, the Official League Mouthpiece has a piece up on MMQB this morning saying that "all 24 balls" were tested and were OK before the game, 11 of 12 NE balls were low at halftime, and "all 24" balls were fine after the game.

I interpret the "all 24" balls fine after the game to be referring to the 12 Colts primary balls and the 12 NE backup balls (since the 12 NE primary balls were taken out of the game at halftime). That is bad. Why? Because it means:

1. Colts balls ok before, ok after.
2. NE primary balls ok before, bad at halftime.
3. NE backup balls ok before, ok at halftime (they were reportedly tested again), ok after.

If true, this blows away the "refs didn't check" theory and it also blows away the weather theory (because NE primary and backup balls were both in cold and rain for half the game and primaries deflated while backups did not).

Brady revealed yesterday at his presser that the Pats had 24 footballs on Sunday before the game, not 12.

 

[upstater1]

However, and ominously, the Official League Mouthpiece has a piece up on MMQB this morning saying that "all 24 balls" were tested and were OK before the game, 11 of 12 NE balls were low at halftime, and "all 24" balls were fine after the game.

I interpret the "all 24" balls fine after the game to be referring to the 12 Colts primary balls and the 12 NE backup balls (since the 12 NE primary balls were taken out of the game at halftime). That is bad. Why? Because it means:

1. Colts balls ok before, ok after.
2. NE primary balls ok before, bad at halftime.
3. NE backup balls ok before, ok at halftime (they were reportedly tested again), ok after.

If true, this blows away the "refs didn't check" theory and it also blows away the weather theory (because NE primary and backup balls were both in cold and rain for half the game and primaries deflated while backups did not).

Others reported the backup balls were in the locker room, not on the field, which is why the Patriots used Colts balls in the first half.

And, about the 12 Patriot balls, did they recover the ball Blount threw into the stands after his TD?

 

[Rob0729]

Doomsday, Really Rob?

You really are listening to the hype way to much.

This was the lead story for every national newscast last night. Are you not paying attention. People want blood. A little blood is going to draw national ire. No blood will be outrage.

I am not saying the league will fold. I am saying this is going to be a PR nightmare of epic proportions that will make the Ray Rice thing look tame.