jfc here we go. Look I get it, you're in catching people out mode. No matter what answers you get you're gonna shift goalposts and nit it up so I'm only gonna do this once.
First, the radio guys were all saying it was non-contact when it first happened. I'm not sure why you think this would be made up.
Mike Reiss ?@MikeReiss 2h
On the play where Tom Brady remained down, if was a sideline pass to Aaron Dobson that was incomplete. Didn't see any contact w/ Brady.
here's SMY apologizing for saying what you claim she didn't say (she even says "we" hmmm)
shalise manza young ?@shalisemyoung 1h
so apologies for saying we didn't think Brady got hit...but he did play a few snaps after getting rolled up on, then walked off on own power
since you were too lazy to bother looking these up on your own, and indignant even when pointed towards them, I'm not going to bother digging up more. Needless to say, before the video surfaced not a single media member reported that there was contact or a pile up or anything.
So onto the apologist stuff....
That's a bit of a stretch in my opinion, but if you feel that way then follow another writer. Check out writers for the 31 other NFL teams for perspective; I think your expectations are unreasonably high.
what does this even mean? I didn't mention a specific writer that I follow, I am aware of what is produced by pretty much all of them. Really the only ones that are worth a damn are guys like Brian Burke but I'm guessing you have no clue who he is. I'm sure the beat writers for 31 other teams are similar or worse, the point is that the industry does not incentivize actual football reporting, unless you think someone like Greg Bedard dreams of bringing his heavyweight analysis to 98.5 or ESPN to shake things up with talk about route trees and blitz packages instead of "zomgTebow!@11"
Actually the Patriots forbid the Pats beat writers from tweeting during practice. The in-practice info is almost exclusively from fans, or in today's case Tampa Bay beat writers.
This is just pure nittery. First of all as today shows this is not enforced and routinely ignored. Second it doesn't matter whether they tweet during or after. Read any analysis of a WR or a OT or whatever written by a beat reporter and find me one instance of it not being based entirely on 2-3 "big" plays that fans also tweeted about. Find me the sick beat reporter who's talking about how Boyce's routes looked, what he ran etc. or how Svitek's technique faredin run v. pass protection. Guys like Reiss and Yates are probably the cream of the crop in this regard and their "analysis" is mediocre at best.
I think Reiss is a good guy who works hard, so I don't want to pick on him, but as the best of what's out there an example is this Collins piece:
Top pick Collins rises up on D - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston
What's missing? Oh yeah, reporting on how Collins actually performed...
Have you ever been to practice? It's entirely different from a game.
I've been to at least 2 practices each of the last 3 years. This year I've only made it to 1 but I hope to make it to another. Part of my disdain for the media as a whole is bolstered by watching them sit around on their own private hill not paying any attention to anything (often times wandering off for extended periods of time) and then flocking to get their soundbites after practice (which is all sports reporting is about).
For example, it is virtually impossible to get a good read on who is and is not doing well on the OL and DL. You can't sack the QB, so it is tough to assess the defense. You're nearly at field level, so there's not the same perspective when you sit high and can see the entire field. And there's no big screen or slow motion replays to help you out with either.
I would say this is true sometimes, it certainly isn't true in these joint practices or in the second half of intra-squad practice when they scrimmage. And the bleachers rise as does the hill the media sits on, what do you think the coaches are looking at?
It all depends on who you follow to reach that conclusion.
If you translate "football knowledge" into "sports entertainment" knowledge you're correct. But otherwise no it doesn't. They know about the players and what he said about him and is he going to win MVP and where he went to school etc. because that's what gets talked about on national and local radio etc. and that's what gets conditioned as important. Mike Reiss didn't even know what Cover 2 was. Not important to the job description.
shalise manza young ?@shalisemyoung 2h
unfortunately it seems
none of my colleagues (nor I) saw exactly what happened to Brady...we know he did not take a hit
