It is official! The league has made a bad situation a disaster

[Oswlek]

It appears as if the only lesson learned by the league from the Ray Rice debacle is "take more time during investigations."

Of course, that's a reasonable takeaway if given proper context. When it's the offseason and allegations serious, it is important to get all the facts and react accordingly. When it's the week before the most important game, the allegations involve one of the participants and the entire issue of trivial consequence, it makes much more sense to act swiftly and move on. What could they possibly still be investigating at this point? Stretching things out only exacerbates the issue and lends credence to all the nonsense being bandied about. And every single person on the planet could have told you this beforehand, aside from Rog, apparently

Hopefully it is just incompetence because the alternative is that there are forces within the league itself that want to knock NE down a peg.

I'm proud of Bill for taking a stand and the reversals on the part of a few media members since then hopefully are a harbinger of this thing finally dying out.

 

[MassPats38]

I am of the opinion the league looks stupid no matter what it does. Talking about transparency and then slinking away with leaks and silence and stretching this on to a ridiculous degree. What BB did yesterday was what transparency looks like. Real transparency. The league is dumber than a bag of hair and looks it no matter what they do at this point.

In my cynical, conspiracy theorist side, I believe this whole 'scandal' did exactly what the Commissioner wanted. His goal has always been about increasing NFL revenue, and he has done that successfully (say one thing, ie. safety, do another).

How hard has it been to drag out the media interest for two weeks in the past? This thing ate up the entire week before the Pro Bowl, leaving little room for regular stories. These 'leaks' (exactly how many people work on this investigation in the NFL Office that you could not identify and shutdown a leak in an ongoing investigation?) appeared at different times, each time riling up the media and other fan bases with new speculation (sacrifice the comfort of 3% of the NFL fan base to the pleasure and financial benefits of the other 97% - sounds like good business to me). The end result has been a larger hate group of NFL fans, universally hoping to see the 'cheatriots' fall, and possibly causing fans to back the Hawks and watch the game to see the Pats get their comeuppance.

More clicks on these stories (revenue rewards for paying networks and Internet sites), more radio and television interest, possible increase in Super Bowl viewing audience (this game is not shaping up with national appeal, as both teams have been their before and aren't universally loved). Any cop with a polygraph would have solved this investigation in 4 hours. 36 witnesses and one is not the QB handling the ball - how does that happen? With that week down, now turn to the regular stories in the typical pre-game week. If that was the Commish's plan, and this was about money, he may be worth the $43 million (I would prefer a commissioner who cared more about the game and its players, but I think that is wishful thinking with this jackass).

 

[BelichickFan]

I'll have to watch BB's presser again, but I thought I heard his voice break just a teeny bit when he began to talk about how hard this team has worked. I bet he's enraged with the blundering, idiotic NFL. Deflated balls. Come on, get serious!!

I read on PatriotsPlanet that the team was told not to leave the facility after practice and to watch the press conference. I bet they were fired up.

 

[RobertWeathers]

The only out the league and Goodell has is if they some how find a smoking gun. .

....or "conduct" their own investigation and collaborate with the Patriots findings.

They can start with hiring Rob Borges. I hear he is pretty good at claiming other people's work to be his own.

 

[Rob0729]

In my cynical, conspiracy theorist side, I believe this whole 'scandal' did exactly what the Commissioner wanted. His goal has always been about increasing NFL revenue, and he has done that successfully (say one thing, ie. safety, do another).

How hard has it been to drag out the media interest for two weeks in the past? This thing ate up the entire week before the Pro Bowl, leaving little room for regular stories. These 'leaks' (exactly how many people work on this investigation in the NFL Office that you could not identify and shutdown a leak in an ongoing investigation?) appeared at different times, each time riling up the media and other fan bases with new speculation (sacrifice the comfort of 3% of the NFL fan base to the pleasure and financial benefits of the other 97% - sounds like good business to me). The end result has been a larger hate group of NFL fans, universally hoping to see the 'cheatriots' fall, and possibly causing fans to back the Hawks and watch the game to see the Pats get their comeuppance.

More clicks on these stories (revenue rewards for paying networks and Internet sites), more radio and television interest, possible increase in Super Bowl viewing audience (this game is not shaping up with national appeal, as both teams have been their before and aren't universally loved). Any cop with a polygraph would have solved this investigation in 4 hours. 36 witnesses and one is not the QB handling the ball - how does that happen? With that week down, now turn to the regular stories in the typical pre-game week. If that was the Commish's plan, and this was about money, he may be worth the $43 million (I would prefer a commissioner who cared more about the game and its players, but I think that is wishful thinking with this jackass).

I really don't get this "the league loves the publicity" angle people are floating. I can't see the League wanting this. The "no press is bad press" argument means that Goodell and Kraft are Skyping right now how to continue this story for another couple of weeks. Because if this bad press is good for the NFL and no press is bad press, then logic this is a bonanza for Kraft and the Patriots. They are getting bad press true and if bad press is good press, this is benefitting the Patriots' brand.

This is a nightmare for the League and especially Goodell. It is just another scandal to ruin the credibility of the League and especially Goodell. I can't think they are remotely happy with the attention this is getting.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I still believe the only reason Goodell would have destroyed the tapes to cover up examples of cheating is that Belichick showed him evidence of other teams cheating and Goodell didn't want those to get out. I mean if Belichick did other things other than videotaping signals why would he have turned them over to Goodell. It would be like getting caught shop lifting and when the police were questioning you about that crime, you give them evidence of you murdering someone. It just didn't make any sense.

In Sept of 2007, all Goodell had to was state that the Pats didn't cheat. The NFL allows videotaping but the Patriots knowingly violated a rule. Rather than make the issue global and discredit all 32 teams, he left it up to the media to slander the Pats and let BB twist in the wind.

BB has turned the tables b/c he is sick and tired of Goody and his sycophants dropping turds on his org.

Goodell doesn't have the stones to fight back. His lackeys will figure out a way for him to slither out if this abyss somehow. They always do.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I read on PatriotsPlanet that the team was told not to leave the facility after practice and to watch the press conference. I bet they were fired up.

Thats so awesome.

 

[Bella*chick]

I really don't get this "the league loves the publicity" angle people are floating. I can't see the League wanting this. The "no press is bad press" argument means that Goodell and Kraft are Skyping right now how to continue this story for another couple of weeks. Because if this bad press is good for the NFL and no press is bad press, then logic this is a bonanza for Kraft and the Patriots. They are getting bad press true and if bad press is good press, this is benefitting the Patriots' brand.

This is a nightmare for the League and especially Goodell. It is just another scandal to ruin the credibility of the League and especially Goodell. I can't think they are remotely happy with the attention this is getting.

Common sense says you are right, Rob, but I don't believe the league is governed by anyone with any common sense. If they are, then they wrap this thing up Monday and say that the Patriots didn't do anything wrong. Beyond denying it, the investigation turned up nothing and the Patriots themselves produced an answer that they themselves have been invited to replicate. Everyone can go home knowing a bit more science.

eta: I read that on the Planet too and I wonder why it didn't show up here. I don't even know where the person the PLanet heard it but it is AWESOME and rings true.

 

[RobertWeathers]

In my cynical, conspiracy theorist side, I believe this whole 'scandal' did exactly what the Commissioner wanted. His goal has always been about increasing NFL revenue, and he has done that successfully (say one thing, ie. safety, do another).

How hard has it been to drag out the media interest for two weeks in the past? This thing ate up the entire week before the Pro Bowl, leaving little room for regular stories. These 'leaks' (exactly how many people work on this investigation in the NFL Office that you could not identify and shutdown a leak in an ongoing investigation?) appeared at different times, each time riling up the media and other fan bases with new speculation (sacrifice the comfort of 3% of the NFL fan base to the pleasure and financial benefits of the other 97% - sounds like good business to me). The end result has been a larger hate group of NFL fans, universally hoping to see the 'cheatriots' fall, and possibly causing fans to back the Hawks and watch the game to see the Pats get their comeuppance.

More clicks on these stories (revenue rewards for paying networks and Internet sites), more radio and television interest, possible increase in Super Bowl viewing audience (this game is not shaping up with national appeal, as both teams have been their before and aren't universally loved). Any cop with a polygraph would have solved this investigation in 4 hours. 36 witnesses and one is not the QB handling the ball - how does that happen? With that week down, now turn to the regular stories in the typical pre-game week. If that was the Commish's plan, and this was about money, he may be worth the $43 million (I would prefer a commissioner who cared more about the game and its players, but I think that is wishful thinking with this jackass).

He is a freaking moron.

His "calculated" inaction is tarnishing the brand and one of it's marquee teams.

Marketing 101: Never F with the brand.

 

[Rob0729]

....or "conduct" their own investigation and collaborate with the Patriots findings.

That would be the biggest disaster of all. The media and most of the public have already decided there is so much evidence that the Pats' cheat that anything less than a year suspension for Belichick is an outrage. If the league backs the Patriots, it will be portray as a cover up.

 

[italian pat patriot]

I read on PatriotsPlanet that the team was told not to leave the facility after practice and to watch the press conference. I bet they were fired up.

alè alè alè

 

[RobertWeathers]

That would be the biggest disaster of all. The media and most of the public have already decided there is so much evidence that the Pats' cheat that anything less than a year suspension for Belichick is an outrage. If the league backs the Patriots, it will be portray as a cover up.

Not necessarily. In the league's carefully worded statement from Friday, it left itself open to be positioned favorable/neutral on multiple outcomes. By going down the scientific route, it does establish a level of credibility that cannot be refuted. They've hired Renaissance which buys them credibility.

If they were to come out and disagree with the Pats, now you have a war.

 

[VJCPatriot]

Don't know the future, but Belichick just ripped an EPIC serve. And the ball is now firmly in the NFL's court. The damage control is on them now. The burden of proof is on them. And quite frankly I think they have nothing. No proof of tampering, no evidence, no video tape, no smoking gun, nothing. Dragging it out further serves the NFL nothing. Deflate-gate had its week of air time but everyone's going to get sick of it soon if they haven't already.

And with BB's clear cut statement of the team's innocence, it is clear our guys are not willing to take a 'slap on the wrist' penalty. It's either prove we did something wrong or nothing at all, because we didn't do anything wrong in the first place.

 

[Rob0729]

Not necessarily. In the league's carefully worded statement from Friday, it left itself open to be positioned favorable/neutral on multiple outcomes. By going down the scientific route, it does establish a level of credibility that cannot be refuted. They've hired Renaissance which buys them credibility.

If they were to come out and disagree with the Pats, now you have a war.

No they have already leaked enough information that they have made it clear they think the Patriots have cheated. Now if they back the Pats, people will question why the Colts' balls didn't deflate or the Patriots balls after they re-inflated them. The League has already taken the backing the Patriots option off the table.
The best they can do is that although they suspect wrong doing, there is no way to prove it.

 

[pwes]

I'll have to watch BB's presser again, but I thought I heard his voice break just a teeny bit when he began to talk about how hard this team has worked. I bet he's enraged with the blundering, idiotic NFL. Deflated balls. Come on, get serious!!

I did too and You could tell that it really hurt him that all the hard work they put in was now being slandered by these allegations. I almost got the sense that he was speaking on behalf of the players that they were upset that their work and time and effort was being discredited over some light footballs. Its a really ****ty thing for all of them to have to go through.

 

[upstater1]

Additionally, and I don't know if it were intentional or not as it was in the Q&A part, he sounds ready to go rogue on CameraGate if necessary. We all know 80,000 people could see it, it was in the public domain. But this : "So we filmed him making signals out in front of 80,000 people like there were a lot of other teams doing at that time too" can't make Roger feel too good especially as Michael Holley has said in the past that the Patriots had evidence others were doing it. In general BB has too much respect for the league to blow the lid off but I get the feeling that he is moving closer to doing just that if they continue to ruin his reputation.

And this was positively titillating : "I think there are a number of things that need to be looked into on a number of levels. That’s not for this conversation. I’m sure it will be taken up at another point in time."

I believe that was his way of saying he needs to find out how the sting worked. My guess ? Colts equipment manager was told to put air in the Colts balls immediately at halftime so the Colts' balls wouldn't match the Patriots' natural deflation. Who knows but it's clear that Bill wants to know.

Some not so subtle warning shots were thrown from Foxboro yesterday.

Graham Gano once said a ref told him it was illegal to pump balls up after kickoff.

Which makes this whole case even funkier.

During a cold weather game, Gano had noticed the K ball had deflated. he took it to the ref who said it would be against the rules to pump it up.

Which makes sense, because it would be unfair to pump up one or some of the balls if all of them had deflated because of the weather.

And this also begs the question as to how halftime was handled.

 

[RobertWeathers]

No they have already leaked enough information that they have made it clear they think the Patriots have cheated. Now if they back the Pats, people will question why the Colts' balls didn't deflate or the Patriots balls after they re-inflated them. The League has already taken the backing the Patriots option off the table.
The best they can do is that although they suspect wrong doing, there is no way to prove it.

They have options. They tell the Colts that we confirm that the Pats prepped the balls X way and the Colts prepped balls Y way. They tell the Colts to go along or the investigation will now focus on you.

NFL also says that the Pats/Colts balls were stored in different places- and climate impacted 1/2 time measurements.

There will be a cover -up but it will be based by logical deduction.

 

[phil112]

Here is one of the more lucid articles so far, and this will/should be the way this comes down.

"
The NFL will conclude regarding its investigation into the deflated footballs used by the New England Patriots during their AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts that neither head coach Bill Belichick or quarterback Tom Brady deliberately did anything to deflate the footballs below the league limit of 12.5 pounds per square inch.

In other words, that when it comes to cheating, what Belichick and Brady have said during their press conferences is the truth.

It is not unusual for quarterbacks to have footballs worked over before games to get them they way they like. In an interview with the Tampa Bay Times in 2012, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Brad Johnson said that before Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003, he paid some unidentified people $7,500 to doctor the 100 footballs allocated for use in that game. Johnson didn’t say that he had the air pressure altered; he said that he had the balls scuffed, which wasn’t legal at the time but is now. And during a CBS CBS -1.5% broadcast of this season’s matchup between the Green Bay Packers and New England on Nov. 30, announcer Phil Simms said Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers preferred footballs that were inflated slightly beyond the specified limit. “Every team tampers with the footballs,” Matt Leinart said on Twitter. “Ask any Qb In the league, this is ridiculous!!”

What I think happened is the Patriots equipment manager, or whom ever deals with getting the footballs the way Brady prefers them, deflated the balls below the 12.5 pounds per square inch, or, had the footballs right at the legal minimum and the weather caused the weight of the footballs to fall below the minimum PPSI.

The media has been quick to jump on Spygate–when the Patriots videotaped the defensive signals of the New York Jets during a game–as evidence that Belichick is a serial cheater. But the media seems to have forgotten that, Jack Del Rio, then the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, said at the time it was commonplace to study actions on the opposing sideline. ”I think all teams do that,” he said. That’s been going on forever.” And former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson said at the time: This is exactly how I was told to do it 18 years ago by a Kansas City Chiefs scout. I tried it, but I didn’t think it helped us. Bill Belichick was wrong because he videotaped signals after a memo was sent out to all teams saying not to do it. But what irritates me is hearing some reactions from players and coaches. These players don’t know what their coaches are doing, and some of the coaches have selective amnesia because I know for a fact there were various teams doing this. That’s why the memo was sent to everybody. That doesn’t make Belichick right, but a lot of teams are doing this.”

This doesn’t make Belichick innocent in 2007, but it doesn’t exactly make him some sort of serial cheater, either. I suspect the NFL will fine the Patriots (think something along the lines of the Pac-12 fining USC for using deflated footballs against Oregon in 2012) after the Super Bowl for the deflated footballs, and put in place some sort of rule changes to ensure footballs that are used during games to meet the league requirements. But I doubt the NFL will find any evidence Brady or Belichick knowingly had the footballs deflated."
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeoza...ick-and-brady-did-not-cheat/?partner=yahootix

 

[TomPatriot]

In Sept of 2007, all Goodell had to was state that the Pats didn't cheat. The NFL allows videotaping but the Patriots knowingly violated a rule. Rather than make the issue global and discredit all 32 teams, he left it up to the media to slander the Pats and let BB twist in the wind.

BB has turned the tables b/c he is sick and tired of Goody and his sycophants dropping turds on his org.

Goodell doesn't have the stones to fight back. His lackeys will figure out a way for him to slither out if this abyss somehow. They always do.

He let BB twist in the wind because of the memo. If BB stops filming from the field after the memo is issued, punishment is unlikely. BB was disregarding a clarification from the League office, disrespecting the authority of the NFL Commissioner and not one of the 32 owners was going to stand for that, not even Kraft. We can spin it any way we want, create any kind of justification we want, talk about 80k people and none of that really changes the fact that BB thumbed his nose at the League. It's one small mistake in a glorious career.

I suspect BB knows he's right this time and the Pats did nothing wrong. This is his way of turning adversity into strength, motivating his team to make up for lost time, keeping his team focused and driven. It is also a shot across the bow, indicating there are secrets he could spill.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

It cannot be overemphasized how masterful BB's press conference was. Of course it was panned and ridiculed by much of the media but it sent a clear message to the empty suit running the NFL that BB is not gonna let the league besmirch the Patriots team, the players, and their legacies with some made up charge. I'm now certain that BB has consulted & has on retainer expert engineering consultants ready to back up his statements should it be required to refute some bogus NFL claim.

I had the same reaction that others here did upon hearing BB indirectly imply that other teams may be at issue here. Another arrow in the quiver. Most fun of all was his excellent response to the public camera placement scandal.

Sure BB could be at risk getting tossed out of the NFL should Goody go totally irrational and BB respond with nukes, but there's always college coaching and the Naval Academy which he loves. There are probably close to 30 NFL owners who would grab him in an instant were he to become a FA, say after a suspension.

Bottom line: BB looked at the firestorm and saw that his legacy and that of Tom Brady, a man whom I believe he deeply respects, was being utterly trashed. He risked everything to go on the offensive here. I'll bet that even if Bob Kraft was objecting BB told him it's this or the highway. And that speculation is likely unfair because for all I know Bob Kraft is readying the next step on the offensive but only if it's needed.