NFL league office: All Patriots tapes have been destroyed! [mergedx4]

[pats63]

Time to move on and who give a rats ***** what other people think or say....Proof is on the field.....

 

[DarrylS]

Glad to see it is over, BB stood his ground, many in the press continue to not understand him and his methods.. we have found out who our reliable press is and who is all about the numbers.. lets move on to the Pats now and put all of this behind us.

 

[VJCPatriot]

Finally an end to the drama?
Let's hope so.
This incident was just an excuse for a media feeding frenzy.
The Sharks smelled blood and boy did they try to make a mess of it.
Glad the book seems to have CLOSED.

 

[NFL LOVER]

Mike Reiss does an excellent job sticking to the facts. I wish it were as true with many other sports writers

 

[He Ban Me]

Re: NFL league office: All Patriots tapes have been destroyed!

I sort of got the sense from listening to what Goodell was saying during the interview that once the patriots offered their "interpretation" as the defense, he assumed they had not just come up with it for one game. It was reported (by Kraft himself, I believe) that when Belichick made his presentation, the commissioner asked a number of probing questions, and I imagine that this very issue came up and was taken into account in the imposition of the sanction.

The reality is that once Belichick offered his "interpretation" defense, they were kind of stuck having to ride that train to the end of the track. We'll probably never know what happened during the discussion, but I doubt seriously Goodell didn't ask, "how long have you been doing it that way?" Once the patriots decided to go with their interpretation defense, I'm sure the answer was "for a while." And once Goodell asked that question, he surely decided -- legitimately and reasonably in my opinion -- that the tapes should be rounded up and taken from the patriots. Both to deprive the patriots of the tapes and to do exactly what the NFL spokesman said they were doing -- to educate the rest of the league on what was permitted.

I also think, though, that the commissioner was not that bothered by pre-2007 misinterpretations of the rule. I think the entire reason he sent out a memo in the first place was the fact that it was a well-understood fact that people were misinterpreting the rule. I belive that's why he punished the patriots the way he did. He went to the trouble of putting out a memo, and here it was, the first game after that, and the patriots were not complying.

I imagine that Belichick, Kraft, the team's lawyers, and everyone involved understood during the presentation to the NFL last week that candid accurate answers were absolutely required, and I'm sure they were given -- just as I'm extremely confident -- as I sit here right now that if the patriots certified they gave over all tapes, they did exactly that.

But if you want to truly understand this story, stop listening to fans or reporters. Just read the NFL's words -- the statement, the commissioner's interview, the e-mail to Reiss, and the three Aeilo comments from last week. They really tell you every thing you need to know about what this is, and has always, been about -- and it's nothing remotely close to what's been reported.

PatsinAZ,
Just wanted to thank you for taking the time to post your thoughts. I have to say you have made the most sense out of this than pretty much everyone else here. You are probably correct about the pre-2007 stuff. Even though he was probably miffed, no reason to drag it all out. I am very curious about what all was handed over though, but my guess is Goodell didn't want to know all the details. I think the heart of the matter for both Goodell and Mangini was the letter at the beginning of the season. Who knows, someone somewhere posited that perhaps Mangini COULD have called the Pats pre week 1 and requested they don't tape. And when they did, the can was opened up.

Anyway, I'm sure we'll see some creative signs in the stands as you guys hit the road. Good luck the rest of the way, and looking forward to a battle of undefeateds come first week of November.

 

[Mainefan]

Just want to second what He Ban Me just said. That was a very intelligent analysis from PatsfaninAZ.

Here's another thought: we're going to hear more of this--not about the Pats, necessarily, although that'll take awhile to die a natural death. But we're going to hear about signal stealing between other teams--charges and countercharges, mainly whining, but perhaps something of substance. The overall effect of the scandal is that a new bone of contention has been thrown into the game, to join pass interference and poor officiating. I don't welcome it, but it's here and it's going to be around for some time.

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

Just want to second what He Ban Me just said. That was a very intelligent analysis from PatsfaninAZ.

Thanks. Of course, I'm just speculating like everyone else, but trying to do so without all the spin out there.

The way these 24 hour news cylces work is not really pro-fact it's more pro-entertainment. At least CNN never made up one of those repulive banners for us, like: Cameragate or something!

 

[denverpatsfan]

Re: NFL league office: All Patriots tapes have been destroyed!

I knew they didn't want that stuff to get more junk on us. It made no sense and is almost impossible to do. they just didn't want us to maintain any edge we may have gotten through the videotaping.

Good Call!

It's finally over I can sleep now.