And it's Arthur Blank's turn on the DeflateGate Revenge Tour - read his comments

[RecoveringCowboy]

I shop Lowes instead of HD across the street.

 

[The Gr8est]

People in glass houses shouldn't be throwing stones. We know the Falcons cheated by piping in noise. The only cheating in Deflategate was the NFL trying to deny science......


Atlanta Falcons lose 2016 pick for pumping fake noise
The Atlanta Falcons have been punished for pumping in crowd noise to their stadium.

"The NFL fined the Falcons $350,000 and the franchise will forfeit their fifth-round selection in the 2016 NFL Draft, the league announced Monday. President Rich McKay will also be suspended for at least three months from the Competition Committee beginning April 1.""

-------------------------------

Goodell must really dislike the Falcons, considering he outright took the pick rather than do a Giants-esqe devaluing of the pick a few spots.

 

[GodBrady]

What Arthur Blank said is incredibly tame. I would hardly consider that character assassination of Brady or anything remotely vindictive. He basically said that if the team had been more cooperative, the punishment wouldn't have been so severe. I'm not sure what is so controversial or offensive about that.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

What Arthur Blank said is incredibly tame. I would hardly consider that character assassination of Brady or anything remotely vindictive. He basically said that if the team had been more cooperative, the punishment wouldn't have been so severe. I'm not sure what is so controversial or offensive about that.

If you believe the Patriots did something wrong or illegal, and you consider the league's agenda and investigations to be credible, fact-based, objective and unbiased, then okay, you may have your opinion.

 

[Kontradiction]

 

[GodBrady]

If you believe the Patriots did something wrong or illegal, and you consider the league's agenda and investigations to be credible, fact-based, objective and unbiased, then okay, you may have your opinion.

Blank gave his opinion. It was incredibly tame. It's like unless an owner comes out and says "TOM BRADY WAS WRONGED, IT IS AN ABSOLUTELY TRAVESTY AND GOODELL SHOULD BURN IN HELL" we take it as a huge slight against Brady and our team. It comes off as really thin-skinned. I find nothing wrong with what Blank said, and it is silly to harbor a grudge against him for these comments.

I know this opinion is unpopular and everybody likes to regurgitate the same mindless Goodell jokes over and over again and it becomes a huge echo chamber, but let's be honest, Blank didn't say anything remotely controversial.

 

[XLIX]

I'm sorry, Mr. Blank, could you please speak up sir? I'm having trouble hearing you over all the pumped in crowd noise.

 

[SVN]

Even Troy Aikman who is calling the game wasnt very flattering about brady.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

Blank gave his opinion. It was incredibly tame. It's like unless an owner comes out and says "TOM BRADY WAS WRONGED, IT IS AN ABSOLUTELY TRAVESTY AND GOODELL SHOULD BURN IN HELL" we take it as a huge slight against Brady and our team. It comes off as really thin-skinned. I find nothing wrong with what Blank said, and it is silly to harbor a grudge against him for these comments.

I know this opinion is unpopular and everybody likes to regurgitate the same mindless Goodell jokes over and over again and it becomes a huge echo chamber, but let's be honest, Blank didn't say anything remotely controversial.

“The league feels a tremendous sense of responsibility, as do all the owners, in reinforcing the culture of the NFL, the shield and make sure the game remains as balanced and as pure and as true to its integrity and its ethics as can be done. When they find any organization or any individual has gotten off those tracks it’s their job to remind them of that and bring them back on the tracks and do it in a way that really reinforces what the league is about.

I think in the case of New England they have done that.”

So if we pretend that slaps on the wrist or outright ignorance of other franchise's blatant actual violations and immeasurable disproportionate penalizing of the Patriots for violations they did not commit and drenching all of it in the identical same pretentious verbage Blank is blathering in the quote does not exist, then, again, you have a point.

Truly, I agree with you, there is nothing controversial there, only absolute concurrence with wanton prejudice and abuse.

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

"I think in the case of the Jews, we have done that."

 

[GodBrady]

So if we pretend that slaps on the wrist or outright ignorance of other franchise's blatant actual violations and immeasurable disproportionate penalizing of the Patriots for violations they did not commit and drenching all of it in the identical same pretentious verbage Blank is blathering in the quote does not exist, then, again, you have a point.

This is an incredibly stubborn belief. A world exists outside of the insulated community that is PatsFans.com, and expecting the rest of the world to embrace the "we're innocent, it's inconceivable we did anything wrong!" mindset is out of touch and borderline delusional. There's a lot of scientific evidence that exonerates us, but there's also a lot of circumstantial evidence that is hard to swallow (including official, cringeworthy team responses like, "no, you don't understand, our equipment guy nicknamed himself 'The Deflator' because he's trying to lose weight!")

If somebody wants to believe we're guilty, fine, so be it. Blank thinks we're guilty, and he expressed it in a very reasonable, respectful manner. I'm not so thin-skinned that reading an owner saying, "you know, they weren't cooperative, and I think the league came down on them hard because of it" is somehow a slap in the face to the team. It's almost like some posters are looking for a reason to be offended at this point. He's now included on the "Revenge Tour" because of that? Good grief.

I think about 95% of the board is unaware of this, but disagreeing with someone while still respecting their opinion is actually a thing. Believe it or not, it's possible to read a dissenting opinion and not reflexively launch into an ad hominem attack. This place can be so closed-minded and hive-minded at times that it's borderline insufferable.

Uh oh, this post didn't contain a generic, not-remotely-clever Goodell joke, I guess I'm in line for about 30 "disagree" badges.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Blank?
OK
Line 'em up.
Knock 'em over.

Almost too bad that Indy is self-destructing.
Otherwise, as long as the Jets never taste success in my lifetime, all is good.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

What Arthur Blank said is incredibly tame. I would hardly consider that character assassination of Brady or anything remotely vindictive. He basically said that if the team had been more cooperative, the punishment wouldn't have been so severe. I'm not sure what is so controversial or offensive about that.

Your tacit assumption, and boy does that word fit you, is that the Pats & Brady were guilty. They were not. He was not. As us tech types knew right away the IGL explains the temporary loss of psi. All the rest of the innuendo is Kabuki Theater designed to distract and confuse.

Patriots facilitated many more interviews than required. Once the Pats said they'd had enough, the front office cried foul and went the non-cooperative route.

By the league's definition, cooperation Atlanta style means admitting guilt for the infraction and making an apology.
Not at all applicable to the Patriots who were victims of a witch trial.

 

[IllegalContact]

I don't know..........I just think the Falcons are going to be exposed as a bunch of frauds in 2 weeks

I see a result similar to the pats playing the colts in the AFCC 2 years ago...I see the falcons as a similar team

 

[Jackson 2]

Even Troy Aikman who is calling the game wasnt very flattering about brady.

LOL, that's an understatement.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

This is an incredibly stubborn belief. A world exists outside of the insulated community that is PatsFans.com, and expecting the rest of the world to embrace the "we're innocent, it's inconceivable we did anything wrong!" mindset is out of touch and borderline delusional. There's a lot of scientific evidence that exonerates us, but there's also a lot of circumstantial evidence that is hard to swallow (including official, cringeworthy team responses like, "no, you don't understand, our equipment guy nicknamed himself 'The Deflator' because he's trying to lose weight!")

If somebody wants to believe we're guilty, fine, so be it. Blank thinks we're guilty, and he expressed it in a very reasonable, respectful manner. I'm not so thin-skinned that reading an owner saying, "you know, they weren't cooperative, and I think the league came down on them hard because of it" is somehow a slap in the face to the team. It's almost like some posters are looking for a reason to be offended at this point. He's now included on the "Revenge Tour" because of that? Good grief.

I think about 95% of the board is unaware of this, but disagreeing with someone while still respecting their opinion is actually a thing. Believe it or not, it's possible to read a dissenting opinion and not reflexively launch into an ad hominem attack. This place can be so closed-minded and hive-minded at times that it's borderline insufferable.

Uh oh, this post didn't contain a generic, not-remotely-clever Goodell joke, I guess I'm in line for about 30 "disagree" badges.

Two ways to go here.

One is to debate the details of Deflategate all over again, from the game to the texts to the phone to whatever else one might care to debate. I don't think that's going to do anybody any good, other than to say that you are basically repeating Dan Shaughnessey's position, which he has stated repeatedly in the Globe. If you really want to debate this, point by point, then please start a thread in the Deflategate Forum and link us to it, as I don't think there is any appetite for that in this Forum.

The other is for me to observe I live in NYC, among Jets and Giants fans and well "outside of the insulated community that is PatsFans.com" and I find that when people like Gary Myers and Mike Lupica of the NY Daily News can reverse their initial knee-jerk reaction (to castigate Brady), do a 180 and now write, repeatedly, that Brady was unfairly charged and framed and that Deflategate was nonsense (while maintaining their intense dislike of Belichick and most other things "Patriot"), then, I think I can expect others to be able to reverse their opinions, on this subject, as well, when presented with the preponderance of evidence.

That's it. I'm done. Deflategate Forum if you want to continue this.

 

[GodBrady]

Your tacit assumption, and boy does that word fit you, is that the Pats & Brady were guilty. They were not. He was not. As us tech types knew right away the IGL explains the temporary loss of psi. All the rest of the innuendo is Kabuki Theater designed to distract and confuse.

Actually, no, I did not say the Patriots are guilty. You are moving the goalposts and conflating two concepts. The Patriots being guilty, and saying I can see how someone thinks the Patriots are guilty based on circumstantial evidence, are not the same thing. If someone wants to believe the latter, fine -- I can respect that, as long as they present their views in a reasonable manner. Blank did just that.

 

[LivinLovin&Breathin_Brady]

This is an incredibly stubborn belief. A world exists outside of the insulated community that is PatsFans.com, and expecting the rest of the world to embrace the "we're innocent, it's inconceivable we did anything wrong!" mindset is out of touch and borderline delusional. There's a lot of scientific evidence that exonerates us, but there's also a lot of circumstantial evidence that is hard to swallow (including official, cringeworthy team responses like, "no, you don't understand, our equipment guy nicknamed himself 'The Deflator' because he's trying to lose weight!")

If somebody wants to believe we're guilty, fine, so be it. Blank thinks we're guilty, and he expressed it in a very reasonable, respectful manner. I'm not so thin-skinned that reading an owner saying, "you know, they weren't cooperative, and I think the league came down on them hard because of it" is somehow a slap in the face to the team. It's almost like some posters are looking for a reason to be offended at this point. He's now included on the "Revenge Tour" because of that? Good grief.

I think about 95% of the board is unaware of this, but disagreeing with someone while still respecting their opinion is actually a thing. Believe it or not, it's possible to read a dissenting opinion and not reflexively launch into an ad hominem attack. This place can be so closed-minded and hive-minded at times that it's borderline insufferable.

Uh oh, this post didn't contain a generic, not-remotely-clever Goodell joke, I guess I'm in line for about 30 "disagree" badges.

My issue isn't with Goodell, he's simply a puppet for the old 32, my issue is with the 32, well maybe the elite group, 10-20 owners who decided, it was best for business to frame Brady for deflating balls. I'm officially exonerating Kraft because he did spend a lot of money and exhausted resources to prove Brady's innocence. I do believe Kraft was aware of their intentions to bury his QB and I believe this happened because he wasn't suppose to beat Baltimore, according to the 32's plan.

Those deflator comments were made in May, from what I can recall, he could've been talking about anything. It's strange that Wells looked over years of texts and couldn't find but one conversation relating to ball pressure, and that referred to refs overinflating balls.

Also, I didn't hear Kraft out there making it his business to talk about pumped-in crowd noise or making statements about integrity in ATL. Kraft stayed in his lane. That old zombie-looking Arthur Blank made it his business to publicly crucify this team to sell the "integrity of the league" bs to the masses, because he, with majority who voted, wanted to punish Brady, not the Patriots, for overachieving that year.

Brady agreeing to a suspension and not appealing this further is suspect, so perhaps the 32 offered him a ring in exchange. Good for him, because I'm suddenly interested in the Superbowl. Got no clue of how our D is going to stop Jones, so hopefully Brady can score on every drive.

Amazing how an accidental loss, changed the 32's plans, giving us a more realistic and less controversial result. We all know the league put Rodgers's family drama out there to take him out of the game, and he still accidentally beat Dallas, lol. Now the 32 is trying to cash off of the "Brady Revenge Tour." They couldn't have picked a better rival than Arthur Blank's Falcons.

 

[Rusty Coupe]

Arthur Blank 9/4/15
“This deflategate thing which isn’t about deflategate any longer, it’s about what has been collectively negotiated for decades in terms of the commissioner’s responsibility in terms of disciplining players,” Blank said. “If we have to look at that differently in today’s light, in today’s environment, as an ownership group we should be prepared to do that. The commissioner should be prepared to do that.”

“I don’t think they should be re-bargained in a federal court. Having said that, I think the commissioner and the ownership around the league have to be prepared to look at things, look at change and change may be appropriate.”

Blank is one of the first owners to speak out on the judge’s ruling, and he surely won’t be the last. Especially as the appeal process drags out over the season. Once Deflategate threatens the larger product of the NFL, as it surely will begin to, the league’s ownership won’t sit by idly.


Falcons owner Arthur Blank politely torches Roger Goodell's handling of Deflategate

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

This is an incredibly stubborn belief. A world exists outside of the insulated community that is PatsFans.com, and expecting the rest of the world to embrace the "we're innocent, it's inconceivable we did anything wrong!" mindset is out of touch and borderline delusional. There's a lot of scientific evidence that exonerates us, but there's also a lot of circumstantial evidence that is hard to swallow (including official, cringeworthy team responses like, "no, you don't understand, our equipment guy nicknamed himself 'The Deflator' because he's trying to lose weight!")

If somebody wants to believe we're guilty, fine, so be it. Blank thinks we're guilty, and he expressed it in a very reasonable, respectful manner. I'm not so thin-skinned that reading an owner saying, "you know, they weren't cooperative, and I think the league came down on them hard because of it" is somehow a slap in the face to the team. It's almost like some posters are looking for a reason to be offended at this point. He's now included on the "Revenge Tour" because of that? Good grief.

I think about 95% of the board is unaware of this, but disagreeing with someone while still respecting their opinion is actually a thing. Believe it or not, it's possible to read a dissenting opinion and not reflexively launch into an ad hominem attack. This place can be so closed-minded and hive-minded at times that it's borderline insufferable.

Uh oh, this post didn't contain a generic, not-remotely-clever Goodell joke, I guess I'm in line for about 30 "disagree" badges.

I appreciate your insight, and opinion, but there is simply no way possible to accept these words: "...league feels a tremendous sense of responsibility, as do all the owners, in reinforcing the culture of the NFL, the shield and make sure the game remains as balanced and as pure and as true to its integrity and its ethics as can be done..." while simultaneously acknowledging the facts and reality of the league's actions with regard to the reckless and unjust and unjustifiable attacks on the New England Patriots, and contrasting lenient if not completely ignorant treatment of all of the remaining teams in the league.

"Hard to swallow" and "cringeworthy" may (or may not) be subjective terms, but simply do not compare to "impossible to swallow" and "corrupt oppression".