Seth Wickersham's history of unsourced NFL stories of discontent

[patfanken]

If Lombardi is confused and there is no such award, wouldn't that indicate that he is the leak?

That's the kind of speculation that Seth Wickersham would be happy to expound on....and embellish.

 

[NashuaPats]

That's the kind of speculation that Seth Wickersham would be happy to expound on....and embellish.

If that were true, my comment would read, "There the is no such award proving Lombardi is the leak." Even though I don't know if either part of that statement is true.

 

[Patriot Missile]

He's a coward working for a cowardly news group. I would imagine they all had a sitdown and have to support this hack's story.

Again, of all the sewage that's come out of this explosive poop of a story is when i was listening to the radio going home and actually having a radio host chuckle, say since the Patriots responded so fast they are obviously guilty.

 

[Tuck]

We've all been speculating about Wickersam's assertions since Jimmy was traded, but there's nothing in his piece that makes me more sure that the speculation is at all real. That being said, there are two facts related this whole thing that dont add up to me.

First, if the team knew there was the slightest chance Jimmy's extension was not going to be a slam dunk, why would they trade Brissett before trading jimmy leaving themselves with no viable backup after jimmy is moved?

Second, now that Wickersham has lit a fire to the story and both Brady and Kraft have decided to respond with public statements, presumably to sooth the season ticket buying base into thinking there is nothing to see here, why has Belichick remained silent except for the joint statement which could have been drafted by Stacey James for all we know?

Seems a little off to me that Brady and Kraft are doing the damage control and there has been nothing directly from Bill yet.

 

[NashuaPats]

We've all been speculating about Wickersam's assertions since Jimmy was traded, but there's nothing in his piece that makes me more sure that the speculation is at all real. That being said, there are two facts related this whole thing that dont add up to me. First, if the team knew there was a chance Jimmy's extension was not a slam dunk, why would they trade Brissett and leave themselves with no viable backup? Second, now that Wickersham has lit a fire to this story and both Brady and Kraft have decisded to respond with public statements, presumably to sooth their season ticket buying base into thinking there is nothing to see here, why has belichick remained silent? Seems a little weird to me.

1. They traded Brissett because they were desperate for a receiver after Edelman and Mitchell were injured. Even at the time some of the beat reporters were speculating that Brissett might not even make the team

They traded Garroppolo because they waited as long as possible while Brady showed no decline and were able to add Hoyer as a backup and a second rounder.

2. You think it's weird that Belichick has not talked to the media? Really?

 

[FCB02062]

Wickersham would be right at home at the fakenews WaPo or NYT....

 

[AtomicDawg]

I found the Lombardi story here: Six For Saturday: Brady in a No-Win Situation Moving Forward - PatsFans.com

And this is part of that Lombardi quote....this part has me scratching my head quite frankly.

I don’t know how they decide. I’m sure the Patriots have given out game balls. See, what happens in that situation is you either win Player of the Week, or the game ball, or you win Patriot of the week. You don’t get all of them. So I think it’s kind of spread out that way.”

Here's the problem: When you start off a sentence with "I don't know" and "I'm sure", you DON'T know and you're NOT sure. You're SURE the Pats have given out game balls???????? They give out game balls for every milestone a player achieves, Mike! Anyone who has watched any Patriots locker room video (at least the 2 minutes they choose to show us) know that for certain. I don't mean to question Lombardi since I know people like him here but was he really around the team as much as he says he was? And then he starts to waver on what the "award" is even called. I'm not sure who to believe now, but I lean more towards guys who are actually in the locker room now like Howe who have said they have not heard of one.

 

[neuronet]

Seems a little off to me that Brady and Kraft are doing the damage control and there has been nothing directly from Bill yet.

Yes because he's usually so excited to interact with the press.

 

[CutiePie]

didnt curran basically report the idea of "tension" between the parties over this stuff?

 

[neali]

didnt curran basically confirm/report the idea of "tension" between the parties over this stuff?

You are a dude, right?

 

[fnordcircle]

17 years and we've never heard of Patriot of the Week is really ****ing odd.

I'm inclined to believe Lombardi in the absence of someone on the team coming out and confirming it one way or the other but I mean, if we heard about BB informing Kliff Kingsbury of his injury you'd think we would have heard about Patriot of the Week by now...

 

[Jackson 2]

Wickersham would be right at home at the fakenews WaPo or NYT....

LOL, you're like the guy we all knew growing up who would always start a fight, always get the **** kicked out of him and always be dumb enough to come back for more. Someone at the Wapo must have boned your significant other...

 

[Ring 6]

didnt curran basically confirm/report the idea of "tension" between the parties over this stuff?

No

 

[DarrylS]

Seems a little off to me that Brady and Kraft are doing the damage control and there has been nothing directly from Bill yet.

Not at all BB is a minimalist when it comes to the press, only give them what you want them to know and not much else.. he was part of the statement denying what Wickersham said, in his mind that might be sufficient. He also will be facing his NFL mandated press conference on Monday morning... at which time when queried about this he will tell the lemmings, " We are onto _________." Then Bertram, Borges and Felger can interpret Bill's tone of voice all day long looking for signs of weakness.

In the big scale of things in the real world, very successful organizations have internal conflict and there is no reason to believe that the Patriots are immune...

 

[CutiePie]

No

"I wrote a similar story last Friday because, after talking to sources on all sides of various issues, I sensed uneasiness over simmering tensions and uncertainty about the future."

"There are people within the Patriots organization who believe Belichick got bigfooted by Kraft on this and are proceeding under the assumption that Belichick may be so miffed that he’ll leave. They also believe the Patriots made a mistake gambling that Brady will be able to produce for as long as he thinks while moving on from the obviously-gifted Garoppolo."

"And, regardless of how pissed Belichick may or may not be (and I think he’d probably be more exasperated than pissed)"

LINK-----Tom E. Curran

 

[RobertWeathers]

"I wrote a similar story last Friday because, after talking to sources on all sides of various issues, I sensed uneasiness over simmering tensions and uncertainty about the future."

"There are people within the Patriots organization who believe Belichick got bigfooted by Kraft on this and are proceeding under the assumption that Belichick may be so miffed that he’ll leave. They also believe the Patriots made a mistake gambling that Brady will be able to produce for as long as he thinks while moving on from the obviously-gifted Garoppolo."

"And, regardless of how pissed Belichick may or may not be (and I think he’d probably be more exasperated than pissed)"

LINK-----Tom E. Curran

That is not confirmation that states unequivocally there is tension between BB, TB and RK.

Re read what he said.

I like Curren but from a reporting standpoint it's not much more detailed than Wickersham

 

[CutiePie]

That is not confirmation that states unequivocally there is tension between BB, TB and RK.

Re read what he said.

I like Curren but from a reporting standpoint it's not much more detailed than Wickersham

of course he doesnt "unequivocally" know there is tension

hes not in the room with them

but curran says " I sensed uneasiness over simmering tensions"

his words....not mine

 

[TomPatriot]

"I wrote a similar story last Friday because, after talking to sources on all sides of various issues, I sensed uneasiness over simmering tensions and uncertainty about the future."

"There are people within the Patriots organization who believe Belichick got bigfooted by Kraft on this and are proceeding under the assumption that Belichick may be so miffed that he’ll leave. They also believe the Patriots made a mistake gambling that Brady will be able to produce for as long as he thinks while moving on from the obviously-gifted Garoppolo."

"And, regardless of how pissed Belichick may or may not be (and I think he’d probably be more exasperated than pissed)"

LINK-----Tom E. Curran

“There are people . . . who believe” and “I sensed” and “they also believe” are opinions, not facts.

 

[RobertWeathers]

of course he doesnt "unequivocally" know there is tension

hes not in the room with them

but curran says " I sensed uneasiness over simmering tensions"

his words....not mine

That's fine but in your response to Andy you said confirm.

"Sensing" is not confirmation.

To confirm he needs to get 2 sources on the record. Since he can't/won't he throws that **** out there.

This is the fundamental problem with journalism today. Blogs, Columns, editorials are all taken as fact when they are anything but.

 

[CutiePie]

“There are people . . . who believe” and “I sensed” and “they also believe” are opinions, not facts.

obvious

it would be hard for curran to factually prove such a thing

but curran's opinion and reporting are usually well regarded here