http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/02/04/if-the-patriots-cheated-theyre-hardly-alone/#comments
Florio trying to have it both ways here.
Florio trying to have it both ways here.
#DFG: Canceling the Noise
- Thread starter nattysez
- Start date
This is still making me crazy. The fact that there is an investigation that is still ongoing--how many more interviews and tapes can they review--is ridiculous. The Indy game was three weeks ago!
And what does it mean for the league if every team can start these frivolous charges that initiate weeks-long investigations? The Pats should file complaints with the league on every piece of equipment, every football, every shoelace next season just to make sure the game is on the level.
Game is full of crybabies and whiners now.
And what does it mean for the league if every team can start these frivolous charges that initiate weeks-long investigations? The Pats should file complaints with the league on every piece of equipment, every football, every shoelace next season just to make sure the game is on the level.
Game is full of crybabies and whiners now.
The only logical holdup is that they didn't want to interview Brady or BB during the Super Bowl week because it would have been a distraction or whatever. I can kinda understand that, if true.
So, figure they interview them yesterday. Put it in the report. NFL gets a day to review it.
Frankly, the final report should be out this Friday. Any longer is [even more] absurd.
So, figure they interview them yesterday. Put it in the report. NFL gets a day to review it.
Frankly, the final report should be out this Friday. Any longer is [even more] absurd.
Grigson's ducks all better be in a row next year. All i's dotted, all t's crossed. You better not have a single hair out of place on that goofy mullet, you cheeseball.
loshjott said:
Not just that, but that Goodell - whether he started it or allows it to continue - is so concerned with being boss and stamping out every little violation that he's essentially turned the NFL into a league of extraordinary tattlers.
Mark Schofield said:
This is glorious. I hope these balls become some sort of Stephen King totem and anyone invovled in trying to smear the Patriots faces an increasing worse series of events.
drleather2001 said:So the Falcons extra crowd noise thing is done, they've admitted guilt, and...
crickets.
This is like the scene in Band of Brothers where Richard Winters (played by Damien Lewis) pisses off his CO (played by the immortal David Schwimmer) for some totally bogus reason, so the CO calls him in and says "If you admit what you did, and sign this, I'll just take away your weekend pass. But if you don't, you'll get a court martial and miss the Normandy invasion." So Winters pauses, and the CO says "Come on, just take the punishment, you never go out on leave anyway..." making it clear that A) it was a stupid charge; and B) he expected Winters to just back down. Winters calls his bluff and says "I'll take the court martial; prove that I did something wrong."
tl;dr: Richard Goodellavid Schwimmer.
Great comparison of both a shitty leader and a fantastic leader.
Hoya81 said:
Just *this year*, here are some "cheating" (i.e., breaking or bending the rules) that has taken place, just off the top of my head...
*Falcons piping in crowd noise.
*Aaron Rodgers trying to get overinflated footballs past the refs.
*Panthers getting caught on TV inflating footballs on the sidelines during the games using a heater.
*Many teams with players using PEDs.
*Jets tampering with Darrelle Revis.
*Seahawks violating practice contact rule.
*Browns' officials texting messages to the team on the sidelines during games.
I mean, that's all just this season. Yet how many teams are called "cheaters" for committing rules violations? None. Except New England. And it turns out that it's almost certain that NE didn't even do anything wrong vis-a-vis the pressure of the footballs. But that doesn't matter to some people…..
drleather2001 said:
Doesn't matter. He touched the cursed ball. It's like the Simpson's monkey paw.
Just had the fun experience of being taunted on a conference call by Packers fans about Deflategate. I responded by reminding them that Aaron Rodgers admitted to preferring over-inflated footballs and trying to get them past the ref's inspections. They had no idea about this and claimed it hasn't been a story at all in Green Bay. Great job, national sports media.
drleather2001 said:
The NFL will ask D'Qwell to change his story now in return for lighter discipline.
For your own peace of mind, don't draw any negative inferences from the "delay".
I stand by my original speculation that Wells has to re-do much of what was done in the first week or so. There is a difference between a witch hunt and an investigation. Consider who drove this from the inside and what his agenda was.
Additionally, I do believe Wells will engage experts to assess the deflation, if any, and what might have caused it.
For reasons stated way upthread, I think there is no back-down from Kraft/BB/TB on this because I think there is no substance to the charge. The League has to tread very carefully.
Ed Hillel said:
I believe it was only the Panthers, IIRC. Regardless, I very badly wanted somebody to ask Roger about this in the midst of his "we take the integrity of the game very seriously" BS. I guess integrity only matters for good teams? Teams were warned not to heat the balls, end of story, nobody cares.
ivanvamp said:
It is worth noting that the Colts, America's favorite squealers, finished #1 in the league this season for the total amount paid in fines for illegalities/rules violations (in excess of $4M).
http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/fines-suspensions/2014/indianapolis-colts/
Doesn't even include the Irsay DUI/drug possession arrest, the McNary rape arrest, the A. Jackson DUI two weeks ago, and the DQ Jackson arrest this morning.
JimBoSox9 said:
Bill Belichick? I would only hope that he is trying to teach the refs and the league things every week.
Ravens, Colts, Jets, Blue Jays, Orioles, and any of the Gasols...JimBoSox9 said:
They move slowly except when they're leaking anti-Pats info. ATL Falcons leaks? Nah.BigJimEd said:
Boomer Esiason's theory: Harbaugh was pissed at Brady for the "rule book" comment, and wanted to embarrass him:
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/02/04/esiason-on-deflategate-coordinated-effort-by-ravens-colts-to-embarrass-tom-brady/
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/02/04/esiason-on-deflategate-coordinated-effort-by-ravens-colts-to-embarrass-tom-brady/
ivanvamp said:
How farcical has this gotten? I'm actually leaning on psychoanalytic claptrap theories now.
The NFL in 2015 is a bubble of suspended disbelief. Inside the bubble, life is really, really, really.... good. The on-field product is SUPERB-- just check the Superbowl: 111 million watched, boffo entertainment, unparalleled excitement. From outside the bubble, however, all sorts of pressures are weighing in that are extrinsic to the game itself: concussions, PEDs, domestic abuse, etc etc. Those who live within the bubble are trying their hardest to ignore it all, but the constant denial takes its toll.
Finally, a scandal arises— Deflategate— that is totally intrinsic to the game, one centered around gamesmanship, an almost-quaint allegation that could have happened in the 1950s. Here's the chance for the bubble-dwellers to equalize the pressure between the two realms a bit, to allow some of the air of wrongdoing to get inside while still entertaining a scandal that doesn't threaten the basic identity of the league— to lessen the cognitive dissonance, in short. The fact that it happens to involve the reviled Patriots? Perfect— the simple law-and-order narrative fits perfectly into the black-and-white morality of the bubble-dwellers. The ridiculous part? I actually believe that the blatant symbolism of deflation, release-of-pressure and letting-the-air-out-of-the-value is part of the reason the bubble took to the story. it took me two weeks of listening to faux-outrage, but after listening to Collinsworth needlessly impugn the Pats SB victory on Sunday, I'm finally there.
E5 Yaz said:
From that article:
Based on the limited amount of info I've heard about deflategate from my buddy, this theory may have some legs. Let's just say, in theory, that the Pats have some video of their own from the AFCC game. Let's say, that video shows someone on the Colts sideline (maybe a member of the Colts, maybe it's a league official...cough...Kensil...cough) that looks to be doing something shady with the football once they get their hands on it. That ball gets tested and is deflated more than the others (which were all apparently "just a tick under" 12.5 and as we all know by now, there are actual scientific reasons why this would happen without any funny business being involved). And then let's say all of this came about because of a couple of franchises got their feelings hurt because they couldn't beat the Pats.
It's no wonder Kraft and Co. would want an apology from the league! What a joke. It amazes me the NFL let this play out the way they did.
All of this is just a "theory", of course.
E5 Yaz said:
It's an interesting theory that's been floating around for much longer than Boomer's statement. If true, it's pretty funny, since Harbaugh...you know...called out the Patriots first.
However, I kind of take the same viewpoint on this as Kraft/Belichick/Brady. I don't think that triumvirate would be so obstinate about knowingly deflating footballs if there was any risk of being caught. Similarly, I doubt Harbaugh would be so steadfast in his recent denials if there was any risk of him being outed in the Wells report.
It's still my feeling that Roger did this on purpose. He can't stop leaks from his own office anyway, but once the anti-Pats stuff got out there he let it hang to stick it to them by making no effort at all to say that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. He let the public and the media drag the Pats through a very painful 2 weeks and I believe there was a method to that particular madness.ElcaballitoMVP said:
After the melt down, we'll be reading about how the Patriots' culture of cheating caused the Colts to resort to such means, just to keep up.
PS: Between the comments above and his performance on Inside the NFL, Boomer belongs in the White List HOF.
PS: Between the comments above and his performance on Inside the NFL, Boomer belongs in the White List HOF.
I would also add Vontaze Burfict attempting to injure Newton and Orton to your list. It was clearly intentional and after the play.ivanvamp said:
I still can't believe he got off with a $25k fine.
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!!Lose Remerswaal said:
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Casino hands,
Drop microphone...
is it coincidental that the stories about Ernie Adams appeared in the NY tabloid press in the middle of all of this.ifmanis5 said:
It could be that Goodell is tired of the Patriots having a rules expert in their camp.This could be seen by the league office as contempt for the rules if it provokes a torrent of complaints by teams that lose to NE.
It is not against the rules to exploit the rules to gain an advantage. Any team can do it. Winning teams can do it well.
See NASCAR.
You mean, someone, like, you know, er, what do you call it, ah, oh yeah - a coach?Doctor G said:
If that's Goodell's impetus, he's well beyond incompetent. Does someone need to remind Goodell that the ineligible receiver formation has been done in the past?
Remember in the NBC pregame Costas asked Harbaugh point blank if he had tipped the Colts or anybody in the league off about the balls. If Wells comes up with something to disprove that answer it could get pretty awesome. I'm guessing all of this will be buried, though and on to the next thing the Pats probably never did.
Whether or not the Pats were sabotaged, it is pretty funny that between the league leaking misinformation to stain a marquee franchise and the Colts' inability to lose with grace, the Pats are the only party involved who appears to have done nothing to soil the all-important integrity of the game.
The Saints super bowl win was "tainted" by Bountygate.
The Dilfer super bowl win was "tainted" by him paying off someone to doctor the football.
The Broncos super bowl win was "tainted" by cheating the salary cap.
I'm sure there are numerous other "tainted" championships. But in a sport that is super-violent and has a ridiculously long & nuanced on- and off-field rule book pretty much any succesful team has broken some rule somewhere along the way, intentionally or unintentionally. Even if the Pats had cheated & it had created a significant competitive advantage for them, it is pretty ridiculous that the media has created this narrative for them (but not for the other cheaters). In short, "they hate us cause they ain't us."
The Dilfer super bowl win was "tainted" by him paying off someone to doctor the football.
The Broncos super bowl win was "tainted" by cheating the salary cap.
I'm sure there are numerous other "tainted" championships. But in a sport that is super-violent and has a ridiculously long & nuanced on- and off-field rule book pretty much any succesful team has broken some rule somewhere along the way, intentionally or unintentionally. Even if the Pats had cheated & it had created a significant competitive advantage for them, it is pretty ridiculous that the media has created this narrative for them (but not for the other cheaters). In short, "they hate us cause they ain't us."
ALiveH said:
Not to nitpick, but the Johnson Super Bowl win was "tainted" by paying off the ball boys.
The Dilfer win was tainted by Ray Lewis literally getting away with murder.
Yeah but let's keenthat in perspective: the murder was OFF the field, so the integrity of the game remained intact.PeaceSignMoose said:
Integrity of the game? :
How about this 2013 gem:
"Commissioner Roger Goodell even said he wants to employ Lewis as a special adviser to himself because he's a "tremendous voice of reason."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2013/01/10/ray-lewis-baltimore-ravens-atlanta-murder-2000/1566198/
I am now convinced that Roger Goodell is certifiably batshit crazy...
How about this 2013 gem:
"Commissioner Roger Goodell even said he wants to employ Lewis as a special adviser to himself because he's a "tremendous voice of reason."
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2013/01/10/ray-lewis-baltimore-ravens-atlanta-murder-2000/1566198/
I am now convinced that Roger Goodell is certifiably batshit crazy...
This is obviously morally ludicrous, but it makes a certain amount of sense in terms of evaluating whether the game was played fairly on the field. Arguably the Lewis thing is a failure of the criminal justice system, whose job out is to enforce the law, and not of the NFL, whose job it is to regulate the game on the field of play.simplyeric said: