#DFG: Canceling the Noise
- Thread starter nattysez
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This statement has merit until you consider his limited legal options for relief.Smiling Joe Hesketh said:
SeoulSoxFan said:
The only way Kraft's statement is defensible is if they agreed to drop Brady's suspension behind closed doors.
Stitch01 said:
This is a fair point.
Will want to re-read the transcript, but the main point was "end the rhetoric, not extend it."
Options:
(a) He capitulated. We take our medicine for something most of us believe we didn't do.
or
(b) From this point, it's not public. He's defended the shield in his press conference, but discussions continue behind the scenes - albeit without the threat of a suit by Kraft. He can still discuss the perceived unfairness of the penalty with other owners and with the Commissioner. And say, Roger, I helped take the heat off you. Now it's time to bring these penalties back into line, whether through a reduction now or through some other approach (test the balls during the season, adjust pick penalty before the draft accordingly).
Not betting too heavily on (b), but just saying it shouldn't be ruled out. He's toned down the rhetoric, possibly creating room for a discussion where cooler heads can prevail.
So the NFL can go to whatever lengths to protect "the shield' and tarnish the organization, but we're just going to eat shit and accept it because well, the odds of anything coming out of it were slim anyway? Fuck that. If you think the penalties imposed won't be changed, at the very least make a big deal about how much you're being screwed. This is not only a terrible PR hit for the franchise, but for Brady as well.
soxhop411 said:
This may be true, but that did not need Kraft crumbling to make that happen.
His option would be to gain enough support with the other owners to be able to remove Goodell. As was mentioned, support was trending away.
ivanvamp said:
I think this is about the night when they found that dead hooker in Kraft's room in Vegas.
"All that's left is our friendship ..."
Albert Breer @AlbertBreer 3m
3 minutes ago
Hard not to see the legacy of families like the Maras and Rooneys impacting Kraft's decision-making, in considering the league as a whole
3 minutes ago
Hard not to see the legacy of families like the Maras and Rooneys impacting Kraft's decision-making, in considering the league as a whole
Rudy Pemberton said:
I didn't mean that Brady was part of the discussion. I meant what if Roger secretly told Kraft that he'll cut it in half only if Kraft shuts up about the team penalties. Then the appeal is heard and Roger cuts it to two games. That can't be kosher, right?
Exactly the argument that will be used by every hater to cheapen everything the Patriots organization has accomplished. "He caved when he found out they had evidence."H78 said:
But if they had evidence, it would have been in the Wells report.
MetSox1 said:
Not me. I said this a week ago and got reamed for it, but Kraft screwed up royally here.
Agree with most of this. But his comment about one team's interest not being above the other 31 WILL BE widely (and deliberately) misconstrued as an admission of guilt. He could have folded his tent (had to really) without handing the press more ammo.TheoShmeo said:
See this is the kind of ad hoc writing that infuriates me. Mara and Rooney undoubtedly talked with Goodell and played a part in boning their partner for mostly spiteful reasons. But O yes they are such wonderful families and scions. Hate nfl writers.soxhop411 said:
This is a huge letdown. It was probably the "right" move and all that, I get it, but fuck this. I don't give a shit about the bylaws or the picks or the fines or Brady's suspension, I just don't want to see anyone admitting guilt and this will read like that. It's one thing to back down, but back down with a fucking middle finger up and proclaim your innocence one last time. What are the going to do? Brady can win his appeal without Roger's help. So if they're not going to drop the other punishments, what the fuck is the point of backing down?
The lunacy in all of this has made us look for rational reasons for the NFL's conduct throughout. We've been wrong every step of the way.cshea said:
glennhoffmania said:
It's not enforceable, at least. But I think Goodell can say it as a hypothetical and there's nothing anyone can do about it.
I do not think Brady would stop his own appeals and challenges at anything greater than zero, however.
Everyone should calm the fuck down with not liking how Kraft handles this. The man is and will forever be a God for saving football in New England. Fuck this entire saga and the NFL and Goodell, leave Kraft out of it.
Being a good soldier for the league has gotten the team nothing but a screwjob from the league.BigJimEd said:
If Kraft puts the NFL over the Pats then he needs to be forcibly retired by Jonathan. He's letting the team have their next 3 seasons irreparably damaged and is getting nothing in return. Shameful.
Kraft is pissed and is going to stay pissed. My optimistic hope is that he wants to hold the higher moral ground in the mind of his fellow owners as he begins the backstage campaign against Goodell.
cshea said:
I don't think there's any deal. This was about power.
Goodell held all the cards with respect to the team punishment. Situation is different with Brady and I expect the susspension will eventually be vacated. But I don't expect Goodell to give an inch and my assumption is that the owners will be urging him on, as this is now a labor issue.
Brady will get his day in court, because that's what it's going to take. The team cannot help him now.
Two probably doesnt do anything to keep this out of the courts. Unless Kraft were to pressure Brady to accept the (hypothetical) two game deal which (unless there's info we dont know) would be the one "more bad" outcome from this.wiffleballhero said:
Kraft is not infallible and I think he fucked up here....not in his caving, but in his support for Goodell during the Ray Rice fiasco. In some ways, he has no right to complain about the draconian commissioner and his nonsensical punishment standards. Bob threw him a life preserver when Goodell was about to drown. Goodell threw Bob an anchor.Number45forever said:
edit: syntax
The context website WAS the response and the FU to Goodell--Kraft always knew he wasn't going to sue the league. Still unfathomable that the Patriots got fucked so badly based on an ad-hoc sting operation. I hope someday all of the information comes out.
Looking at it from a "last word on the subject" position, if the last news that comes out about this is the elimination of Brady's suspension and his name being "cleared" (whatever that means), then this means that the final piece of PR is "positive", that the league "lost" on a big part of their punishment, that the Patriots' QB and leader was, in fact, wronged.
It's beyond shitty that this news cycle cements the opinions of a lot of resentful people, but their minds weren't being changed anyhow. And if the "last word" is that that NFL overreached, that Brady is "exonerated" (as much as he can be at this point), then that's not a bad closing statement on this. Everything else sucks, though.
It's beyond shitty that this news cycle cements the opinions of a lot of resentful people, but their minds weren't being changed anyhow. And if the "last word" is that that NFL overreached, that Brady is "exonerated" (as much as he can be at this point), then that's not a bad closing statement on this. Everything else sucks, though.
Smiling Joe Hesketh said:
Murder most foul? I mean, seriously, man, think about it.
One of the underplayed points in the coverage of this is how nobody thus far ever seems to have benefited from cooperating with the league. Not the Saints. Not Peterson.
Well, Rice maybe,,,
