King: Deflategate: The Pressure is Building

[brokeu91]

What, you didn't think we would wait for you @Rams and Gators ? Now I'm the one that's disappointed in your lack of faith.

 

[LesBaker]

They're doing their best to manage the outrage, which must be over the top given the reporting we're seeing. The reporters obviously can't ignore it, so they're going to try and corrall it. In the meantime, there's lot's of testing of public opinion going on right now. But these guys don't have a free hand when it's a $10B machine that puts food in their family's mouths, you can take that one to the bank.

Except that isn't what is actually happening, the opposite is. But I'm sure there is a windmill in need of chasing somewhere.

 

[Thordaddy]

I THINK, as a true patriot who is offended by the serial lack of integrity of the New England football club any punishment should include forcing them to change their name to Grifters

 

[LazyWinker]

Unless the NFL can find incontrovertible evidence that someone with the Patriots ordered air taken out of footballs Sunday in Foxboro, it’s more likely than not that commissioner Roger Goodell will defer ruling on the case until after the Super Bowl. Absent clear proof in the next few days that the Patriots cheated, there’s a simple reason: There is no rush. If Goodell decides that part of the sanction would be taking draft picks from the Patriots, the draft comes 12-and-a-half weeks after the Super Bowl, giving the league time after the season to investigate more thoroughly, particularly if that investigation does not have a clear conclusion by, say, this Friday. And it’s hugely important to the league to make the right decision here, not a more expeditious one.

If a decision on the matter isn't made before February 1st, the Super Bowl should be postponed. Cheating is a serious offense and goes against much of what the NFL preaches and promotes through NFL Play 60 and their work with the United Way.

As a Rams fans, I think we're on the same page here and that the Patriots definitely cheated. I won't watch the Super Bowl unless the NFL has come up with appropriate sanctions for the Patriots before the Super Bowl.
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Thanks Boffo for posting the King article, I find it encouraging, as a Rams fan, that King believes Goodell will severely punish the Patriots and Belichick.

 

[Boffo97]

If a decision on the matter isn't made before February 1st, the Super Bowl should be postponed. Cheating is a serious offense and goes against much of what the NFL preaches and promotes through NFL Play 60 and their work with the United Way.

As a Rams fans, I think we're on the same page here and that the Patriots definitely cheated. I won't watch the Super Bowl unless the NFL has come up with appropriate sanctions for the Patriots before the Super Bowl.
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Thanks Boffo for posting the King article, I find it encouraging, as a Rams fan, that King believes Goodell will severely punish the Patriots and Belichick.

The problem is... could the Super Bowl be postponed? The average fan has spent thousands of dollars not only buying the tickets, but arranging travel and hotels that can't easily be changed. And that spells lawsuits.

But, the more time that goes on, the more disadvantage Indianapolis would be at if there were to be a disqualification and they had one week (or less) to prepare compared to the Seahawks' 2 weeks.

(As an aside, I wonder if this has been a part of the Colts' decision to not let Chud interview elsewhere. They're going to need him if they're suddenly in the big game...)

 

[Blue and Gold]

Former Panthers G.M. blasts Patriots for “culture of cheating”
Posted by Darin Gantt on January 23, 2015, 11:39 AM EST

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Suffice it to say, former Panthers General Manager Marty Hurney isn’t buying a lot of what’s coming out of New England regarding #DeflateGate.

Primarily, because he’s been wary of the Patriots for years.

A decade of frustration over the Panthers loss to New England in Super Bowl XXXVIII bubbled over yesterday on Hurney’s radio show on ESPN 730 in Charlotte, when he openly questioned whether the Patriots have created a “culture of cheating.”

“There isn’t a day that goes by since 2003 that I haven’t questioned … that there were some things done that might have been beyond the rules that may have given them a three-point advantage,” Hurney said, via ESPN.com. “This isn’t about deflating balls. . . . It’s an issue of if there is a culture of cheating at the organization that most people look at as the gold standard in this league. Is there a culture of cheating and breaking the rules?

“And I can’t prove anything and that’s why I’m very angry. And the anger has come back over the last couple of days that commissioner Roger Goodell decided to shred all of the evidence after ‘Spygate,’ because I think there were a lot of things in there that would bring closure to a lot of people.”

Good thing he didn’t hold back.

Panthers officials have held such thoughts in for the last decade, but even at the time, some in the organization were afraid the Patriots were up to no good then.

“There are people who swear to me that the Patriots taped our practice down in Houston during Super Bowl week,” Hurney said. “I can’t prove it. I don’t know. And I hate talking like this because I feel like a bad loser, but it just gnaws at you and this latest incident brings it back up.”

Hurney also acknowledged that his team’s hands weren’t clean that year, after three of their starting offensive linemen were named in a steroid investigation in South Carolina. And as much as it sounds like sour grapes from a guy who lost to the Patriots, he said he wanted to see whatever evidence the league has, whenever a decision is made.

And you get the feeling the next time he appears on ESPN’s Insiders, this might come up as well.

 

[Blue and Gold]

Why hasn’t Brady been interviewed yet?
Posted by Mike Florio on January 23, 2015, 9:59 AM EST

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One of the more surprising revelations from Thursday’s bizarre doubleheader Patriot press conferences came from quarterback Tom Brady, who said that the NFL has not yet spoken to him about #DeflateGate.

On Tuesday, NFL executive V.P. of football operations Troy Vincent confirmed that the league is investigating a potential violation of the rules regarding ball inflation, and that the league hoped to have the investigation finished within 2-3 days. As of Thursday afternoon, that process apparently hadn’t included a sit-down with Brady.

Some are reacting to Brady’s explanation by assuming that the NFL, as in the Ray Rice investigation, has its head inserted into an orifice where heads aren’t typically supposed to go. Indeed, why wasn’t Brady one of the first people the NFL talked to?

It’s entirely possible that the NFL opted to work from the bottom to the top, interviewing the ball attendants and other low-level employees quickly, before anyone from the team can talk to them or attempt to coach them. Eventually, Brady and Belichick will be interviewed — or there inevitably will be another Robert Mueller investigation of the league office.

Belichick didn’t address on Thursday whether he has been interviewed. For both Belichick and Brady, there’s a real risk in talking publicly before being interviewed privately by the NFL. If neither had been interviewed, the league now has press-conference transcripts that can be used to craft questions and to explore (and exploit) any holes or gaps or curiosities in the stories to which the coach and quarterback are sticking.

As to Brady, it’s also important for the NFL to cooperate with the union. Like all players, Brady has the right to have an NFLPA representative present for any interrogation.

It could be that the NFL has opted to tap the brakes when it comes to interviewing the principals because the NFL has realized that, if enough damning information is harvested before the week of the Super Bowl, the league will be expected to take dramatic action for the Super Bowl. After all, the NFL was ready to suspend Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh for a playoff game after he stepped on the leg of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Shouldn’t the league also be ready to suspend Brady if the league eventually concludes that he knew or should have known that the “perfect” balls he’d selected for the game were magically made even more “perfect” by the time he actually started throwing them?

So maybe the truth is that the NFL doesn’t want to conclude the investigation so quickly that it has no choice but to force the Patriots to be coached by Josh McDaniels (assuming he’s not caught up in this mess) and/or quarterbacked byJimmy Garoppolo against a team that obliterated Peyton Manning in the Broncos in last year’s Super Bowl.

As Commissioner Roger Goodell has said, he always roots for the team that’s behind, because he wants the games to be exciting. If Belichick and/or Brady are prevented from participating in Super Bowl XLIX, Goodell would find himself rooting increasingly harder and harder for the Patriots.

 

[-X-]

View: https://twitter.com/AnthonyStalter/status/558668738874966016


View: https://twitter.com/AnthonyStalter/status/558668765554958336


View: https://twitter.com/AnthonyStalter/status/558668909125980160

 

[LosAngelesRams]

http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/team-fumbles-and-fumbles-lost/2014/

Just a follow up, the Pats are bottom 5 of the league in 7 of last 8 years. Now obviously a quality QB cuts down on fumbles at that position, but you would think a cold weather team would have more games where fumbles are more likely to occur.

Sick avatar pic! Is that the hall of fame or something?

 

[PhillyRam]

Sick avatar pic! Is that the hall of fame or something?

Yep, went there for the 1st time last year with my son. My daughter visted a college in western PA so we went over to the Hall while we were outthere.

That is the display dedicated to Dickerson's record.

 

[Elmgrovegnome]

Why do I havethis sick feeling that somehow Belicheat and Brady are going to pin this whole thing on LaGarret Blount?

No matter who, below Belicheat, is responsible, it happened under his watch as the coach, and he is known to be the most micro managing coach in he league so this would be his fault as well....which Most believe he knew about the whole thing anyway.

 

[OC--LeftCoast]

Also, Rich Eisen tweeted something about having handled a deflated ball and not being able to tell the difference yet the Colts linebacker was able to do so straight away.

I like Rich Eisen but he works for the NFL Network. I wonder if his comment is an indication of what the league's approach will be.

If that's a fact then to that I would say either Rich Eisen is an Idiot (he's not) or a liar.

It's either/or in my book, both are bad.

 

[LumberTubs]

If that's a fact then to that I would say either Rich Eisen is an Idiot (he's not) or a liar.

It's either/or in my book, both are bad.

View: https://twitter.com/richeisen/status/558378412507537409

 

[brokeu91]

Why do I havethis sick feeling that somehow Belicheat and Brady are going to pin this whole thing on LaGarret Blount?

No matter who, below Belicheat, is responsible, it happened under his watch as the coach, and he is known to be the most micro managing coach in he league so this would be his fault as well....which Most believe he knew about the whole thing anyway.

Oh, they're definitely going to be putting it on someone. I think they'll try to put it on the ball boys or something.

To be honest, I don't really think it had much of an effect on the outcome against Indy since they were totally blown out, but if they pulled that crap against the Ravens, then I think the Ravens have a legit beef and that the Patriots should have to forfeit that game and thus the rest of the playoffs.

Despite the fact that I don't think it effected the outcome against the Colts, its still FREAKING CHEATING and the Patriots should not be allowed to play in the Superbowl. It's not as overt as the Black Sox scandal, but it still taints the integrity of the game. I realize that Goodell has no integrity, so it doesn't really matter, but if there was someone in charge who did, they would stop the Patriots from playing and suspend Belicheat for the entire next season

 

[rams2050]

http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2015/1/23/7877193/patriots-deflategate-poll-lolololol-new-england

 

[Stranger]

Almost every poll online has people voting that they believe Belichick/Brady lied and that the Pats did cheat. I don't know how the NFL can spin that result. The league had better get its head out of its arse and do something meaningful for once -- meaningful against the big guys.

Someone will fall on their sword and the media will move-on.

 

[Stranger]

Also, Rich Eisen tweeted something about having handled a deflated ball and not being able to tell the difference yet the Colts linebacker was able to do so straight away.

I like Rich Eisen but he works for the NFL Network. I wonder if his comment is an indication of what the league's approach will be.

Naw, why would he compromise his uncompromising integrity for a 6-figure paycheck?

 

[rams2050]

Stranger, you are, unfortunately, right. Someone will fall on his sword and take the blame -- and it won't be the Busy B's -- Brady and Belichick.

I do believe that they know who did this and how they did it, but getting the NFL to admit it -- when GoodHell is besties with Crafty -- is another story. But rumors will fly, in any event, and we should eventually have a fairly good idea of what went on.

The best thing is that even if the Cheats win the SB they will lose as that graphic above indicates. I'm not sure that Americans will be very forgiving of the aspersions that have been cast -- by the Cheats' own actions, time after time -- on their favorite national pastime.

I just wish they could get hold of Brady's helmet to see what else is being transmitted to him OR if some clever bystander could figure out a way to hack into the secure communications network that Bryan O'Leary says exists to give Brady info up until about 1-second before the snap. I'm thinking that if anyone ever is able to do that, then this is the year that they will be trying to do it in hopes of garnering post-SB headlines. I only hope that this is the case because it would be the freakin' nail in the Cheats' coffin.

 

[Alan]

"As Brady is saying, you can not tell the difference between a 13.5 PSI ball and a 10.5 PSI ball. We did that on my show. I couldn't tell.

— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) January 22, 2015"
I'm thinking idiot because that's not what Brady is saying. 12.5 PSI compared to 10.5 PSI. How come everyone else is able to tell the difference?

Although he's probably putting out the NFL line too.

 

[LosAngelesRams]

Yep, went there for the 1st time last year with my son. My daughter visted a college in western PA so we went over to the Hall while we were outthere.

That is the display dedicated to Dickerson's record.

Thats awesome, I need to make a trip out there some day.