Deflategate: Brady suspended, Pats lose draft picks & fined

[dead_poet]

‏@JasonLaCanfora Brady's agent: Wells report "suggests it may be more probable than not the league cooperated w/Colts in perpetrating a sting operation." Wow

[dead_poet]

Statement from Tom Brady's agent, Don Yee:

"The Wells report, with all due respect, is a significant and terrible disappointment. It’s omission of key facts and lines of inquiry suggest the investigators reached a conclusion first, and then determined so-called facts later. One item alone taints this entire report. What does it say about the league office’s protocols and ethics when it allows one team to tip it off to an issue prior to a championship game, and no league officials or game officials notified the Patriots of the same issue prior to the game? This suggests it may be more probable than not that the league cooperated with the Colts in perpetrating a sting operation. The Wells report buries this issue in a footnote on page 46 without any further elaboration. The league is a significant client of the investigators' law firm; it appears to be a rich source of billings and media exposure based on content in the law firm's website. This was not an independent investigation and the contents of the report bear that out – all one has to do is read closely and critically, as opposed to simply reading headlines. The investigators' assumptions and inferences are easily debunked or subject to multiple interpretations. Much of the report’s vulnerabilities are buried in the footnotes, which is a common legal writing tactic. It is a sad day for the league as it has abdicated the resolution of football-specific issues to people who don’t understand the context or culture of the sport. I was physically present for my client’s interview. I have verbatim notes of the interview. Tom made himself available for nearly an entire day and patiently answered every question. It was clear to me the investigators had limited understanding of professional football. For reasons unknown, the Wells report omitted nearly all of Tom’s testimony, most of which was critical because it would have provided this report with the context that it lacks. Mr. Wells promised back in January to share the results of this investigation publicly, so why not follow through and make public all of the information gathered and let the public draw its own conclusions? This report contains significant and tragic flaws, and it is common knowledge in the legal industry that reports like this generally are written for the benefit of the purchaser."

[Crax]

Did the patriots intentionally deflate some footballs? Yeah, probably, but I don't really care.

People have mentioned the heaters the Vikings have used, kickers have been notorious for modifying the footballs they are kicking with and Brad Johnson admitted paying $7500 dollars to get the balls modified for use in the super bowl. This is a league issue and they're paying money to get a report out there to pretend it's not their problem.

None of this is really an issue if the league just decides to be responsible for footballs on their own shipped straight from the factory. They've done it with the balls for kicking, might as well do it with all of them.

[Mothman]

Statement from Tom Brady's agent, Don Yee:

Ouch!

So is Wells basically another Harold henderson, an "independent" party hired by the NFL to reach a desired conclusion?

[dead_poet]

Ouch!

So is Wells basically another Harold henderson, an "independent" party hired by the NFL to reach a desired conclusion?

That's the claim, but I find that a little odd seeing as though the narrative is that Goodell and Kraft are buddies. I'm not sure the NFL really wanted there to be any kind of evidence so this would just go away.

[Mothman]

That's the claim, but I find that a little odd seeing as though the narrative is that Goodell and Kraft are buddies. I'm not sure the NFL really wanted there to be any kind of evidence so this would just go away.

Maybe it's more important to Goodell to cover his ### with the public and other owners.

[The Breeze]

I remember hearing some murmurs about what Brady's agent claims....either way, the NFL has proven time and time again that they just lack integrity when it comes to handling in house stuff. For whatever reason, they continually fumble the ball and seem to function with a completely different set of rules aside from basic reality.

It's almost funny

almost

[Mothman]

I remember hearing some murmurs about what Brady's agent claims....either way, the NFL has proven time and time again that they just lack integrity when it comes to handling in house stuff. For whatever reason, they continually fumble the ball and seem to function with a completely different set of rules aside from basic reality.

It's almost funny

almost

Instead, it's a sad little tragicomedy.

I think Brady's agent really strikes at a core issue in his statement when he asks, "What does it say about the league office’s protocols and ethics when it allows one team to tip it off to an issue prior to a championship game, and no league officials or game officials notified the Patriots of the same issue prior to the game?". If under-inflated footballs provide any significant competitive advantage at all, why would the league wait until halftime of a championship game to address the issue when they knew about it well before kickoff? Lack of integrity indeed...

[The Breeze]

Instead, it's a sad little tragicomedy.

I think Brady's agent really strikes at a core issue in his statement when he asks, "What does it say about the league office’s protocols and ethics when it allows one team to tip it off to an issue prior to a championship game, and no league officials or game officials notified the Patriots of the same issue prior to the game?". If under-inflated footballs provide any significant competitive advantage at all, why would the league wait until halftime of a championship game to address the issue when they knew about it well before kickoff? Lack of integrity indeed...

If true, and it's easy to believe, it strikes me as spiteful and petty tyrannical in a way.
I can see how, if the commish got wind of this and it triggered his ire based on the Pats embarrassing the league in the pas, that he would want to fix their wagon, but a really devious way of dealing with it.

It's kind of the deception tactic thrown right back at the Pats too, which is poetic in a sense....

[Pseudo Everything]

I think Brady's agent really strikes at a core issue in his statement when he asks, "What does it say about the league office’s protocols and ethics when it allows one team to tip it off to an issue prior to a championship game, and no league officials or game officials notified the Patriots of the same issue prior to the game?". If under-inflated footballs provide any significant competitive advantage at all, why would the league wait until halftime of a championship game to address the issue when they knew about it well before kickoff? Lack of integrity indeed...

Bingo!

And to add the Keystone Cops theme, the bag of balls were missing for 20 minutes prior to the start of AFCCG. Walt Anderson was looking for them, couldn't find them and was anticipating that he would have to use replacement balls. If they were missing that long why didn't occur to Anderson to recheck them? Or did The Deflator do his business after Anderson found them? Can't remember the chronology of events from Teddy's report and don't have the motivation to go back re-read that monstrosity.

At first I thought "sting operation" was an apt description of what took place. But now I don't think the goofs in the league office are capable of pulling off a sting operation. It doesn't appear to me that the league had any intention of doing anything for monitoring for compliance after Ryan Grigson called (days before the game) to complain about it. It was only after Grigson re-prodded them during the first half that they instructed the officials to check the psi of the balls at halftime.

As for this Ryan Grigson character ... I'm really glad he is not our GM.

[Pseudo Everything]

Did the patriots intentionally deflate some footballs? Yeah, probably, but I don't really care.

People have mentioned the heaters the Vikings have used, kickers have been notorious for modifying the footballs they are kicking with and Brad Johnson admitted paying $7500 dollars to get the balls modified for use in the super bowl. This is a league issue and they're paying money to get a report out there to pretend it's not their problem.

None of this is really an issue if the league just decides to be responsible for footballs on their own shipped straight from the factory. They've done it with the balls for kicking, might as well do it with all of them.

You're right about the K-balls, but even though the K-balls are shipped directly from Wilson to the league, they give the teams 45 minutes before the game to break them in.

A new football direct from the factory is really slippery. If the league didn't allow teams to "condition" the balls before the game, it's likely that a lot of QBs would have issues with them.

[Crax]

You're right about the K-balls, but even though the K-balls are shipped directly from Wilson to the league, they give the teams 45 minutes before the game to break them in.

A new football direct from the factory is really slippery. If the league didn't allow teams to "condition" the balls before the game, it's likely that a lot of QBs would have issues with them.

Yep, but they made changes for kicking, they could do it for passing too. Instead of leaving it up to the teams which obviously leads to a broad range of different conditioning, make the nfl responsible for the process. It's not like the factory or nfl couldn't apply a standard and agreed upon "pre-game conditioning" to the balls before/after shipping them either. As long as it's consistent and puts the league in charge of it, there should be no real issues.

[dead_poet]

Turning a critical eye on Wells report

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-england-pat ... lls-report

[dead_poet]

The Wells Report May Have Uncovered the Tip of the Iceberg

http://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/bl ... he-iceberg

[Jordysghost]

Lulz. Thanks bruh. Can't be serious all the time.

The league fined Farve $50K for not cooperating in ... ahh ... Johnsongate so I suppose Brady should get at least that. Pretty sure Goodell will have to suspend him to mollify the mob but anything more than one game would be punitive. The league should also fine itself for having lax procedures that allowed that whopping 1 psi difference in game balls to exist in the first place.

Does anyone really think that Brady is the only QB in the league that conditions his footballs?

Ten years ago the league changed the rules so that QBs could do just that. Brady took it a little too far. But it's the Patriots so ... you know ... whatever. If it wasn't for Spygate and the Patriots dominance over the past many years would fans and the talking heads in the media be as worked up over this as they currently are?

I'm not a fan of Brady but after reading the Wells Report, I like him a lot better than Ryan Grigson.

If it wasn't for their previous cheating scandal, people wouldn't be so hard on their second cheating scandal? Well, duh.