Deflategate: Brady suspended, Pats lose draft picks & fined

[The Breeze]

[DK Sweets]

That Wells Report is a goldmine of damning nuggets.

Patriots equipment man Jim McNally was known as "the deflator". Geeze ... what a awful nickname. No creativity at all.

Ryan Grigson, GM of the Colts, comes across like the ultimate whining weasel.

Brady's refusal to cooperate should be construed as a confession of guilt.

I think this is all kind of mickey mouse stuff but nevertheless here's the punishment I think Goodell should impose:

Six game suspension for Tom Brady. One game for instructing the equipment staff to manipulate the Pats balls and five games for being Tom Brady. C'mon. Squeaky clean image, supermodel wife, one of the greatest QBs of all time. How can anyone actually like that guy?

Leave The Deflator alone. His nickname is punishment enough. Plus what is he going to do ... tell Brady that he won't manipulate the balls? He's just a pawn in the Pats 'win at all costs' culture.

Give Robert Kraft option of forfeiting a 7th round draft pick or agreeing to never wear a suit and tie at a football game ever again (I've never seen the guy in anything but a suit and tie ... ever).

This all seams reasonable and well thought out.

[Jordysghost]

Lmfao poor Patriots just cant accomplish anything without cheating scandals. XD This is ridiculous. A SECOND cheating scandal?

Comon man.

[jackal]

Bottom Line is the League allows this to go on and only has very light punishments
and 100K fine for the coach..

Its pretty lame, we will destroy a young man for smoking weed but HC's can
get away with bending and breaking rules with no real penalty in the long
term.

Even College NCAA strips teams for cheating ....

IMO I would strip the Pats of there super bowl wins and a ton of picks
in the draft. I think that would eliminate a lot of these issues

[fiestavike]

Its obvious they cheated again, but what amazes me is that we can get an investigation into a controversy in the NFL faster than we can get investigations into major governmental corruption! Hard not to see the bread and circuses parallel.

[DK Sweets]

Why is this so much more egregious than when we were caught heating ball on our sideline last year? Either way you're breaking the rules by manipulating the football.

This has the horrible odor of jealousy.

[Jordysghost]

Why is this so much more egregious than when we were caught heating ball on our sideline last year? Either way you're breaking the rules by manipulating the football.

This has the horrible odor of jealousy.

I don't know anything about you guys heating the ball last year, but what the Patriots did was slimy and cheap, pretty much the story of that franchise and their many cheating scandals.

[Demi]

Why is this so much more egregious than when we were caught heating ball on our sideline last year? Either way you're breaking the rules by manipulating the football.

This has the horrible odor of jealousy.

You don't think there's a difference between heating balls on the sideline, and a guy going into the bathroom before the game and letting air out of the balls? Or a QB giving an equipment guys souvenirs and free stuff to make sure the balls have less air in them than they are suppose to?

And it's jealousy to call out someone for cheating?...He didn't just say "they're cheating" and nothing came of it. They DID cheat. So good teams should be allowed to cheat or...?

[DK Sweets]

You don't think there's a difference between heating balls on the sideline, and a guy going into the bathroom before the game and letting air out of the balls? Or a QB giving an equipment guys souvenirs and free stuff to make sure the balls have less air in them than they are suppose to?

No, I don't think there's a difference. Either way the teams are trying to gain an advantage by manipulating the conditions of the football. Anything else is superficial.

And it's jealousy to call out someone for cheating?...He didn't just say "they're cheating" and nothing came of it. They DID cheat. So good teams should be allowed to cheat or...?

I think the fact that the Vikings and Panthers got told "Don't do that again" and the patriots got "DEFLATEGATE"* and months of discussion is just ridiculous. The Patriots were caught cheating before and are one of the least liked franchises in the NFL, so people are looking for reasons to justify their hate.

*Side note: adding "gate" to the end of scandals is the dumbest thing ever. Going by that logic, Watergate was a huge scandal about water.

[Jordysghost]

No, I don't think there's a difference. Either way the teams are trying to gain an advantage by manipulating the conditions of the football. Anything else is superficial.
I think the fact that the Vikings and Panthers got told "Don't do that again" and the patriots got "DEFLATEGATE"* and months of discussion is just ridiculous. The Patriots were caught cheating before and are one of the least liked franchises in the NFL, so people are looking for reasons to justify their hate.

*Side note: adding "gate" to the end of scandals is the dumbest thing ever. Going by that logic, Watergate was a huge scandal about water.

The Patriots aren't very liked?

I always see people trying there damn hardest to justify how the Patriots have never won a championship without some sort of cheating scandal, it is simply the truth. They are notorious cheaters who get caught constantly and yet people treat them like a real dynasty. Its really quite ridiculous when you think about it.

[808vikingsfan]

Being the QB, his cheating could have had a direct result in the outcome of games which he cheated. I think the 2014 team should get penalized somehow.

[808vikingsfan]

No, I don't think there's a difference. Either way the teams are trying to gain an advantage by manipulating the conditions of the football. Anything else is superficial.

Intent is the difference for me. On one hand, you have a team that planned to cheat beforehand, and lied and withheld evidence after the fact. On the other, you have ball boys from both teams heating balls on the sideline during a game due to extremely cold weather. One intended to gain an unfair advantage while the other was just reacting to inclement weather. Black and white

[Pseudo Everything]

This all seams reasonable and well thought out.

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.

[Mothman]

*Side note: adding "gate" to the end of scandals is the dumbest thing ever. Going by that logic, Watergate was a huge scandal about water.

You'll like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB9JgxhXW5w

[dead_poet]

@AlbertBreer If footballs are messed with, then approved by the refs, that's one thing. If team/QB is doctoring them after approval, it's something else.