Patriots Accused Of Deflating Footballs

[Thanatos 2,847]

It's just a bit more damning than refusing to turn over ANY texts he felt were relevant during the investigation.

 

Um, the reason why he did that is because the cellphone was destroyed, though.

[Zack_of_Steel+ 3,014]

Um, the reason why he did that is because the cellphone was destroyed, though.

Because it's not simply a matter of going to your phone company and requesting text history?

[ATL_Predator+ 1,196]

Yeah, but you know.

 

The NFL is on a witch hunt for the Patriots and Tom Brady and the punishment for them is FAR too severe.

 

Also, Brady should be left alone because ya know he has never actually done anything wrong. It was just the Hoody doing his thing with Spygate and Brady knew nothing about it because they hate each other so let's not bring up Brady + the Patriots pass into an ongoing investigation where Brady destroyed evidence WHILE the trial is still ongoing because you know, who needs that?

 

/Butta

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

If Tom Brady actually is innocent, he chose to handle this really poorly.

If Tom Brady actually is guilty, he chose to handle this really poorly.

If you do something this ridiculous, and get caught... You admit to it and move on. Denying it and then getting caught in your lies will only bury you deeper. Just like I said before when the information came out about his phone -- the people behind Brady and telling him to do this or that are complete idiots. They shouldn't be paid to give him advice.

The NFL didn't even want the phone... They went to his lawyers and said... HEY, give us any pertinent data or texts regarding this issue and we will just BLINDLY ACCEPT whatever you give us as truth and not question any further.

But Tom & Co. can't even do that... The NFL basically gave them an out... a "Get out of jail free" card. The NFL practically begged Tom to lie to them but in a way that at least was convincing.

And then... The NFL actually entertained settlement offers. This ws yet another chance to come clean or semi-clean and practically. He probably doesn't get 100% off because the first wave of lies and turning down of the phone stuff, but still.. Less damning than what eventually happens. Yet again, "The Golden Boy" is completely idiotic and refuses to negotiate on a settlement because of his own ego.

And now... Now... After multiple chances to either save face or somewhat save face, Tom Brady has been exposed for the full-fledged lying douche that he is. If any party or group hears this case and reduces the suspension it will be disgusting.

At this point, the suspension shouldn't be upheld just for knowing about the deflating, but for just completely mis-handling this from start to finish.

[blotsfan 2,112]

If he just said back in February "I like to have them as deflated as possible. The NFL doesn't really check this stuff properly so it might've gone too far. I'm sorry for the mistake." He probably would've had a $100k fine and no suspension. Whoevers been advising him is a moron.

[oochymp 2,393]

https://twitter.com/sportspickle/status/626102593576505344

[Sarge+ 3,436]

Brady himself believes he is guilty, so I wonder how anyone else can believe he's not.

[seanbrock 1,684]

Brady himself believes he is guilty, so I wonder how anyone else can believe he's not.

Simply but straight to the heart of the whole issue. Is it a big deal that he had footballs deflated before home games? I think the argument could be made that it is or at least could be. I think Zack pointed out the fact that the Patriots home record in the Brady/Hoodie era is an outlier to any team. If he sees this he can post the stat. They were significantly better than all the great dynasty's at home like the Steel Curtain Steelers, Lombardi's Packers and Bill Walsh's 49ers or any of the old school era teams that produced some whacky stats. They've already been caught cheating, who knows what they HAVEN'T been caught with. I don't think there's ever been a more suspect team in my time in watching pro sports terms of cheating. It looks even more shady when you see Brady not cooperating with a league investigation and destroying evidence

 

I think part of the reason is a heard that as a consequence of spy gate it was said that if Belichick is caught cheating again he could face banishment from the league. It's pure speculation on my part but there's a good chance that the information on his phone could have revealed Belichick's knowledge of the situation. Anyone who believes he didn't know is naive beyond belief imo.

[Vin+ 3,121]

 

Patriots owner Robert Kraft released a statement Wednesday, saying the "decision" by the NFL to uphold Tom Brady's four-game suspension is "unfathomable to me."

Known to be tight with commissioner Roger Goodell, Kraft unloaded on the league. "Six months removed from the AFC Championship game, the league still has no hard evidence of anybody doing anything to tamper with the psi level of footballs," he said. "The league’s handling of this entire process has been extremely frustrating and disconcerting. ... there are those in the league office who are more determined to prove that they were right rather than admit any culpability ... Back in May, I had to make a difficult decision that I now regret. I tried to do what I thought was right. I chose not to take legal action. I wanted to return the focus to football. ... I was willing to accept the harshest penalty in the history of the NFL for an alleged ball violation because I believed it would help exonerate Tom. ... I was wrong to put my faith in the league."

 

 

 

 

According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, "inside the building" there is a belief at Patriots headquarters that suspended QB Tom Brady "ends up on the field."

RapSheet isn't specific about when the Patriots expect Brady "on the field," but this presumably is in reference to Week 1. The Patriots are staying optimistic that Brady's four-game suspension could be overturned or postponed in a court of law. We've seen betting books take the Patriots' Opening Day game against the Steelers off the board while the situation plays out.

Source: Ian Rapoport on Twitter

[oochymp 2,393]

I love that they keep pointing to "no hard evidence" when a huge part of the allegation is that they worked to cover it up

[Dutch 874]

Yeah, that is true. However though, it's funny because in a sense, it's like the cops raiding a house without a warrant and may have a trail to drugs, but not find the drugs and still convict the individual. Suspicion is the main factor here but Brady's actions were suspicion inducing. Brady's statement today revealed that they did wind up cooperating (after the fact) with the NFL and electronically sent everything off his phone to the league. And both parties agreed that Brady's phone would no longer be subjected to the investigation.

 

"I also disagree with yesterdays narrative surrounding my cellphone. I replaced my broken Samsung phone with a new iPhone 6 AFTER my attorneys made it clear to the NFL that my actual phone device would not be subjected to investigation under ANY circumstances. As a member of a union, I was under no obligation to set a new precedent going forward, nor was I made aware at any time during Mr. Wells investigation, that failing to subject my cell phone to investigation would result in ANY discipline...

 

To try and reconcile the record and fully cooperate with the investigation after I was disciplined in May, we turned over detailed pages of cell phone records and all of the emails that Mr. Wells requested. We even contacted the phone company to see if there was any possible way we could retrieve any/all of the actual text messages from my old phone. In short, we exhausted every possibility to give the NFL everything we could and offered to go thru the identity for every text and phone call during the relevant time. Regardless, the NFL knows that Mr. Wells already had ALL relevant communications with Patriots personnel that either Mr. Wells saw or that I was questioned about in my appeal hearing. There is no “smoking gun” and this controversy is manufactured to distract from the fact they have zero evidence of wrongdoing."

 

Suspect yes that Brady destroyed it but for the NFL to bring that back into the play after their agreement is a smear campaign to gain public favor. So really, it shouldn't even count as obstruction of justice. However, this initially spiraled out of control when Brady refused to fully cooperate with the NFL handing over his cell phone which is what provoked the NFL to investigate even harder. Incredibly suspect that Brady didn't hand over his phone, but he's a incredibly wealthy guy. Who knows what in the world this dude has going on in his personal life that he didn't want to anyone to see. He got disciplined for that and the second time around, get allowed them to get the phone records via texts and emails that Wells "requested" which would be all pertinent information involving the case. So the NFL still got exactly what they wanted and despite what may appear to be suspicous inducing actions, they still have no proof. No doubt, Brady's actions are suspicious but Goodell basically created a new page in the CBA because he had no basis for handing a 4 game suspension to Brady.

 

I haven't followed this situation thoroughly so it may be some things that I'm missing or have incorrect. But it appears this case isn't even about Brady conspiring with the deflated balls. It's about Brady not given due process before the punishment being handed out which is Goodell breaking the CBA.

Edited July 29, 2015 by Dutch

[Thanatos 2,847]

According to Brady's statement, the NFL is simply flat out lying.

 

He says he didn't destroy his phone, but that it broke, and he then replaced it with an iphone 6, that he did produce the cell phone records, and that he did indeed go to the old phone's company and ask for all cell records to be released to him- which as many as they could, they did- and he turned those records over as well.

 

Somebody is lying through their teeth.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

Not gonna be good for whichever side that is.

[Vin+ 3,121]

Brady's obviously shook about potential damages to his legacy, as shown by the request to seal his records. Assuming this is a witchhunt, I don't see how it benefits the NFL at all. The punishment just affects one team, there aren't really any sweeping league-wide changes other than the refs/league supplying the balls now.

 

Doesn't make sense.

[Sarge+ 3,436]

[seanbrock 1,684]

Brady's obviously shook about potential damages to his legacy, as shown by the request to seal his records. Assuming this is a witchhunt, I don't see how it benefits the NFL at all. The punishment just affects one team, there aren't really any sweeping league-wide changes other than the refs/league supplying the balls now.

 

Doesn't make sense.

Exactly. The NFL is all about money. Why would they want to tarnish the legacy of a guy who is one of the faces of the league right now? A guy who they were starting to build up as the greatest QB of all time, much like the NBA/ESPN tries to do with LeBron? It kind of further cheapens 4 Super Bowls...hell you could argue more and it brings back some of the old wounds of spy gate. I think the NFL would have loved to have pretended like that never happened and this just brings it right back to the surface

 

I honestly think that the cover up was to protect Belichick more than it was Brady though because after spygate Bill was facing a possible league ban if he was caught cheating again.. Like I said before, if you think Bill had no idea you're a fool. Pretty sure the Pats would have took it on the chin and played it off as if it wasn't a big deal because it might just not have been. I bet the suspension wouldn't have been 4 games either. I mean, a lot of people in the media have been spinning the narrative that way the whole time anyway. Something doesn't add up imo.

[Cheesehead4life 6]

I can tell you one thing the longer Tom Brady keeps dragging this out the worse it can become for him. Unless he is totally made innocent of this whole thing which I don't think is going to happen at this point he should just drop it and take his 4 game suspension. If he continues to drag it out with this new lawsuit and more things come out against him the Tom Brady legacy will just become even worse.

[Vin+ 3,121]

 

U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman ordered Tom Brady and Roger Goodell to appear in court for two conferences on Aug. 12 and 19.

Berman requested the two sides "engage in comprehensive, good-faith settlement discussions prior to the conference on August 12." Though the judge did not mention the NFL's and NFLPA's joint request to have the case resolved by Sept. 4, the immediacy of the conferences suggests a resolution could be handed down quickly. Hopefully this ridiculous episode will come to an end before the season begins.

Source: Baltimore Sun

Also:

http://deadspin.com/taste-roger-goodells-wrath-with-our-nfl-punishment-gene-1720846778

Edited August 1, 2015 by Vin

[butta54 371]

NFL was raped in the inital meetings with the judge.

 

Although he asked both sides to not read into his questioning as he plays devil's advocate...

 

The judge asked the NFL at least 4x what was there evidence of a direct link between Brady and the deflation in which the NFL had no answer. In reference to the Wells report and it's ability to justify a suspension for an action performed by another person the judge said "I'm having trouble seeing it"

 

There are a good amount of people who believe this may have been a tactic by the judge to push the NFL to be more cooperative in a settlement as they have proven to be very stubborn and closed up until this point. However, either way this has to be a good sign for Tom Brady and the NFLPA as the questions that some Brady supporters have brought up the whole time have come to light in the court room.

Edited August 15, 2015 by Buttriots

[Vin+ 3,121]

Judge Berman has ruined every bit of fun I was having with this. I no longer care anymore.

 

 

 

https://nflpaweb.blob.core.windows.net/media/Default/PDFs/Media%20Resources/NFLPA%20Opp%27n%20to%20NFLMC%20Motion.pdf

 

NFLPA's response or something. TL;DR

[butta54 371]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/deflate-gate-judge-hammers-nfl-s-case-against-tom-brady---your-honor-is-spot-on---defense-crows--192153861.html

 

 

Edited August 20, 2015 by Buttriots

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

Apparently Brady is cool with taking a suspension for not cooperating with the investigation, but that comes with not having to admit he had anything to do with deflating the footballs.


Dude is guilty... But it doesn't seem the NFL's case is all that strong.

[Thanatos 2,847]

I heard he was okay with a fine and loss of paycheck, but zero games suspended.

[Vin+ 3,121]

It's times like these I wish Boston Legal were still around.

[Piggly Wiggly 960]

Not a fucking chance TFB is ok with even being suspended a single game. Nor should he be. The NFL doesn't have shit on him LMAO! The Ted Wells ''more likely than not'' report is absolutely fucking laughable. No clue how they actually thought that would look presentable in court. Then again, this is the same league that fines/suspends players for illegal hits then tries to profit by selling photos of the exact same hit on the NFL Shop lol. Integrity of the game, guise!!!!

 

And on a real note, Deflategate is easily the most overblown and retarded ''scandal'' in NFL history. It's Tom Brady and the Patriots so it's automatically a huge deal. How many fucks are given if this happens to Andrew Luck? Lol.

 

 

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