Brady

[jdomer2403]

Brady was not required by rule to cooperate with the investigation. In fact the NFLPA informed players not to do so. Also, the current rules say punishment for doctoring footballs is only a $25k fine, not a suspension, and there is no hard evidence directly linking Brady.

That penalty isn't bad at all, maybe this is a common thing in the NFL.

[Away Team]

After taking the day to listen to the talking points I have come to this conclusion that you can take to the bank:

Tom Brady WILL be suspended and people WILL bitch all offseason that it wasn't long enough.

He'll miss Week 1, maaaaaaaaybe one more game.

[dm1129]

brady is a filthy lying cheater. he was given these equipment guys kickbacks to deflate the balls. I would do it for a new pair of nikes too. ultimately the league loves the pats so no suspension for brady and a small fine for the pats and maybe a lost 5th round draft pick. realistically, brady should get at least 6 games but I would say more due to the patriots cheating nature. tainted. *

I agree with this. I will say upfront that I am not a Pats hater nor a Brady hater. Brady enjoys the image of being pillar of the league. With that image, there comes an even higher standard to which a player should conduct himself. There is ZERO chance he did not know about this. There is ZERO chance some equipment guy did this on his own accord. There is ZERO chance that Brady would not notice deflated game balls. The fact that he knowingly and willfully cheated is bad enough, but then to go in front of the world and say he had nothing to do with this while also saying that he respects the league and plays by the rules further shows his lack of integrity. He flat out lied to the world. There are players serving lengthy suspensions for substance abuse. What these players did in terms of damage to the integrity of the NFL pales in comparison. A player who smokes marijuana does not do so to gain an illegal competitive advantage over an opponent and alter the outcome of a game. The reality is what Brady did was a premeditated assault on the integrity of the league by one of its most important players. What the league does in terms of punishment will be very interesting. I don't have my hopes very high.

[jdomer2403]

yeah it is sad really that Brady is considered the "Golden Boy" or a role model that many value and look up to when the real fact is he will do anything to gain an advantage or do anything to win. the ego on this guy is sickening and saddening. this guy is a fraud and I am a Brady fan.....or was.

[bjorklunde]

That said, Goodell has been known to skirt the rules himself and he'll probably find a way to hand out something more. I'd expect a 1 game suspension along with a fine, with a good possibility of Brady successfully appealing.

Goodell isn't handling the punishment for "Deflate-gate", Troy Vincent is.

http://nesn.com/2015/05/report-nfl-coul ... ls-report/

Meaning Roger wants nothing to do with the potential punishment that will be given to Brady and/or the Pats. To me, this means two things 1. There is enough evidence to warrant significant punishment in the form of a Brady suspension and likely large fine and/or draft picks being taken. & 2. That Roger doesn't want to deal with the reprocussions of said punishment. The fact that Troy is dealing with it, could mean that Kraft's pull with the NFL may be less than we think, and a severe punishment could be in the works for the Pats/Brady.

That's my take though. I could absolutely see a scenario in which the Pats/Brady are fined a small amount and that's it. Maybe Brady gets a 1 or 2 game suspension but appeals and gets nothing.

[Shoreline Steamers]

The commission had texts dating back to may where the two equipment employees were joking back-and-forth about Brady complaining of overinflated footballs. There are text messages that show both employees were in contact with Brady, and one even referred to himself in text as "the deflator". Brady was giving them signed balls and a game worn jersey (payment for complicity, or just a really nice gesture by Tom? You decide).

Brady claimed not to know, or have been in contact with either employee which has been proven false by the information made available to to commission. The facts are pretty clear here. He lied. And unless he comes out now and admits, "Yeah, I wasn't totally upfront about the facts in this investigation. I apologize to the Patriots organization, my teammates, the Patriot fans, and the NFL for my mistakes in this incident." Then the guy loses a lot of respect.

Is he the only QB doing this? Likely not. Why do you think they even had to make a rule about the proper PSI for a football in the first place. The part that bothers me is the Patriot organizations indignation that they're being targeted, singled-out, treated unfairly and owed an apology by anyone who even insinuated that they were not 100% above reproach. This is the group that brought us Spy Gate, right? They bend the rules.

As for the language used in the report "More probable than not" it is not vague. That specific legal language is the threshold the NFL uses to determine if there has been a violation of their rules and it's all over the report. So while it sounds vague, what the author is saying is, "It is our belief the Patriots knowingly altered the footballs after they had been checked by the game officials, then lied to us when we questioned them about it. This meets the league threshold for punishment."

As for what that punishment is, I'm figuring 2-games as the NFL can't sweep another Patriot's issue under the carpet without any sort of meaningful sanctions. Otherwise, it looks like preferential treatment for an organization that has been caught bending the rules before and I doubt Roger will allow them to "tarnish the shield" again without any backlash. A $250K fine just doesn't cut it when we're talking multi-millionaires. Brady's going to sit with Blount.

[kmbryant09]

The commission had texts dating back to may where the two equipment employees were joking back-and-forth about Brady complaining of overinflated footballs. There are text messages that show both employees were in contact with Brady, and one even referred to himself in text as "the deflator". Brady was giving them signed balls and a game worn jersey (payment for complicity, or just a really nice gesture by Tom? You decide).

Brady claimed not to know, or have been in contact with either employee which has been proven false by the information made available to to commission. The facts are pretty clear here. He lied. And unless he comes out now and admits, "Yeah, I wasn't totally upfront about the facts in this investigation. I apologize to the Patriots organization, my teammates, the Patriot fans, and the NFL for my mistakes in this incident." Then the guy loses a lot of respect.

Is he the only QB doing this? Likely not. Why do you think they even had to make a rule about the proper PSI for a football in the first place. The part that bothers me is the Patriot organizations indignation that they're being targeted, singled-out, treated unfairly and owed an apology by anyone who even insinuated that they were not 100% above reproach. This is the group that brought us Spy Gate, right? They bend the rules.

As for the language used in the report "More probable than not" it is not vague. That specific legal language is the threshold the NFL uses to determine if there has been a violation of their rules and it's all over the report. So while it sounds vague, what the author is saying is, "It is our belief the Patriots knowingly altered the footballs after they had been checked by the game officials, then lied to us when we questioned them about it. This meets the league threshold for punishment."

As for what that punishment is, I'm figuring 2-games as the NFL can't sweep another Patriot's issue under the carpet without any sort of meaningful sanctions. Otherwise, it looks like preferential treatment for an organization that has been caught bending the rules before and I doubt Roger will allow them to "tarnish the shield" again without any backlash. A $250K fine just doesn't cut it when we're talking multi-millionaires. Brady's going to sit with Blount.

Excellent post.

[Irbir]

brady is a filthy lying cheater. he was given these equipment guys kickbacks to deflate the balls. I would do it for a new pair of nikes too. ultimately the league loves the pats so no suspension for brady and a small fine for the pats and maybe a lost 5th round draft pick. realistically, brady should get at least 6 games but I would say more due to the patriots cheating nature. tainted. *

X2*

[bjorklunde]

I can see it already: the ball boy or whoever deflated the balls (allegedly, ha right...) comes out and says he did it on his own (on his own meaning the Pats pay him a million bucks er whatever), without the say-so of Brady or anyone else. Something along the lines of Brady joking to him one day or him overhearing Brady complaining, some ~10 years ago "man I wish those balls weren't so stiff." He supposedly takes it as an opportunity to please the almighty Brady and starts deflating the balls on a regular basis. Because little Jonny squishy balls owns up to it and claims it was his idea, the Pats and Brady get off with a slap on the wrist. That slap likely being a small fine.

Somewhat joking of course, but can anyone else see something like this going down? Or is there too much "evidence" pinning it on Brady?

[SteelLake]

I actually read a decent amount of the report.... They really did Brady a favor with the whole "more likely than not" line that everyone has jumped on. It makes it sound like they "guess Brady did it". The actual report / evidence against Brady is a lot more damning than that one line...

[Csl312]

when the real fact is he will do anything to gain an advantage or do anything to win. the ego.. .

Is there a single NFL player (heck athlete) who is at the top of their game that this does not describe though? I'm dubious on that...

I voted zero only because I see no way the NFL PA allows a suspension without a fight, and (not having read the report) if there is no real proof I see any suspension going away in arbitration / court or wherever the decision is made.

[Lotto4Life]

Caught the end of Bill Polian on Mike and Mike. He said he's read the report twice. I believe he said the report very clearly states that the Patriots were not fully cooperative, as they denied access to a second McNally interview even though that interview was offered at McNally's choice of time and place.

I've never cared for Kraft, but now I really wish he would go away and hope he gets suspended as well. He got up on his soap box and demanded an apology then later claims they were fully cooperative and disagree with the outcome.

After listening to Polian, I'm leaning towards Brady getting some sort of suspension. Belichick may get one, too. I think they'll lose a draft pick as well.

One other somewhat ironic thing he mentioned, that I didn't quite catch all of, was that the league put in some new policy after spygate that could bite the Pats on this. I missed what it was, though. Could have been something to do with cooperation.

[jason401]

Caught the end of Bill Polian on Mike and Mike. He said he's read the report twice. I believe he said the report very clearly states that the Patriots were not fully cooperative, as they denied access to a second McNally interview even though that interview was offered at McNally's choice of time and place.

I've never cared for Kraft, but now I really wish he would go away and hope he gets suspended as well. He got up on his soap box and demanded an apology then later claims they were fully cooperative and disagree with the outcome.

After listening to Polian, I'm leaning towards Brady getting some sort of suspension. Belichick may get one, too. I think they'll lose a draft pick as well.

One other somewhat ironic thing he mentioned, that I didn't quite catch all of, was that the league put in some new policy after spygate that could bite the Pats on this. I missed what it was, though. Could have been something to do with cooperation.

I'd be careful putting too much stock in what Polian says about the Patriots. He's a notorious Patriots hater. He stats he read the report twice and it 'very clearly states that the Patriots were not fully cooperative, as they denied access to a second McNally interview even though that interview was offered at McNally's choice of time and place.'

This is actually false. It was the FIFTH interview that was denied. Not the second. Maybe Polian should read it a third time before putting out false info.

[Unknown]

As for the language used in the report "More probable than not" it is not vague. That specific legal language is the threshold the NFL uses to determine if there has been a violation of their rules and it's all over the report.

Hey, Brady has been "probable" with a shoulder injury for the last decade... and the only games he missed were with an ACL...

[Lotto4Life]

This is actually false. It was the FIFTH interview that was denied. Not the second. Maybe Polian should read it a third time before putting out false info.

He likely said "additional" and I just didn't recall it correctly. And yes, I understand Polian has disdain for the Patriots. I don't think he'd like about what was in the report, but I could definitely be wrong.

Still doesn't change my disdain for Kraft

ETA: thanks for the correction.