#DeflateGate (Court of Appeals Reinstates Suspension)

[kozlodoev]

He doesn't have to do anything. The NFLPA will handle a lot of that stuff

I think he should have just kept quiet or denied it.   The agent and him, almost threw down the gauntlet to the NFL, we will see how it goes.   

McNally: Tom sucks...im going make that next ball a $%&#@@ balloon

Jastremski: Talked to him last night. He actually brought you up and said you must have a lot of stress trying to get them done...

Jastremski: I told him it was. He was right though...

Jastremski: I checked some of the balls this morn... The refs %#@$ed us...a few of then were at almost 16

Warning original link with profane language.

https://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/2015/05/06/read-the-texts-that-suggest-tom-brady-knew-about-deflategate/RvOL44sKCsjUnG6IlSrLGJ/story.html

https://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/2015/05/06/mean-texts-what-patriots-employees-said-about-tom-brady/5TAehtMZo1zKRLuK51UtjI/story.html

They have their phones, do they even need Brady's with text like this stuff.

The NFL does not have a judicial system.   They have a commissioner.  Personally, I think every player does what he can to get an edge.   I think this whole thing was blown out of control.  But I absolutely think he might get suspended for a game or two.

So because Jastremski said Brady may have said something that makes it "more probable than not" that Brady was involved? I could have made a guess that Brady is generally involved in what goes on with his footballs, but I thought the goal of the report was to provide proof of tampering.

Otherwise, we could argue the league should be disciplining Aaron Rodgers for supplying nonconforming balls to officials. *shrug*

Not to mention that the league is brazenly trying to play both sides of the coin: on one hand, it brushes aside the fact that an NFL employee pretty much stole the kicking ball, which according to Gostkowski was the best-prepared K ball in the game -- by saying that using the K2 ball obviously didn't affect game performance. Yet, Wells curiously fails to apply the same standard when it was eye-pokingly evident that the level of inflation of the game balls didn't have any effect on the Pats performance that game.

The standard of fact evaluation used by Ted Wells seems somewhat inconsistent there.

[Donoghus]

Jeff Howe just tweeted that a ruling might come as early as this afternoon.   The ol' Friday 5pm EST news dump?  The NFL would never do that.   

Jeff Howe
?@jeffphowe
Source close to the Deflategate investigation believes a disciplinary ruling could be made as early as this afternoon.

[mahonedog88]

I'm guessing 8 games, but wouldn't be surprised with 4 or 6.  I think more than 8 or less than 4 are very unlikely to happen.

You really think the NFL is going to basically torpedo the Pats' season? 

That would be a pretty major punishment.  Totally undermine the Pats' chance at defending their title.  Probably prevent one of the biggest and most successful teams in the league from getting back to the playoffs.

Sure, the Pats would still have Brady for half the season, and they're a talented team.  But I think the division is strong enough that starting Jimmy G for 8 games would sink the Pats.  The Bills won 9 games last year and missed the playoffs.

I think they are are going to send a strong message, especially since it looks like this type of cheating has been going on a long time (it wasn't just the Colts game).  And this is after all the team that is always skating that fine line between legal and not legal activities for 20 years.  Brady was intimately involved here and is going to take the fall for the whole organization.

Calm down there John Birch.

He'll get a slap on the wrist.

That's what I initially thought, but do you realize what kind of an uproar a slap on the wrist would cause?  Not only will Brady be continued to be called a cheater, but the entire football community will claim that the Patriots have Goodell in their back pocket.  With all of the negative stories that happened this past season, not giving Brady AT LEAST a one game suspension will look pretty bad on the part of the league front office.  People really need to start preparing for Brady to be gone at least one game, maybe even as many as 3.  Now if we start getting into 8+ game suspension territory, THEN I think we're getting a little overboard.  Greg Hardy got 10 games and the last thing the league wants is for people to make the argument that what Brady did is just as bad as what Greg Hardy did

No. the NFL (sometimes correctly) assumes that it's fans are stupid and don't care about anything that doesn't happen on the field. They give exactly no craps about what the fans thinks about the integrity of the game, because they know that the fans won't stop watching. This is happening in May -- they'll fine him some arbitrary amount and then nudge ESPN to ramp up the 'ITS ALMOST PRESEASON' stories and no one will say anything about it again.

With all due respect, I think you're so wrong about this.  You have to start thinking about this in a post-Ray Rice era.  The NFL is trying to reshape its image after a season of bad story after bad story.  There's no way they can handle the backlash of just a fine after the year they had.  And you say no one will say anything about it again...once again, wrong.  They may not say anything about it in July and August, but once game 1 roles around and the entire nation has eyes on the NFL opener, and they see Tom Brady starting, once again the conversation comes back up, "how could they only fine him? how was he not suspended?"

[D.o.s.]

The same way they still talk about Spygate, right? Which has an oh-so-measurable effect on the NFL's bottom line. 

The NFL would love it if people are still talking about #DeflateGate on opening day. That means they're not talking about concussions, or Jameis Winston being an (alleged) rapist, or Adrian Peterson beating children, or Darren Sharper not being allowed into the hall of fame because he's an actual rapist. The NFL is salivating over the idea of fans like you arguing about whether or not Brady's Super Bowl wins are tarnished because of an overinflated football, rather than the fact that the sport actively destroys peoples lives.

That is what it means to the league in a post Ray-Rice world. Trust me on this. Not that I blame you for overinflating the importance of things the Patriots do on a Boston sports forum, of course. 

[mahonedog88]

The same way they still talk about Spygate, right? Which has an oh-so-measurable effect on the NFL's bottom line. 

The NFL would love it if people are still talking about #DeflateGate on opening day. That means they're not talking about concussions, or Jameis Winston being an (alleged) rapist, or Adrian Peterson beating children, or Darren Sharper not being allowed into the hall of fame because he's an actual rapist. The NFL is salivating over the idea of fans like you arguing about whether or not Brady's Super Bowl wins are tarnished because of an overinflated football, rather than the fact that the sport actively destroys peoples lives.

That is what it means to the league in a post Ray-Rice world. Trust me on this.

We clearly will never see eye to eye on this, and according to Jeff Howe, we might find out as soon as this afternoon who's right.  My guess is a suspension for the season opener, with as many as 3 games being on the table.  You clearly think he'll only get fined.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see who's right.

And you can't make the argument that they would rather have fans talk about cheating over concussions and bad guys in the league...they don't want ANY of it.  They want it all to go away.  If they only fine him, it won't go away.

[D.o.s.]

You actually think the NFL is going to take Tom Brady off the field for as many as three games for this? Do you think LeBron is going to sign with the Celtics this offseason, too?

No really one cares about DeflateGate except for irate Boston fans who think the world is out to get the Patriots.

I would also ask you to consider your logic here, as to which draws more attention to the impropriety: Brady off the field for Game 1 because of a suspension, or Brady on the field having payed a fine?

The answer, for those of you playing at home, is Brady off the field.

[Donoghus]

The same way they still talk about Spygate, right? Which has an oh-so-measurable effect on the NFL's bottom line. 

The NFL would love it if people are still talking about #DeflateGate on opening day. That means they're not talking about concussions, or Jameis Winston being an (alleged) rapist, or Adrian Peterson beating children, or Darren Sharper not being allowed into the hall of fame because he's an actual rapist. The NFL is salivating over the idea of fans like you arguing about whether or not Brady's Super Bowl wins are tarnished because of an overinflated football, rather than the fact that the sport actively destroys peoples lives.

That is what it means to the league in a post Ray-Rice world. Trust me on this.

We clearly will never see eye to eye on this, and according to Jeff Howe, we might find out as soon as this afternoon who's right.  My guess is a suspension for the season opener, with as many as 3 games being on the table.  You clearly think he'll only get fined.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see who's right.

And you can't make the argument that they would rather have fans talk about cheating over concussions and bad guys in the league...they don't want ANY of it.  They want it all to go away.  If they only fine him, it won't go away.

Between one or the other, the NFL definitely would rather have gamesmanship issues be out there than stuff like rapes, concussions, and domestic abuse.  A thousand times over.   

Judging by how this league office has operated, staying in the news cycle is huge.  NFL is basically in the news 12 months of year now.  It's May and NFL news is all over mainstream national news.  And its something really minor & less serious than issues of rape, concussions, and domestic abuse.

[Donoghus]

You actually think the NFL is going to take Tom Brady off the field for as many as three games for this? Do you think LeBron is going to sign with the Celtics this offseason, too?

No really one cares about DeflateGate except for irate Boston fans who think the world is out to get the Patriots.

I would also ask you to consider your logic here, as to which draws more attention to the impropriety: Brady off the field for Game 1 because of a suspension, or Brady on the field having payed a fine?

The answer, for those of you playing at home, is Brady off the field.

Or national media pundits who salivate at the prospect of taking shots at the organization any chance they get.  This has been like Xmas morning for them.  And a lot of them have contributed to the ridiculous amount of media exposure on this.  It keeps churning & churning.   

That isn't happening if this is the Jacksonville Jaguars.

[D.o.s.]

Yeah, sorry for being unclear: no one really cares about the outcome of Deflategate except for Boston fans.

For everyone else it's something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week. If you cover the NFL, you're stoked on this because it beats the hell out of talking about Collins to the Cowboys or whatever.

[mahonedog88]

Yeah, sorry for being unclear: no one really cares about the outcome of Deflategate except for Boston fans.

For everyone else it's something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week. If you cover the NFL, you're stoked on this because it beats the hell out of talking about Collins to the Cowboys or whatever.

Boy, we clearly are on different planets with this.  You really think nobody outside of New England cares about the outcome of this?  If he only gets a fine, watch what happens...people outside of New England will certainly care.

And to say this is just something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week in May?  We're talking about the star quarterback of arguably the premiere franchise in the most popular league in the country being labeled a cheater by the NFL community.  The same guy who has been to more super bowls than any other quarterback ever, 4 rings, 3 super bowl mvps, 2 league mvps, and was now in the same conversation as Joe Montana as being the best at the most important position in the league.

I wouldn't call this "something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week."  You're way underselling this.

[celticsclay]

Yeah, sorry for being unclear: no one really cares about the outcome of Deflategate except for Boston fans.

For everyone else it's something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week. If you cover the NFL, you're stoked on this because it beats the hell out of talking about Collins to the Cowboys or whatever.

It was on the front page of cnn.com yesterday for what that is worth and Jim Rome spent most of his morning talking about the outcome and whether he will get suspended (only sports radio that is on when i drive in to work). ESPN just posted that Bovada (which is the biggest sports betting site there is) posted a prop on whether Brady will get suspended and for how many games (you can say over or under 3.5 games). So there really isn't any way you can argue that only boston people care about this in light of those facts.

[JohnBoy65]

He doesn't have to do anything. The NFLPA will handle a lot of that stuff

I think he should have just kept quiet or denied it.   The agent and him, almost threw down the gauntlet to the NFL, we will see how it goes.   

McNally: Tom sucks...im going make that next ball a $%&#@@ balloon

Jastremski: Talked to him last night. He actually brought you up and said you must have a lot of stress trying to get them done...

Jastremski: I told him it was. He was right though...

Jastremski: I checked some of the balls this morn... The refs %#@$ed us...a few of then were at almost 16

Warning original link with profane language.

https://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/2015/05/06/read-the-texts-that-suggest-tom-brady-knew-about-deflategate/RvOL44sKCsjUnG6IlSrLGJ/story.html

https://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/2015/05/06/mean-texts-what-patriots-employees-said-about-tom-brady/5TAehtMZo1zKRLuK51UtjI/story.html

They have their phones, do they even need Brady's with text like this stuff.

The NFL does not have a judicial system.   They have a commissioner.  Personally, I think every player does what he can to get an edge.   I think this whole thing was blown out of control.  But I absolutely think he might get suspended for a game or two.

So because Jastremski said Brady may have said something that makes it "more probable than not" that Brady was involved? I could have made a guess that Brady is generally involved in what goes on with his footballs, but I thought the goal of the report was to provide proof of tampering.

Otherwise, we could argue the league should be disciplining Aaron Rodgers for supplying nonconforming balls to officials. *shrug*

Not to mention that the league is brazenly trying to play both sides of the coin: on one hand, it brushes aside the fact that an NFL employee pretty much stole the kicking ball, which according to Gostkowski was the best-prepared K ball in the game -- by saying that using the K2 ball obviously didn't affect game performance. Yet, Wells curiously fails to apply the same standard when it was eye-pokingly evident that the level of inflation of the game balls didn't have any effect on the Pats performance that game.

The standard of fact evaluation used by Ted Wells seems somewhat inconsistent there.

Do you think those two ball boys were making it up? They sent those texts knowing this would blow up and they could maybe frame Tom Brady in 8 months time? If it looks like a duck, acts like a duck, and quacks like a duck it's a dang duck. I hate the Patriots, but I don't necessarily think this is a big deal, but Brady cheated and the league can't really take that too lightly.

This almost reminds me of Tiger Woods' drop at the Masters a few years ago. Dropped it a yard back because it got him exactly to his yardage he wanted. Something that probably happens more often than not, but because it's Tiger Woods, and because it's technically cheating Augsta had to do something.

[D.o.s.]

Yeah, sorry for being unclear: no one really cares about the outcome of Deflategate except for Boston fans.

For everyone else it's something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week. If you cover the NFL, you're stoked on this because it beats the hell out of talking about Collins to the Cowboys or whatever.

Boy, we clearly are on different planets with this.  You really think nobody outside of New England cares about the outcome of this?  If he only gets a fine, watch what happens...people outside of New England will certainly care.

And to say this is just something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week in May?  We're talking about the star quarterback of arguably the premiere franchise in the most popular league in the country being labeled a cheater by the NFL community.  The same guy who has been to more super bowls than any other quarterback ever, 4 rings, 3 super bowl mvps, 2 league mvps, and was now in the same conversation as Joe Montana as being the best at the most important position in the league.

I wouldn't call this "something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week."  You're way underselling this.

I'm putting it in it's proper context to the NFL and to the people who cover the NFL as someone who's job it is, in part, to cover the NFL. You, on the other hand, are clearly a Patriots fan, and are attaching way too much importance to this.

If this was something that actually mattered, like Steroids, PEDs, or him going full Hernandez on one of the ball inflaters I'd agree with you. As it stands, it's much ado about nothing.

If he only gets a fine the resident Skip Baylesses will have something to get huffy about, which is what they want. No one's invalidating Brady's career over a text message.

What will almost certainly happen is that the NFLPA will argue it regardless of what the outcome actually is, and Brady will wind up missing an insignificant amount of time at most and, ultimately, no one will care. That is what I mean by "the outcome," not about whether Jim Rome is talking about it or not (because who actually cares about Jim Rome beyond morons and mouthbreathers and Mrs. Jim Rome?)

[JohnBoy65]

Yeah, sorry for being unclear: no one really cares about the outcome of Deflategate except for Boston fans.

For everyone else it's something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week. If you cover the NFL, you're stoked on this because it beats the hell out of talking about Collins to the Cowboys or whatever.

Boy, we clearly are on different planets with this.  You really think nobody outside of New England cares about the outcome of this?  If he only gets a fine, watch what happens...people outside of New England will certainly care.

And to say this is just something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week in May?  We're talking about the star quarterback of arguably the premiere franchise in the most popular league in the country being labeled a cheater by the NFL community.  The same guy who has been to more super bowls than any other quarterback ever, 4 rings, 3 super bowl mvps, 2 league mvps, and was now in the same conversation as Joe Montana as being the best at the most important position in the league.

I wouldn't call this "something to shoot the breeze about on a slow week."  You're way underselling this.

I'm putting it in it's proper context to the NFL and to the people who cover the NFL as someone who's job it is, in part, to cover the NFL. You, on the other hand, are clearly a Patriots fan, and are attaching way too much importance to this.

If this was something that actually mattered, like Steroids, PEDs, or him going full Hernandez on one of the ball inflaters I'd agree with you. As it stands, it's much ado about nothing.

If he only gets a fine the resident Skip Baylesses will have something to get huffy about, which is what they want. No one's invalidating Brady's career over a text message.

What will almost certainly happen is that the NFLPA will argue it regardless of what the outcome actually is, and Brady will wind up missing an insignificant amount of time at most and, ultimately, no one will care.

I've seen multiple people question Tom Brady's legacy based on the findings of this report. You're way wrong on this saying it's just New England fans that care. Most issues go away anyway. We don't hear much about Peterson anymore, we don't hear much about the Saints 'targeting' issue anymore. Problems will go away, and this will too, but to say only New Englanders care are out this is totally wrong.

[Donoghus]

I'm guessing 31 team fanbases will be p*ssed if Brady gets only a fine while one fanbase will be livid if he gets suspended.  Football fans are definitely keeping an eye on this.