#DeflateGate (Court of Appeals Reinstates Suspension)

[TheFlex]

So it's not against the rules but the nfl is going to punish them for breaking the rules... YES taking the balls and removing air 2 lbs below the legal amount after the refs have checked them is against the rules. Keep rationalizing and break forum rules with personal insults. Right from the school of Bellicheat.

As long as you can prove conclusively that this is exactly what happened, I'm with you. Sadly, so far we've seen absolutely no evidence anyone has "removed air" from the footballs, and I've given you at least one other plausible scenario where the same result can be achieved without tampering with the balls illegally. But of course "Bellicheat" must have cheated, because he's "Bellicheat". That's the type of logic of the modern Internet man.

It is a fact that he has cheated in the past. It is a fact that they were 2 lbs less at halftime after being checked at beginning. Only Pats staff touched them in between. Not hard to make that leap. That being said, the biggest issue is what we're teaching kids. It's okay to cheat if you don't get caught, but if you do you'll just get a slap on the wrist. Integrity and honesty are no longer demanded by the masses. It's sad and that's becoming an issue in society. Many, like the other recent poster, just want you to let it be and tell you to teach your kids what you want. Silence is acceptance. You teach your kids by standing up and speaking out.

Soooooo....the thing to teach our kids here is how to rush to judgement without evidence and convict people in the court of the media.

Nope.

Dear media. You are not a court. You will never be a court. You have never been a court. Your opinion is irrelevant.

A free and open media is exactly what forces society's most powerful institutions to be as honest as they possibly can be/are willing to. Media is not a court but rather a generator for public discourse. Without media Ray Rice would be playing in the NFL this year. Without media we likely would never have learned about the Saints intentionally trying to injure players.

Like it or not, your favorite team is part of that spotlight. Deal with it. It doesn't mean your team is "targeted," it means your team is being held accountable. The reality is that the Pats are consistently one of the most liked teams in the league: http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/mid/1508/ArticleId/1506/Default.aspx

If you want to talk about broken rules, how about analyzing the NFL's push to protect quarterbacks and create electrifying offenses, which has allowed older, immobile quarterbacks like Brady and Peyton Manning to prolong their respective careers despite growing increasingly unable to efficiently air the ball out down the football field? And how that has restricted a team's ability to keep great defenses together and put offense-oriented teams like New England at an advantage that couldn't have been anticipated just 10-15 years ago?

Until then, stop whining about the media's "witchhunt," or whatever Pats fans are calling it, for evidence of wrongdoing. I believe it was you who mentioned hypocrisy earlier, but I could be wrong. Either way, this is the general thought process of Pats fans, who feel the league is out to get their team and make them work harder than other teams for a Super Bowl ring. And nothing could be more hypocritical than that, as the Pats have been one of the most easily identifiable beneficiaries of the uptempo, QB-driven league that the NFL has only just recently created.

[kozlodoev]

I wonder why media schools schools teach journalistic standards and ethics, when we could just have... you know, "free media". Not everyone with a keyboard and Internet access is a journalist, and not everyone employed by a media is a good one. Just saying.

[Eja117]

So it's not against the rules but the nfl is going to punish them for breaking the rules... YES taking the balls and removing air 2 lbs below the legal amount after the refs have checked them is against the rules. Keep rationalizing and break forum rules with personal insults. Right from the school of Bellicheat.

As long as you can prove conclusively that this is exactly what happened, I'm with you. Sadly, so far we've seen absolutely no evidence anyone has "removed air" from the footballs, and I've given you at least one other plausible scenario where the same result can be achieved without tampering with the balls illegally. But of course "Bellicheat" must have cheated, because he's "Bellicheat". That's the type of logic of the modern Internet man.

It is a fact that he has cheated in the past. It is a fact that they were 2 lbs less at halftime after being checked at beginning. Only Pats staff touched them in between. Not hard to make that leap. That being said, the biggest issue is what we're teaching kids. It's okay to cheat if you don't get caught, but if you do you'll just get a slap on the wrist. Integrity and honesty are no longer demanded by the masses. It's sad and that's becoming an issue in society. Many, like the other recent poster, just want you to let it be and tell you to teach your kids what you want. Silence is acceptance. You teach your kids by standing up and speaking out.

Soooooo....the thing to teach our kids here is how to rush to judgement without evidence and convict people in the court of the media.

Nope.

Dear media. You are not a court. You will never be a court. You have never been a court. Your opinion is irrelevant.

A free and open media is exactly what forces society's most powerful institutions to be as honest as they possibly can be/are willing to. Media is not a court but rather a generator for public discourse. Without media Ray Rice would be playing in the NFL this year. Without media we likely would never have learned about the Saints intentionally trying to injure players.

Like it or not, your favorite team is part of that spotlight. Deal with it. It doesn't mean your team is "targeted," it means your team is being held accountable. The reality is that the Pats are consistently one of the most liked teams in the league: http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/mid/1508/ArticleId/1506/Default.aspx

If you want to talk about broken rules, how about analyzing the NFL's push to protect quarterbacks and create electrifying offenses, which has allowed older, immobile quarterbacks like Brady and Peyton Manning to prolong their respective careers despite growing increasingly unable to efficiently air the ball out down the football field? And how that has restricted a team's ability to keep great defenses together and put offense-oriented teams like New England at an advantage that couldn't have been anticipated just 10-15 years ago?

Until then, stop whining about the media's "witchhunt," or whatever Pats fans are calling it, for evidence of wrongdoing. I believe it was you who mentioned hypocrisy earlier, but I could be wrong. Either way, this is the general thought process of Pats fans, who feel the league is out to get their team and make them work harder than other teams for a Super Bowl ring. And nothing could be more hypocritical than that, as the Pats have been one of the most easily identifiable beneficiaries of the uptempo, QB-driven league that the NFL has only just recently created.

Noooooo.....Peyton Manning couldn't beat the Pats so they changed the rules about defensive contact, then did it again. Peyton basically has to have receivers that can't be touched. They did change the rules for Brady after his ACL that you couldn't hit them below the knees or something.

We already had 38 year old QBs in this league (John Elway) and 40 year olds (Favre and Warren Moon) and QBs that were this age (Dan Marino, Steve Young) that may very well have had a little more in them.

This just has to do with the Colts being babies and the media needing to sell papers. Nothing more.

[TheFlex]

I wonder why media schools schools teach journalistic standards and ethics, when we could just have... you know, "free media". Not everyone with a keyboard and Internet access is a journalist, and not everyone employed by a media is a good one. Just saying.

The only people who criticize free media are those who act as if they have to read and believe everything journalists say.

You don't have to read articles about this if it's going to confront your biases, but some of us are interested in determining whether or not the Pats did something wrong. Apparently, that's a serious crime in NE.

[kozlodoev]

I wonder why media schools schools teach journalistic standards and ethics, when we could just have... you know, "free media". Not everyone with a keyboard and Internet access is a journalist, and not everyone employed by a media is a good one. Just saying.

The only people who criticize free media are those who act as if they have to read and believe everything journalists say.

You don't have to read articles about this if it's going to confront your biases, but some of us are interested in determining whether or not the Pats did something wrong. Apparently, that's a serious crime in NE.

I don't criticize free media. I just want to remind people that media, just like the rest of the world, has plenty of people who are not that good at what they do. Oh, and some of them have biases, too.

[Beat LA]

So it's not against the rules but the nfl is going to punish them for breaking the rules... YES taking the balls and removing air 2 lbs below the legal amount after the refs have checked them is against the rules. Keep rationalizing and break forum rules with personal insults. Right from the school of Bellicheat.

As long as you can prove conclusively that this is exactly what happened, I'm with you. Sadly, so far we've seen absolutely no evidence anyone has "removed air" from the footballs, and I've given you at least one other plausible scenario where the same result can be achieved without tampering with the balls illegally. But of course "Bellicheat" must have cheated, because he's "Bellicheat". That's the type of logic of the modern Internet man.

It is a fact that he has cheated in the past. It is a fact that they were 2 lbs less at halftime after being checked at beginning. Only Pats staff touched them in between. Not hard to make that leap. That being said, the biggest issue is what we're teaching kids. It's okay to cheat if you don't get caught, but if you do you'll just get a slap on the wrist. Integrity and honesty are no longer demanded by the masses. It's sad and that's becoming an issue in society. Many, like the other recent poster, just want you to let it be and tell you to teach your kids what you want. Silence is acceptance. You teach your kids by standing up and speaking out.

Soooooo....the thing to teach our kids here is how to rush to judgement without evidence and convict people in the court of the media.

Nope.

Dear media. You are not a court. You will never be a court. You have never been a court. Your opinion is irrelevant.

A free and open media is exactly what forces society's most powerful institutions to be as honest as they possibly can be/are willing to. Media is not a court but rather a generator for public discourse. Without media Ray Rice would be playing in the NFL this year. Without media we likely would never have learned about the Saints intentionally trying to injure players.

Like it or not, your favorite team is part of that spotlight. Deal with it. It doesn't mean your team is "targeted," it means your team is being held accountable. The reality is that the Pats are consistently one of the most liked teams in the league: http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/mid/1508/ArticleId/1506/Default.aspx

If you want to talk about broken rules, how about analyzing the NFL's push to protect quarterbacks and create electrifying offenses, which has allowed older, immobile quarterbacks like Brady and Peyton Manning to prolong their respective careers despite growing increasingly unable to efficiently air the ball out down the football field? And how that has restricted a team's ability to keep great defenses together and put offense-oriented teams like New England at an advantage that couldn't have been anticipated just 10-15 years ago?

Until then, stop whining about the media's "witchhunt," or whatever Pats fans are calling it, for evidence of wrongdoing. I believe it was you who mentioned hypocrisy earlier, but I could be wrong. Either way, this is the general thought process of Pats fans, who feel the league is out to get their team and make them work harder than other teams for a Super Bowl ring. And nothing could be more hypocritical than that, as the Pats have been one of the most easily identifiable beneficiaries of the uptempo, QB-driven league that the NFL has only just recently created.

Lol.   A witch hunt in New England?  How original (sarcasm).

[puskas54_10]

So it's not against the rules but the nfl is going to punish them for breaking the rules... YES taking the balls and removing air 2 lbs below the legal amount after the refs have checked them is against the rules. Keep rationalizing and break forum rules with personal insults. Right from the school of Bellicheat.

As long as you can prove conclusively that this is exactly what happened, I'm with you. Sadly, so far we've seen absolutely no evidence anyone has "removed air" from the footballs, and I've given you at least one other plausible scenario where the same result can be achieved without tampering with the balls illegally. But of course "Bellicheat" must have cheated, because he's "Bellicheat". That's the type of logic of the modern Internet man.

It is a fact that he has cheated in the past. It is a fact that they were 2 lbs less at halftime after being checked at beginning. Only Pats staff touched them in between. Not hard to make that leap. That being said, the biggest issue is what we're teaching kids. It's okay to cheat if you don't get caught, but if you do you'll just get a slap on the wrist. Integrity and honesty are no longer demanded by the masses. It's sad and that's becoming an issue in society. Many, like the other recent poster, just want you to let it be and tell you to teach your kids what you want. Silence is acceptance. You teach your kids by standing up and speaking out.

Soooooo....the thing to teach our kids here is how to rush to judgement without evidence and convict people in the court of the media.

Nope.

Dear media. You are not a court. You will never be a court. You have never been a court. Your opinion is irrelevant.

A free and open media is exactly what forces society's most powerful institutions to be as honest as they possibly can be/are willing to. Media is not a court but rather a generator for public discourse. Without media Ray Rice would be playing in the NFL this year. Without media we likely would never have learned about the Saints intentionally trying to injure players.

Like it or not, your favorite team is part of that spotlight. Deal with it. It doesn't mean your team is "targeted," it means your team is being held accountable. The reality is that the Pats are consistently one of the most liked teams in the league: http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/mid/1508/ArticleId/1506/Default.aspx

If you want to talk about broken rules, how about analyzing the NFL's push to protect quarterbacks and create electrifying offenses, which has allowed older, immobile quarterbacks like Brady and Peyton Manning to prolong their respective careers despite growing increasingly unable to efficiently air the ball out down the football field? And how that has restricted a team's ability to keep great defenses together and put offense-oriented teams like New England at an advantage that couldn't have been anticipated just 10-15 years ago?

Until then, stop whining about the media's "witchhunt," or whatever Pats fans are calling it, for evidence of wrongdoing. I believe it was you who mentioned hypocrisy earlier, but I could be wrong. Either way, this is the general thought process of Pats fans, who feel the league is out to get their team and make them work harder than other teams for a Super Bowl ring. And nothing could be more hypocritical than that, as the Pats have been one of the most easily identifiable beneficiaries of the uptempo, QB-driven league that the NFL has only just recently created.

I guess you doesn't understand how the media works.
How many news on Josh McNary colts linebacker, who accused of rape and battery?
Why is nobody mentioning that Ray Lewis has a shady past, when he critisizing Brady?
Why are we not hearing more about Suggs, that he poured bleach on a woman?
Why is that people act like they have evidence that the pats do something not in the rules?
If no evidence, that it was on purpose somebody by the pats, then why not wait to judge?
I guarantee you these are not the first balls to not measure properly in an nfl game.

BTW it was not any bearings on the outcome, everybody knows it. the colts are below a notch by the pats.

Who's your team?

[KeepRondo]

So it's not against the rules but the nfl is going to punish them for breaking the rules... YES taking the balls and removing air 2 lbs below the legal amount after the refs have checked them is against the rules. Keep rationalizing and break forum rules with personal insults. Right from the school of Bellicheat.

As long as you can prove conclusively that this is exactly what happened, I'm with you. Sadly, so far we've seen absolutely no evidence anyone has "removed air" from the footballs, and I've given you at least one other plausible scenario where the same result can be achieved without tampering with the balls illegally. But of course "Bellicheat" must have cheated, because he's "Bellicheat". That's the type of logic of the modern Internet man.

It is a fact that he has cheated in the past. It is a fact that they were 2 lbs less at halftime after being checked at beginning. Only Pats staff touched them in between. Not hard to make that leap. That being said, the biggest issue is what we're teaching kids. It's okay to cheat if you don't get caught, but if you do you'll just get a slap on the wrist. Integrity and honesty are no longer demanded by the masses. It's sad and that's becoming an issue in society. Many, like the other recent poster, just want you to let it be and tell you to teach your kids what you want. Silence is acceptance. You teach your kids by standing up and speaking out.

Soooooo....the thing to teach our kids here is how to rush to judgement without evidence and convict people in the court of the media.

Nope.

Dear media. You are not a court. You will never be a court. You have never been a court. Your opinion is irrelevant.

A free and open media is exactly what forces society's most powerful institutions to be as honest as they possibly can be/are willing to. Media is not a court but rather a generator for public discourse. Without media Ray Rice would be playing in the NFL this year. Without media we likely would never have learned about the Saints intentionally trying to injure players.

Like it or not, your favorite team is part of that spotlight. Deal with it. It doesn't mean your team is "targeted," it means your team is being held accountable. The reality is that the Pats are consistently one of the most liked teams in the league: http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/mid/1508/ArticleId/1506/Default.aspx

If you want to talk about broken rules, how about analyzing the NFL's push to protect quarterbacks and create electrifying offenses, which has allowed older, immobile quarterbacks like Brady and Peyton Manning to prolong their respective careers despite growing increasingly unable to efficiently air the ball out down the football field? And how that has restricted a team's ability to keep great defenses together and put offense-oriented teams like New England at an advantage that couldn't have been anticipated just 10-15 years ago?

Until then, stop whining about the media's "witchhunt," or whatever Pats fans are calling it, for evidence of wrongdoing. I believe it was you who mentioned hypocrisy earlier, but I could be wrong. Either way, this is the general thought process of Pats fans, who feel the league is out to get their team and make them work harder than other teams for a Super Bowl ring. And nothing could be more hypocritical than that, as the Pats have been one of the most easily identifiable beneficiaries of the uptempo, QB-driven league that the NFL has only just recently created.

Thank you for the lesson on free media. It sounds like you passed your college exam on that one.

[Beat LA]

So it's not against the rules but the nfl is going to punish them for breaking the rules... YES taking the balls and removing air 2 lbs below the legal amount after the refs have checked them is against the rules. Keep rationalizing and break forum rules with personal insults. Right from the school of Bellicheat.

As long as you can prove conclusively that this is exactly what happened, I'm with you. Sadly, so far we've seen absolutely no evidence anyone has "removed air" from the footballs, and I've given you at least one other plausible scenario where the same result can be achieved without tampering with the balls illegally. But of course "Bellicheat" must have cheated, because he's "Bellicheat". That's the type of logic of the modern Internet man.

It is a fact that he has cheated in the past. It is a fact that they were 2 lbs less at halftime after being checked at beginning. Only Pats staff touched them in between. Not hard to make that leap. That being said, the biggest issue is what we're teaching kids. It's okay to cheat if you don't get caught, but if you do you'll just get a slap on the wrist. Integrity and honesty are no longer demanded by the masses. It's sad and that's becoming an issue in society. Many, like the other recent poster, just want you to let it be and tell you to teach your kids what you want. Silence is acceptance. You teach your kids by standing up and speaking out.

Soooooo....the thing to teach our kids here is how to rush to judgement without evidence and convict people in the court of the media.

Nope.

Dear media. You are not a court. You will never be a court. You have never been a court. Your opinion is irrelevant.

A free and open media is exactly what forces society's most powerful institutions to be as honest as they possibly can be/are willing to. Media is not a court but rather a generator for public discourse. Without media Ray Rice would be playing in the NFL this year. Without media we likely would never have learned about the Saints intentionally trying to injure players.

Like it or not, your favorite team is part of that spotlight. Deal with it. It doesn't mean your team is "targeted," it means your team is being held accountable. The reality is that the Pats are consistently one of the most liked teams in the league: http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/mid/1508/ArticleId/1506/Default.aspx

If you want to talk about broken rules, how about analyzing the NFL's push to protect quarterbacks and create electrifying offenses, which has allowed older, immobile quarterbacks like Brady and Peyton Manning to prolong their respective careers despite growing increasingly unable to efficiently air the ball out down the football field? And how that has restricted a team's ability to keep great defenses together and put offense-oriented teams like New England at an advantage that couldn't have been anticipated just 10-15 years ago?

Until then, stop whining about the media's "witchhunt," or whatever Pats fans are calling it, for evidence of wrongdoing. I believe it was you who mentioned hypocrisy earlier, but I could be wrong. Either way, this is the general thought process of Pats fans, who feel the league is out to get their team and make them work harder than other teams for a Super Bowl ring. And nothing could be more hypocritical than that, as the Pats have been one of the most easily identifiable beneficiaries of the uptempo, QB-driven league that the NFL has only just recently created.

Noooooo.....Peyton Manning couldn't beat the Pats so they changed the rules about defensive contact, then did it again. Peyton basically has to have receivers that can't be touched. They did change the rules for Brady after his ACL that you couldn't hit them below the knees or something.

We already had 38 year old QBs in this league (John Elway) and 40 year olds (Favre and Warren Moon) and QBs that were this age (Dan Marino, Steve Young) that may very well have had a little more in them.

This just has to do with the Colts being babies and the media needing to sell papers. Nothing more.

Hmm, just like when the NBA changed the rules after Jordan and Phil whined about the physicality of the bad boys which was a big reason why Chicago beat Detroit in 1991?  It's interesting who the different leagues select as their golden boys, isn't it?  In the NFL of today, it's obviously Peyton Manning and Brady, and in the NBA it was Jordan from day one, in addition to Kareem and Magic, ,etc.  I don't understand how Detroit was allowed to get away with maiming our players and even those of the Lakers without the league coming down on them, but MJ cries and Stern's instantly to the rescue?   How many times did they step on McHale's broken foot and try to take Bird out of the game by taking his head off, throwing him on the floor, as well as just hitting him?  I just - ugh.

[kraidstar]

this story is really a full-blown witch hunt.
rodgers says he over-inflates footballs and it's seen as funny, a joke. guys put sticky stuff on their gloves, no-one cares. the colts crank up the temps in their building so that the opposing team has cramps, no-one cares. vikings are cooking their football in an oven, no penalty. colts crank up fake noise over the loudspeakers, pats fans aren't whining. the dolphins are stealing the pats signs, no big issue. guys take PEDs all the time, no-one is calling for a team to lose draft picks. brad johnson says he paid off the ball boys at the super bowl to doctor the balls and it receives zero mention from the national media.
there's a million things going on in this sport that aren't completely on the level. opposing football teams usually keep their mouths shut publicly, because they don't want to be the next ones getting nailed. the "crime" here is only important because of the team involved.
the fans and media have hyped this up, largely due to their hatred of belichick.
and BB is certainly not innocent here; the NFL likely warned him after the incident with the colts earlier this season, and he wen ahead and continued doing it anyways. he is unyielding, which can be a strength but in this case has led to embarrassment.
BB should probably face some punishment just for defying the warnings of league. but as a whole to suggest this is some sort of legitimate competitive advantage for the pats is sour grapes at best, this is laughable as far as controversies go.

There will be NO need for sour grapes because Russell Wilson and the Seahawks are going destroy the N.E. CHEATERS!!!!!!  Mark it down.  When was the last time the CHEATERS won it all???

lol, did you know that pete carroll, head coach of the seahawks, used to coach matt leinart back at USC?
matt leinart put out a tweet today: "Every team tampers with the footballs. Ask any Qb In the  league, this is ridiculous!!"

how much you want to bet that pete carroll has allowed players on his team to alter the football?

and besides, a football that's been deflated from 12.5 PSI to 10.5 PSI feels almost exactly the same, some guys on the radio were blind testing footballs at different pressures and could barely tell them apart. try it yourself and see if you think it's really "cheating."

this is like batters in MLB using pine tar. you're not supposed to do it, but anyone who knows the sport knows it's rampant and doesn't really affect the game.

and i'll repeat what i and others have correctly maintained - if this were another team (like the chargers with the sticky towels) then the media and fans wouldn't care, and it would go away.

[LooseCannon]

Corking a 32-ounce baseball bat will drop its weight down to maybe 30 ounces, so I'm not going to assume that a seemingly small difference doesn't have an effect.  Obviously, teams and quarterbacks think it does have an effect.

[Beat LA]

Weren't the Showtime Era Lakers notorious for overinflating their basketballs because they thought long rebounds would help with their fastbreak game? 

As far as this goes, it's sounding more and more definitive that the Patriots deliberately underinflated the balls.  The game was such a blowout that there's no way it mattered to the outcome, but it's still cheating, albeit of a kind I think is more common than most.

Yeah.  Ironically, I read that in The Jordan Rules, lol.   The Patriots aren't the only team that is guilty of spying on their opponent.  During the first two games of the 1991 NBA Finals, iirc, the Bulls had cameras and microphones fixed on LA's bench.  Isn't it interesting that that is never mentioned in the Jordan mythology, lol?   Hmm.  I mean, they already switched networks in 90-91 to NBC and had his buddy Ahmad Rashad on the sidelines (in addition to others, as well, like Jim Gray, although that was later on).  Seriously, how many butt-sniffers did he need?  Sorry, I'm allergic to bullsh1t.

[Cman]

According to the just completed news conference, BB says (1) he knows nothing about this, and (2) that they have balls inflated to 12.5psi, which is the lowest limit. Makes sense, then, that some of the balls end up being deflated below the allowable limit when they come out into the cold. Doesn't explain how one or more balls is at 10.5 psi, but so far its not clear how many balls were at that level.

[clover]

According to the just completed news conference, BB says (1) he knows nothing about this, and (2) that they have balls inflated to 12.5psi, which is the lowest limit. Makes sense, then, that some of the balls end up being deflated below the allowable limit when they come out into the cold. Doesn't explain how one or more balls is at 10.5 psi, but so far its not clear how many balls were at that level.

I think he gave it away when he volunteered that he didn't know anything until these last couple of days about how the ball boy got the balls down to the field from the referees office via elevator and all those other questions being asked.

The ball boy does apparently go in the elevator at Foxboro with the balls, which presumably would have been when he could had done his deed.

It was a really strange detail for him to have brought up otherwise.

[TwinTower14]

Smart play by the Pats, Brady becomes the fall guy and the league can't do anything to him because he is protected by the union.  Well thought out plan by Bill, Tom and Robert....

Pats will still get fined but by taking this route it will minimize the damage for the organization...