Everything Gridiron

[Apollo]

I wonder if Goodell uses this case as an attempt to get back into the good graces of public perception. Everyone outside of New England is calling for heavy sanctions, so coming down hard would go a long way to appeasing the general fan base of the NFL. Real wild card is what other NFL owners/teams feel. The Polian take is great, but now he is removed, so not quite the same thing. Would love to hear from Irsay, Jones, Biscotti, etc.

Politically, this is a golden opportunity for Goodell to win back fans. This is two very damaging occurrences for the Patriots organization in the last decade. Imagine, the "team of the decade" has been caught cheating twice now. If Goodell doesn't come out swinging then it again is another very damaging blow to the NFL's credibility.

[Axel]

For what it's worth: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/dolph...onsidered.html

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/fo...icle-1.2213198

One of the guys over at the Denver Post(video) thinks he deserve a full season, I agree as said previously: http://www.denverpost.com/kiszla/ci_...s-qb-tom-brady

Thing about Belicheck is, based on the Bounty Gate declared position of "Head Coach supposed to know" - he should be getting suspended as well.

[Axel]

Politically, this is a golden opportunity for Goodell to win back fans. This is two very damaging occurrences for the Patriots organization in the last decade. Imagine, the "team of the decade" has been caught cheating twice now. If Goodell doesn't come out swinging then it again is another very damaging blow to the NFL's credibility.

If Goodell doesn't, I honestly don't know how fans would react. Owners love the money the league brings in under his watch, but they do not want a lingering controversy over fairness. If Goodell fails this in the court of public perception, I don't think he can get away from it. Too many "fails" in such a short period of time.

[Axel]

Lost in all of this is a retirement of an All-Time great

[Apollo]

Ed Reed is lost in all this because he waited too long to retire. It should have happened last off-season or during the last season. Great player, had a lot of nice seasons but his number was up a while ago.

[Axel]

Ed Reed is lost in all this because he waited too long to retire. It should have happened last off-season or during the last season. Great player, had a lot of nice seasons but his number was up a while ago.

Agreed, but still.

[Axel]

Can't get the tweet to embed for some reason, but love this one from Ross Tucker

"Everybody realizes a guy just got convicted of murder on circumstantial evidence, right?"

I imagine he's getting a lot of tweets from Pats fans.

[Apollo]

Ross makes an excellent point there!

And Kraft was quick to dump Hernandez based on that initial circumstantial evidence

Also, it's funny how the media keeps using these stupid pictures of Tom Brady with puppy dog eyes. Oh the psychology of it all. If it were someone like Vick they'd be using a picture like this:



But it's Golden Boy and so he gets the puppy dog eyes.

[Axel]

Ross makes an excellent point there!

And Kraft was quick to dump Hernandez based on that initial circumstantial evidence

Also, it's funny how the media keeps using these stupid pictures of Tom Brady with puppy dog eyes. Oh the psychology of it all. If it were someone like Vick they'd be using a picture like this:



But it's Golden Boy and so he gets the puppy dog eyes.

[Apollo]

But this will be the headline picture when his ass gets suspended:



He didn't know what he was doing, just let the man play football for crying out loud.

[Apollo]

Here is Mark Brunell's take on it(prior to the report):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJRdEPCOerU

To paraphrase, no way he didn't know. No way an equipment manager would do that without directions.

One thing the league might do is have league balls now that aren't "broken in" by the teams.

[Cody73]

There is one way Brady didn't know: Notice something about the deflated balls. They would've been considered playable if they were ST balls.

Brady does do kicking drills sometimes. Maybe he didn't know the difference as he was comfy holding a ST ball.

[Apollo]

The guy had exact specification for his balls, he said it himself. It would be odd for someone to require a certain level of detail he was unable to detect, wouldn't it?

[Bendit]

And amidst this all Kraft is going to skate free personally. Notice how it is the Patriots legal counsel who withheld the Equipment guy from fully submitting to Well's request for further questioning. To believe that Kraft did not favour or may have proposed this is delusional. It is afundamental tenet of the NFL owners that they all fully cooperate when it comes to a league investigation. Right?
And as always it is always the coverup which is worse than the crime. Man these guys never learn. If Brady at the outset just said he wanted to be more comforable with a lower psi and didnt think it was a big deal a great many would have understood. He'd have been fined and blown over. But instead....he looks like a weasel.

[Apollo]

Kraft could be protecting Bill Belichick? Maybe Bill knew about it and didn't do anything? If Bill knows then it looks worse on Kraft.

I'm not so sure football pressure is something that reaches the big guy's desk unless somebody gets caught with their pants down. For a guy who owns a whole team, it doesn't seem to be worth the risk. For a guy who chucks footballs and is in the final years of sealing his legacy, it's a good risk if you're that kind of guy... Of course now Brady has a stain on his record. Two separate scandals he benefited from. Two. How many does Manning have? Elway? Montana? All ZERO. Hell, Favre was no boy scout but at least his scandal was nude text messages, not tipping the scales of winning in his favor...