Deflategate

Here's what I really don't get and probably never will.
If the air pressure of a football is really such a competitive advantage, and one that would merit a suspension or execution if someone dare tamper with the sacred rules governing PSI, why would the NFL even allow its teams to handle game balls?
Why even leave the door open on something like this?
As a Patriots fan, I can accept that they tried to game the system and got caught but between this and Spygate, for Christ sake, if my favorite team are habitual cheaters, they're the shittiest cheaters in NFL history.
If you're going to cheat, go big or go home. Blatant salary cap violations? Illegal tampering with free agents? Throwing games? AWESOME. Taping signals and taking a pound of air from a football? That's some low level shit.

 

If nothing else, those last two posts show how nervous Patriots fans are about the report and a possible suspension for Brady.

Rhody, the league is going to face a backlash whether Brady is suspended or not, so don't rely on fear of such issues saving him from missing some time. I also wonder if there will be some punishment for Bill Belicheck. I know the report concludes that the deflating was done without his knowledge, but ignorance of the problem did not protect Sean Payton.

schiez, the issue isn't how much impact the rule has on the game. If the league accepts the report as enough evidence that the rules were broken, punishment is warranted.

Am I rooting for a suspension that would keep Brady out of the opener? Of course I am. No way the Steelers are going into Foxboro without Bell and beating that team with Brady. Without him? They have a shot.

As somebody who follows the NFL, I would like to see the league enforce the rules, but I'm uncomfortable with handing out suspensions when the proof leaves room for doubt. This is exactly what the league didn't want, a grey area that opens them up for criticism no matter what they do.

 

The minute they got fired, they'd be singing like canaries. Best to keep them in-house, keep them paid, keep them happy and, most importantly, keep them quiet.

My guess is they won't leave that door open much longer. Very soon, quite possibly this season, they'll have teams playing with footballs straight out of the box under control of the officials. It's inevitable.

 

Well, there is some leeway, so teams do get to prepare the balls before inspection. The difference here is, once they were inspected by the officials, the Pats equipment guy got the league official to help him pull this off. At least that's my reading of it ... I haven't looked at much of the report itself. Busy, busy!

 

I think Brady gets hit with a hefty fine and, perhaps, gets suspended for a preseason game or two (Big whoop!) but I would be incredibly surprised if they actually gave him a real suspension for a number of reasons.
1.) There appears to be a lack of proof actually implicating Brady.
2.) Because of #1, you have to figure the player's union would eat any suspension up in 30 seconds, even though they appear to have next-to-zero actual power any more given what happened to Rice/Peterson.
3.) Because of #1, you have to look at the player in question. If this is Michael Vick? Suspended. But face-of-the-league, always-in-the-marquee Brady? No f**king way he gets suspended without a Vine video of him deflating the balls himself while fucking Goodell's wife in her ass.
4.) Given the story that came out last week about how the NFL plans to stretch their celebration of SB50 into a year-long event, and how they plan to honor their past SB MVPs all season long, I doubt very much a 3X Super Bowl MVP gets much more than a slap on the wrist.
5.) As stated above, the Pats open their season AND the NFL's season at home this year and on the night where the league is rolling out its big-dick "We're back, baby!" campaign, no way the defending champs lose their biggest star. It's all the PBP guys will talk about all game long.
6.) No suspension for the next three years will be viewed in any other light then in comparison to the initial Ray Rice suspension. You really think the NFL is going to open that door for one of their biggest stars for a deflated football they can't say with certainty he tampered with?

Also, before I go, here. Enjoy. Your Team Cheats - The Definitive Guide to NFL Cheating

 

Why am I nervous? Like it's been stated (by Cran, I think), the NFL cannot give Brady more than 1 game because that means Deflating Footballs = beating a woman in an elevator. So say Brady gets one game. Oh no, the Leveon Bell-less Steelers. (PS With Leveon I'd be shitting myself. He's that special kind of nasty).
And have you see the Patriots schedule next year? It's crap after crap. If Brady gets suspended for Week 1 and they lose, it's still 13-3 and that's after they clinch homefield and rest starters the last two weeks.
What I can't wait for is the bitching when Belichick goes into 2007 FU mode and starts running it up on teams. That's coming.
(I take all of this back if Gronk gets hurt)

My problem with all of this is I keep reading "more probable than not" and a hell of a lot of things that seem like guesswork. Plus, how can you blindly take the word of the official? And how can you rely on studies from a company known for helping the cause of the person who hired them?
Toyota calls in Exponent Inc. as hired gun - latimes

Again, I'll read it tomorrow and come to a more clear idea of what's happening. But for now, pretty much everyone crucifying the Patriots sounds like this:

 

Ooh, I now need a photo of Goodell's wife.

 

Found one:

 

Well, you're definitely in the clear, since he's not injury-prone.

 

Fanboys gonna be fanboys.

Rhody is basically calling for special treatment for Brady, saying some players should be suspended in this situation, but not his hero. And schiez questioned somebody's word in his post? The one person we know wasn't being honest in all this is Brady, when he claimed to know less than he truly does.

 

Yeah.

 

Kilgore on Brady: Tom Brady lied; only the consequences are open to debate - The Washington Post