Posted on 09/08/2015 6:26:34 AM PDT by FewsOrange
AMONG THE FINDINGS
Deflategate is seen by some owners as a "makeup call" over Spygate. From 2000 to 2007, the Patriots videotaped the signals of opposing coaches in 40 games. Goodell's handling of Deflategate turned around owners still simmering over Spygate; some say he is now more secure in his job.
"But league insiders knew that Deflategate didn't begin on the eve of the AFC Championship Game.
It began in 2007, with Spygate.
Interviews by ESPN The Magazine and Outside the Lines with more than 90 league officials, owners, team executives and coaches, current and former Patriots coaches, staffers and players, and reviews of previously undisclosed private notes from key meetings, show that Spygate is the centerpiece of a long, secret history between Goodell's NFL, which declined comment for this story, and Kraft's Patriots. The diametrically opposed way the inquiries were managed by Goodell -- and, more importantly, perceived by his bosses -- reveals much about how and why NFL punishment is often dispensed. ... It was, one owner says, time for "a makeup call." ... In fact, many former New England coaches and employees insist that the taping of signals wasn't even the most effective cheating method the Patriots deployed in that era. Several of them acknowledge that during pregame warm-ups, a low-level Patriots employee would sneak into the visiting locker room and steal the play sheet, listing the first 20 or so scripted calls for the opposing team's offense ... At Gillette Stadium, the scrambling and jamming of the opponents' coach-to-quarterback radio line... occurred so often that one team asked a league official to sit in the coaches' box during the game and wait for it to happen. Sure enough, on a key third down, the headset went out.
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.go.com ...
Long article, worth reading.
IN!
Before Bender2.
Another ESPN hit piece on the Patriots. Deflategate wasn’t a gate. It wasn’t anything. ESPN worked with the NFL to slander the best organization in the NFL. Now they put this article out to rationalize that slander.
Do they really think that The Dolts lost by...what?..3TDs...because Brady could grip the ball the way he preferred? So, it wasn't the full and complete collapse of TheDolts secondary that lost it for them?
Maybe they need to see which direction them fingerz is pointing?
Now...me and Brandine has some canoodlin to do; never mind the pig...
Sorry, meant to include you in the “send” line on thisun.
BTW...MY Loins are more virile than Geraldo Rivera’s Bolts! They win by 10; MattSteffie* gets 400+ and Megatron get 6+6.
*Steffie needs to prove that he is a better QB than GeraldoRivera even tho GeraldoRivera had more passing yards in 2014. If the secondary comes thru, the battle might end up 2:1 (AKA: GeraldoRivera gets around 200?)
Might be a high scoring game but I can’t call the final score; either way...My Loins win (think about that!).
Et Tu Brute.
Another example of killing the goose that laid the golden egg.
All the teams engaged in these practices... to a degree. The Pats were just better at it...
...same same as in the time of Cesare, in the end they resented him because he was a more efficient and successful manipulator than the rest of the Senators.
Good grief even in grade school the kid that spots the opponents signals is given a pat on the back and earns an ataboy.
College finally had to put the “death Penalty” on SMU to set an example to stop what most teams had been doing anyway. There is too much money in the pros, but there will be a scapegoat if they lose enough revenue over the credibility of the NFL.
Quote; “Another ESPN hit piece on the Patriots. Deflategate wasn’t a gate. It wasn’t anything. ESPN worked with the NFL to slander the best organization in the NFL. Now they put this article out to rationalize that slander.”
You are kidding, right? ESPN is HQ’d in New England and has its nose so far up the arse of anything New England that it is not even funny.
I am sorry, but the real sin here is that the NFL has botched enforcement of rules from the get go and has had no real standards. Funny thing about a “live and let live” philosophy is that it only works when everyone is down with it. The NFL misread the other owners attitude towards spygate, the public’s attitude toward wifebeatdowngate, the fans attitude toward steroid gate, etc.
Now they are trying to stuff then genie back in the bottle which is what lead to overreaction gate (deflated footballs, really!?!) which has lead to the Federal Judiciary de facto running the NFL.
What a mess. Add to that the over wearing of pink on certain Sundays and it gets to be an ugly mess.
Ever since 1972, when there was a bungled burglary at the Watergate building, it seems every scandal is pegged with the words “Gate” on the end of it.
We know that Deflate-gate” is the hot item as it seems all the news channels lead with it over more important news items.
A couple of more thoughts here. First, from the article:
“Behind closed doors, Goodell addressed what he called “the elephant in the room” and, according to sources at the meeting, turned over the floor to Robert Kraft. Then 66, the billionaire Patriots owner stood and apologized for the damage his team had done to the league and the public’s confidence in pro football. Kraft talked about the deep respect he had for his 31 fellow owners and their shared interest in protecting the NFL’s shield. Witnesses would later say Kraft’s remarks were heartfelt, his demeanor chastened. For a moment, he seemed to well up.
Then the Patriots’ coach, Bill Belichick, the cheating program’s mastermind, spoke. He said he had merely misinterpreted a league rule, explaining that he thought it was legal to videotape opposing teams’ signals as long as the material wasn’t used in real time. Few in the room bought it. Belichick said he had made a mistake — “my mistake.”
So, the Patriots themselves admitted that they had done damage to the integrity of the game. In their own words.
Second, the overreaction here was viewed by the NFL as being more of a second offense for a paroled offender. Ahh, but because of the way the NFL handled the first offense, namely, to hush it up, they couldn’t go into Court or to the public saying that the Patriots were second time offenders on a shorter leash. Finally, the punished Brady, not the Patriots. If they wanted to punish the Pats, punish the Pats.
I would have stripped the Patriots of their Superbowl title, gave the team a season-long suspension, and banned Brady and Belichick for life, including no Hall of Fame.
A four-game suspension for one player. What a crock of s*** !
Do they bend and skirt the rules? Probably.
But when a team's a loser and constantly whines about the winner - that makes them a whinny loser.
Quote: “The pink is for breast cancer. As for video, this is just damage control (every team did it and there was no rule against it so long as it was not used in game and there is no evidence any team did that). Mort and ESPN are so far up Roger and the NFLs butt, they are chocking them.”
I get the breast cancer thing. But there are other ways to do it besides having the players turn pink. They can wear a ribbon or some other symbol.
Sorry, not buying the everyone else was doing it mantra. The issue was whether they were doing it “in game.” The answer is no and if they were, why would Kraft himself admit that what they did was wrong? Why, if he came out so vocally now over a four game suspension of ONE player would he not have come out then against losing a first round draft pick? Why would the other owners have been so upset?
If Rodger Goodell didn’t have the backing of every NFL owner do you think he would have taken Brady this far? NFL owners still mad he destroyed spygate evidence ( why do you think Kraft and Goodell used to be so close.
Quote: “If Rodger Goodell didn’t have the backing of every NFL owner do you think he would have taken Brady this far? NFL owners still mad he destroyed spygate evidence ( why do you think Kraft and Goodell used to be so close.”
I agree. As I said above, the NFL wiffed on their handling of spygate. They played it hush hush. Instead, they should have given it the same vigor at the time as they did to makeupcallgate/overreactiongate.
The minute I saw ESPN I knew it lacked credibility.
You can BET the Farm that this Little WORTHLESS POS is in the middle of all of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Irsay
Be sure that H->illary is keeping notes on which Federal judges look past the destruction of evidence, which was most certainly perpetrated by Mr. Brady. I anticipate her destruction of evidence will be the hardest of her many crimes and treason to overcome.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.