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Posted on 05/09/2015 10:23:18 AM PDT by drewh
The Patriots are concerned that quarterback Tom Brady could face a suspension ranging from six and eight games, according to a report from CSN New England.
Any punishment from the NFL would result from the recent Ted Wells report, which stated "it is more probable than not that Tom Brady was at least generally aware" that footballs were deflated below the league's minimum requirement against the Colts in the AFC Championship.
Following the AFC Championship and leading up to the Super Bowl, Brady told reporters he was confident that no one in the Patriots organization broke any rules. Footballs must be inflated to 12.5 PSI to meet league standards. Footballs tested at halftime in the AFC Championship game were underinflated.
Brady made an appearance at Salem State University as part of a speaker series on Thursday but declined to talk much about the Deflategate controversy.
However, he did answer a question as to whether he thought the Patriots' Super Bowl victory over the Seahawks was tainted as a result to the controversy.
“No, absolutely not," Brady said, via The Boston Globe. "You know, I've dealt with a lot of things in the past, I dealt with this three months ago. I've dealt with a lot of adversity in my career, and I'm fortunate I have so many people that love me and support me, and certainly I accept my role and responsibility as a public figure, a lot of it you take the good with the bad ... We'll get through it.”
(Excerpt) Read more at fantasynews.cbssports.com ...
Did they have any actual evidence that Brady did anything wrong?
Seems pretty simple.
It's "probable," according to the official statement. Unofficially, it seems very probable.
As far as I'm concerned, the league can do whatever it wants, but the right thing to do would be to issue whatever penalty is now on the books.
(And I'm a Pats fan.)
Overall, I think this whole thing is a tempest in a teapot.
They should suspend the whole Patriocheats team along with Bill Bellicheat indefinitely. If they ain’t always cheating then they are drafting serial killers. Cheaters and serial killers do not belong in football. Oh yes and they should forfeit their Superbowl win because obviously they cheated. The real winners were the Seahawks and they should be given the Lombardi trophy and the rings because winners never cheat and cheaters never win. Cheat cheat cheat
The news media is treating this as though it is of earth-shattering importance NE Pats should not have deflated the balls, but, really, is this as serious as anything Hillary and Bill have done and are still doing to gather more power to them (and more money)?
I say, punish the football infractions after Hillary is run out of the presidential race.
I have link to the texts exchanged. Seems like he complained that the balls were too full but I don’t see anything where he wanted any rules broken.
if you want the link, let me know. but it’s jus confusing. sounds like brady pushed the envelope but didn’t do anything wrong, but panicked and called the two employees a lot after the charges were made.
Of COURSE Brady cheated. That whole team comes from the liberal bowels of the east coast. Home of John Kerry, the Kennedys, Bawney Frank, so cheating is going to be in their blood and how ironic that they should call themselves “the Patriots” when everyone knows there is not a New Englander alive who is a patriot. They should call the team “The ISIS supporters”.
I still don't understand how deflating footballs gives you an edge, when I played football out in the sandlot, I preferred to throw and catch a fully inflated ball, but evidently it does. That being the case, was it worth six Super Bowl appearances and hundreds of millions of dollars in salary and endorsements?
You bet it was. Tom Brady is living a lifestyle that most men can only dream of. Just last Saturday, he was at the Kentucky Derby and then took a private jet to Las Vegas to see the Holyfield fight. No doubt surrounded by beautiful women, top shelf liquor and a posse of flunkies to make sure his every need was catered to.
So Brady will pay his fine, serve out his suspension and go on living his perfect life.
CBS and ESPN both have a financial stake in the Patriots. It’s their “home team” so to speak. Punishing Brady indirectly hurts them which is why they care so much.
Tom should punch Gisele in public so at least the punishment he gets for this will be deserved.
LOL, and Hillary could be the next President
These equipment folks weren’t purposefully deceiving the refs and taking the balls to alter after submitting them for approval without someones directives. if not Brady, the coaching staff. Personally, the organization should be punished primarily. Hit Brady with a small suspension and hammer the organization.
FINALLY! We finally get a story with a chart showing what all the game balls WERE inflated to.
Oh wait......
A poster on a Patriots forum I frequent talked with a Judge- Labor Lawyer(s) who deal with these sorts of situations he filed this post on Patsfans.com
“Went through the situation and Wells report. It is pretty late now so if I am a bit inarticulate please forgive as it is way too late for me but want to get this out though I am a bit spent.
Effectively NFL constrained by Wells report if they use it as the basis of sanctions so they live or die by what is in there. At an arbitration hearing they will not be able to introduce new evidence and that effectively an arbitration is run like a trial. Brady can bring what ever evidence reports, witnesses he wants.
Perceived areas NFL could act and attempt to punish Brady
1) Perceived knowledge of tampering
2) Perceived lying - He also claimed he knew neither the identity nor role of Jim McNally, the officials’ locker room attendant.
3) Perceived as uncooperative with investigation
1) Perceived knowledge of tampering - “it is more probable than not” that Patriots locker room attendant Jim McNally and Patriots equipment assistant John Jastremski deliberately released air from footballs after the balls were examined by the referees. The report also concludes that “it is more probable than not” that Brady “was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities of McNally and Jastremski”. The NFL can only use the Wells report in arbitration while Brady can get as many witnesses, reports etc.. as he wants. He can bring in MIT, Headsmart, anyone and as the NFL admits they don’t know if in fact any tampering even took place, there is no chance they can punish Brady for this and have it stick. You can’t punish Brady for an assumption he knew about something taking place which is only an assumption that it may have in fact taken place. They can punish the Patriots as they thought that the Patriots do not have the right to appeal but the Patriots legal position is 180 degrees different than that of a player. Patriots can be punished for having an employee take the balls with him on a pee stop but that has nothing to do with Brady.
2) Perceived lying - Brady reportedly claimed he knew neither the identity nor role of Jim McNally, the officials’ locker room attendant. Based on what Michael Holly stated, this statement from Brady was in reference to the October Jets game point in time where the PSI was set at 16 PSI and that Brady deals with John Jastremski primarily and it is John Jastremski who deals with McNally. Brady’s statements that they if they needed to bring the rule book to the reffs is hardly an indication of attempting to tamper. Brady’s calls after this broke were with John Jastremski to find out what was going on. This was seen as a non issue if accurate as who would not call to see what was going on. Brady giving gifts to staff and others is not an indication of his intimate knowledge of their duties and Brady could have literally hundreds of examples of him providing gear etc... to people whom he deals with only in passing and that Brady would have no reason to know the specifics of how the balls are prepared beyond his dealings with John Jastremski. They felt there was little chance any arbitrator would uphold any sanctions based on this claim as this claim is not supported by the evidence in the Wells report and the NFL is bound by the contents of the report (unless they cite another source in the punishment).
3) Perceived as uncooperative with investigation. They were most unclear on this as they were unfamiliar with the terms of the NFL collective bargaining agreement and if it required that a player was required to hand over personal property. They doubted that any union would allow any such agreement and that Brady was completely justified in not complying with their request especially when considering the NFL’s repeated failure to uphold confidentiality. Additionally as Jastremski and McNally did hand over their phones, were there any texts/emails from Brady to them it would have been seen on these devices so seeking Brady’s phone was fishing. Putting aside the issue of if the NFL will claim failing to hand over personal property is grounds for sanctions under the union rules, they felt that if accurate that Brady met with the investigators as stated and answered their questions, any sanctions claiming non cooperation would be tossed. Not admitting what did not happen is not being uncooperative.
So basically aside from the possibility that the union contract allows for confiscation of personal property, they saw no significant risk that any penalty against Brady would stick and that the NFL was regularly shredded in arbitration. There was actually talk that Goodell would lay down a penalty to appease the masses knowing that it would be removed by the arbitrator. This may have been a reason why the report focused on nailing Brady and not Belichick, Kraft or the Patriots in any meaningful way. Telling them to submit questions in writing instead of allowing a 5th interview with a staff member is not hardcore non cooperation. The Union may really enjoy this given Wells was the NFL’s attorney in the concussion lawsuit. Watch the Front line special on it if you have not already http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/league-of-denial/
As far as Brady’s legal options, he could in fact sue, and seek discovery against all parties requesting all communications involving himself, the Patriots, etc... having to do with PSI and the investigation. He would also be subject to disclosure but if in fact there is nothing to hide, he could request all of Goodells emails, texts, chats etc... on the issue, all the reffs and NFL executives. They felt this was unlikely to happen but did point out that Brady’s reputation has immense value and his income from non football activities is significant and potentially more than his football salary so it would not be unheard of for Brady to use his immense wealth to pursue this action if for no other reason than to force discovery in an attempt to clear his name and this would be most likely to occur in the unlikely event that Brady lost arbitration. Interesting situation for the NFL, if they win arbitration it dramatically increased the chance Brady goes after them and does discovery on all the NFL employees communications regarding him, the investigation and PSI. If I were Goodell I would be very afraid of this.
So basically go ahead and punish Brady to the max because it won’t probably stand in arbitration and the NFL will set the Patriots up to destroy all others next year. In the very unlikely event that an arbitrator does not do this (hell ray Rice won arbitration and that was on film), it increases the likily of the immensely wealthy Tom Brady going after the NFL in a court of law. Although victory in the court may be difficult, the trial and extensive discovery could restore his reputation which is valued in excess of $100M. It was also though if Brady is suspended for the first game that instead of raising the championship banner the first night without Brady there, that a black banner or a pirate flag be raised instead after a minute of silence. The banner could be raised when Brady returned.
Very sleepy and head spinning but hopes this makes sense.”
Patriot Nation is livid over this torpedoing of Brady by the league which is covering up their non existent procedure.
Brady and Gisele have the $$$ to go toe to toe with hte league. I hope they sue the NFL and submit Goodell, Kensil and Wells to the Discovery process where we see THEIR emails and texts.
BTW Well represented the NFL in the Concussions case he is carry water for the NFL and is ANYTHING but Independent, he behaved as a prosecution not a finder of facts.
No questioning of the behaviorof the Colts, took everything Anderson said at face value. Anderson didn’t record pressures of ANY balls used pre game eithr for the Pats or Col;ts after being told there was an issue.
For games being played in bad weather 24 balls are submitted and approved rather than 12 if 12 were out of his control as Anderson maintained it was trivial to sen a back up ref to get the other 12 balls from the refs locker room if their was a perceived problem with the first 12 game balls that were approved.
Why would the NFL allow the first half to be played with possible tampered balls if it integrity of the AFCCG wa paramount importance. Seize the balls that left Anderson’s view and bring them back to the officials locker room and test them after the game when they had returned to room temperature.
I could go on for pages about all the screw up in this sting, but rest assured Brady’s lawyers will eviscerate Goodell for slandering Brady.
That would make sense.
The heads of the organization are responsible for what goes on, for better or for worse.
I myself always had a harder time catching and handling a bloated football.
ISIS supporters who now have the blessed Tim Tebow to play those games that Brady must sit out. I am getting out my popcorn ...
Sounds like a rock solid case to me.
I imagine the rules and agreements with the NFL and NFLPA are such that the commissioner can suspend a player without the type of evidence needed in a court of law.
Yet if the legal standards were those of a criminal or civil court, I bet the Patriots lawyers could make the NFL look like a bunch of amateurs.
How exactly did the league come into possession of the original “deflated” ball? Is there a chain of evidence to prove that the ball was in the same condition it was when it was used on the field? How many officials handled the game balls without noticing any issue with the pressure?
How did the league measure the pressure of the dozen or so balls they inspected later? Did they use one specific gauge, and was it calibrated to prove it was accurate? Would different gauges or conditions have measured the pressures within the same range? And precisely what were the pressure measurements of the “deflated” balls?
Have other teams or quarterbacks been suspected of altering the pressure of game balls? If so, how did the league handle those situations? Has any other quarterback been suspected of “probably” altering the pressure? Was that quarterback suspended?
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