Brady knew

[obiken]

I disagree BG I think the recordings show that they were trying to seriously hurt other players. They were not the first however. Al Davis paid bounties for years.

[Oly]

Just give them a properly inflated generic ball same as college and high school players. Why do we always have to complicate things?

I guess I don't think removing the rule complicates things. In fact, not having a rule seems inherently less complicated than having one.

But to your point about the properly inflated generic ball; I totally agree. If you're going to have a rule about inflating the ball, that is the way to do it.

[Hawktawk]

All I had to see was Brady's initial press conference after this scandal broke to decide. Talk about a deer in the headlights,and his post suspension reaction has been the same. Don Yee and Brady's dad protesting but Tom himself has not said "I did not do this". Kraft looks like a bloviating idiot in light of his statements that the NFL should issue an apology after finding no fault and now his utter defiance after they did. And then the stinging rebuke from Ted Wells after the Patriots organization and Yee questioned his impartiality and his integrity. The amount of media fawning over this exposed fraud is nauseating.Only an idiot would believe Brady is innocent...

[obiken]

The NFL takes control of all balls, problem solved. A lot of it is the fault of the league its self.

[RiverDog]

I guess I don't think removing the rule complicates things. In fact, not having a rule seems inherently less complicated than having one.

But to your point about the properly inflated generic ball; I totally agree. If you're going to have a rule about inflating the ball, that is the way to do it.

I think you misunderstood me, Oly. I meant that allowing teams to have control of game balls needlessly complicates things. Because Brady and the Pats prove that players an teams can't be trusted with game balls, they're now going to have to have a rigorous inspection and monitoring process. Who knows how many other teams have been tampering with footballs and getting away with it. Who's to say that this isn't just the tip of the iceberg?

[NorthHawk]

I wouldn't be surprised if the practice was wider spread than the Pats.

AJ Feely recently said the Pats were playing games with the footballs back in 2004.
According to him, Brady got broken in footballs and he got the shiny new ones to play with.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... footballs/

[Hawktawk]

The "everybody is doing it" defense has been rolled out by the Brady shills to soften the reaction to his blatant cheating. The fact is there has NEVER been an allegation against another team of tampering with air pressure after inspection and approval for play. These straw men, red herrings just show how much certain media types are willing to suspend common sense and reality to protect the *legacy* of the cheating face of a cheating franchise.

[NorthHawk]

It doesn't mean it isn't more wide spread than the Pats.
Somebody has to get caught and the Pats were the ones to do it.

[RiverDog]

The "everybody is doing it" defense has been rolled out by the Brady shills to soften the reaction to his blatant cheating. The fact is there has NEVER been an allegation against another team of tampering with air pressure after inspection and approval for play. These straw men, red herrings just show how much certain media types are willing to suspend common sense and reality to protect the *legacy* of the cheating face of a cheating franchise.

I wasn't offering it as a defense for Brady. You're right, there hasn't been a single allegation of any other team other than the Pats of manipulating game balls that I'm aware of. I was bringing up the possibility as part of a justification for getting rid of this needless procedure that allows teams and quarterbacks custody of the game balls.

I just read where the monetary punishment for the Pats is going to actually cost them less if the 4 game suspension for Brady stands. They'll actually save $880,000 due to Brady's not getting paid during his suspension. The million bucks is so trivial to Robert Kraft and the Pats that it wasn't worth the time they spent deliberating it. It's an insult, like leaving a nickel as a tip at a white table cloth restaurant.

[Oly]

I think you misunderstood me, Oly. I meant that allowing teams to have control of game balls needlessly complicates things. Because Brady and the Pats prove that players an teams can't be trusted with game balls, they're now going to have to have a rigorous inspection and monitoring process. Who knows how many other teams have been tampering with footballs and getting away with it. Who's to say that this isn't just the tip of the iceberg?

Gotcha.

[Hawktawk]

[quote="RiverDog"
I wasn't offering it as a defense for Brady. You're right, there hasn't been a single allegation of any other team other than the Pats of manipulating game balls that I'm aware of. I was bringing up the possibility as part of a justification for getting rid of this needless procedure that allows teams and quarterbacks custody of the game balls.

I just read where the monetary punishment for the Pats is going to actually cost them less if the 4 game suspension for Brady stands. They'll actually save $880,000 due to Brady's not getting paid during his suspension. The million bucks is so trivial to Robert Kraft and the Pats that it wasn't worth the time they spent deliberating it. It's an insult, like leaving a nickel as a tip at a white table cloth restaurant.[/quote]

I agree with every bit of that.The fine is ridiculous, the only part of the punishment that really makes no sense. Its interesting that after the league allowed the Manning/Brady amendment giving football custody to the QB s Brady went from a game manager to a 50 TD season.And the NE turnover numbers took a dive from below average to the best in the league by a wide margin.It doesn't prove anything but its curious for sure.
I have no doubt they have been manipulating footballs ever since they have had custody of them. The league has to take them back.

[RiverDog]

Its interesting that after the league allowed the Manning/Brady amendment giving football custody to the QB s Brady went from a game manager to a 50 TD season.And the NE turnover numbers took a dive from below average to the best in the league by a wide margin.It doesn't prove anything but its curious for sure.
I have no doubt they have been manipulating footballs ever since they have had custody of them. The league has to take them back.

I do believe that the league should dig a little deeper, at least as far as the Pat's involvement goes. The problem is that gathering evidence might be a bit complicated, especially considering that the league does not have subpoena power. How long would a team keep security camera videos and images of their locker rooms?

The other problem is that there isn't very much motivation for the league to expand the investigation. I'm sure they wished the whole thing just went away, and without a safety issue like there was in PED and concussion issues, the government, former players, etc, aren't going to get involved.

[Hawktawk]

te]

I do believe that the league should dig a little deeper, at least as far as the Pat's involvement goes. The problem is that gathering evidence might be a bit complicated, especially considering that the league does not have subpoena power. How long would a team keep security camera videos and images of their locker rooms?

The other problem is that there isn't very much motivation for the league to expand the investigation. I'm sure they wished the whole thing just went away, and without a safety issue like there was in PED and concussion issues, the government,
former players, etc, aren't going to get involved.

As Ive said as well, the league doesn't want to know the whole truth of the Pats skullduggery. It could be very messy. I hearken back to Spy gate. at least 8 years of film was just destroyed by Goodell without the fans or general public seeing the extent of it. And perhaps the most damning allegation was the clandestine filming of the Rams SB offensive walk through. That tape was never recovered as far as anyone knows and the man who allegedly filmed it suddenly clammed up. If that particular allegation had been proven wouldn't the league have had to vacate the Pats title? That was a field goal game that the greatest show on turf was so shut down it was like NE was in the huddle........Gee I wonder if knowing the game plan had something to do with it, or maybe all of the first 3 FG Superbowl wins?