The Patriots and Brady's Credibility is for ****

[notacon]

Some of the more interesting reactions to the Pat's cheating....

Mark Brunell Doesn't Believe Tom Brady

Appearing on ESPN’s NFL Live in the aftermath of Brady’s press conference, former NFL quarterback Mark Brunell made his opinions clear.

“I did not believe what Tom had to say,” Brunell said. “Those balls were deflated. Somebody had to do it. And I don’t believe there’s an equipment manager in the NFL that would on his own initiative deflate a ball without his starting quarterback’s approval. I just didn’t believe what Tom Brady had to say.”

Brunell explained that starting quarterbacks (and he started 151 games in the NFL) routinely check the balls to ensure that the balls have the right feel, from an inflation standpoint.

“That football is our livelihood,” Brunell said. “If you don’t feel good about throwing that ball, your success can suffer from that.”

Appearing in the same segment, former NFL running back Jerome Bettis and former NFL safety Brian Dawkins also expressed skepticism about Brady’s explanation.

[notacon]

Re: The Patriots and Brady's Credibility is for ****

John Madden: Blame Tom Brady for Deflated Footballs

“That would have to be driven by the quarterback,” Madden told The Sports Xchange on Wednesday. “That’s something that wouldn’t be driven by a coach or just the equipment guy. Nobody, not even the head coach, would do anything to a football unilaterally, such as adjust the amount of pressure in a ball, without the quarterback not knowing. It would have to be the quarterback’s idea.”

Madden’s position makes a lot of sense. Quarterbacks are particular about their footballs. Anybody doing anything to the footballs without the quarterback’s knowledge or consent would be asking for a tongue lashing. In Brady’s case, his tongue wouldn’t be needed to formulate the various “F” words that would be hurled at he who messes with the quarterback’s primary tool.

“He is the effected,” Madden said. “He is the only guy. I heard some of the pundits saying the ball is easier to catch, but that would never, ever, ever be done for that unless the quarterback wanted it. You wouldn’t do something for a receiver to catch the ball if the quarterback couldn’t throw it. So it’s going to be done for the quarterback.”

Madden’s compelling, commonsensical take will make the potential conclusion that a ball boy went rogue ring hollow. The ball boy would be going rogue not only against the rules but also against the wishes of the quarterback. So if anyone connected to the Patriots was taking air out of the footballs, Madden’s explanation makes it clear that the quarterback either knew about it and did nothing to stop it — or deliberately requested it.

This is particularly pertinent when we hear that Brady is apparently throwing some low level locker room guy under the bus...

[notacon]

Re: The Patriots and Brady's Credibility is for ****

John Harbaugh: Deflating footballs obviously gives an unfair advantage

Ravens coach John Harbaugh says that if the Patriots were letting air out of the footballs their offense used, then the Patriots were cheating.

Harbaugh told Sal Paolantonio on ESPN that he is confident in the the league will get to the bottom of its investigation into the Patriots tampering with game balls.

“I think the league is on it, and they’re going to do whatever is right and proper,” Harbaugh said. “They’re going to make sure the game is played with integrity, it’s played the right way, it’s fair and there are no unfair advantages for either side in any game. That’s what sport’s all about, that’s what football’s all about, that’s their obligation, and I’m confident that they’re up to that responsibility.”

Asked if deflating footballs would give a team an unfair advantage, Harbaugh said, “I think there’s an obvious answer to that: Yes, it would be an unfair advantage.”

The Ravens had concerns about proper inflation of footballs in their own playoff loss to the Patriots, but Harbaugh said he believed that was just because it was cold. If it turns out that there was more than weather involved with the Patriots’ offensive footballs being under-inflated, Harbaugh isn’t making any secret of the fact that he thinks that’s cheating.

Of COURSE the Pats were cheating. Everyone knows it.

[notacon]

Re: The Patriots and Brady's Credibility is for ****

Troy Aikman: Patriots punishment should exceed Saints bounty punishment

Aikman made an appearance on Sportsradio 1310 The Ticket on Thursday and said he believed that it is “obvious” quarterback Tom Brady was involved in deflating the footballs. He also referenced Commissioner Roger Goodell’s punishment of the Saints for running a bounty program that rewarded players for hurting opponents when explaining why he believed the Patriots needed more than the “slap on the wrist” Aikman feels they got for videotaping their opponents’ sideline in 2007.

Troy hits on another pertinent point. That the Pats got off EASY in their last confirmed case of blatant cheating.

The idea that Tom Brady does not know what happened is absurd.

[notacon]

Re: The Patriots and Brady's Credibility is for ****

Canty: Deflating balls no different that PEDs

Appearing on Wednesday’s Pro Football Talkon NBCSN, Ravens defensive lineman Chris Canty compared deflating footballs to using steroids or other banned substances.

“The Patriots are habitual line-steppers,” Canty said during an in-studio appearance. “If the allegations are true, then you are talking about attacking the integrity of our game and I have an issue with that. . . . [W]hat I’m going to say about the deflating of the balls, to me there is no difference than performance-enhancing drugs.

You are cheating at that point. You are getting a competitive advantage outside of the rule book and there has to be some sort of consequences for that.”

Canty’s opinion sounds a lot like the NFL’s position that, when it comes to topics impacting the integrity of the game, serious action is required.

“To me, the integrity of the game is the most important thing,” Canty said. “You want to be successful as a player but you want to think that you are doing things that are within the rules and that you are out there competing and it’s not, whether it is performance-enhancing drugs or deflated footballs that is out there aiding in your performance.”

Yes, likening this to the WORST cheating, taking performance enhancing drugs, I am sure is on many player's minds. The NFL has acted relatively aggressively in punishing players that even have the hint of drugs.

It should be interesting to see how they handle Tom Brady....with the historic "kid gloves" treatment reserves for Goodell's favorite owner...or....are they going to take this seriously, and slap Brady's ass HARD??

Seems like everyone in the league KNOWS that the Pat's are "habitual line-steppers"...which is just another way of saying "Habitual CHEATERS"!!!

[notacon]

Re: The Patriots and Brady's Credibility is for ****

And, this article that pre-dated the Deflate sandal is a perfect illustration of just how deeply the idea of cheating is related to the Pats.

Spygate: The NFL Cover-up That Started it All

Before the start of the football season, Cary Williams, a veteran cornerback for the Philadelphia Eagles, reminded the sports world about a scandal the NFL would prefer people forget.

“One fact still remains: They haven’t won a Super Bowl since they got caught. They are cheaters,” Williams said in August.

He was referring to Spygate, when the New England Patriots were busted for illegally videotaping the Jets’ defensive signals during the first game of the 2007 season.

Then, as now with a series of disturbing incidents of domestic violence, the NFL seemed more interested in covering up the problem than investigating it.

“It really shows you what’s truly important to the NFL — and that’s ‘duck and cover,’ ” said Bryan O’Leary, author of the book “Spygate: The Untold Story.”

And that’s why certain allegations — including that the Pats were using a radio frequency outside the NFL’s purview to *illegally communicate information to quarterback Tom Brady during the game — were seemingly ignored, O’Leary says.

The Jets play their archrivals again this Thursday, and some fans are still fuming about the advantage the Patriots had over them — and that it was never fully probed.

“I just don’t understand it,” said lifelong Jets fan Ira Lieberfarb, 60. “They got caught cheating, and it should have been investigated in more *detail. I find it very strange.”


As 49ers quarterback Steve Young once explained to ESPN: “The game would be over. If I knew what was coming, that’s the whole game.”
It was Jets head coach Eric Mangini, a former Pats defensive coordinator, who dropped a dime to NFL security about the sideline shenanigans of his former mentor, New England head coach Bill Belichick.

Mangini already had prepared an elaborate system to foil his former team.

“He had three sets of signals being given, one real, two dummy. He had the same thing going when he beat the Patriots” the previous year, a former Pats employee told Sports Illustrated.

But that meant extra work — that both teams were not playing on the same level field, the ex-staffer noted.

“I wasn’t going to give them the convenience of doing it in our stadium, and I wanted to shut it down,” Mangini said on “NFL Live,” adding that he later regretted doing it. “There was no intent to have the landslide that it has become.”

The filming was fairly straightforward — a staffer pointed a camera at an opposing team’s coaches from across the field. And it had gone on for nearly a decade — since Belichick took over the Pats in 2000, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell later revealed.

It was so obvious, the Pats were busted several times before Spygate erupted, including a year earlier, during a 35-0 thrashing of Green Bay.

much, much more..

This is WAY beyond jealousy....seems like it is common knowledge throughout the NFL that the Pat's CHEAT. You certainly don't hear anything like this about any other team.

Every single one of the Pat's Super Bowl wins are TAINTED.

[k-oneputt]

Re: The Patriots and Brady's Credibility is for ****

Of COURSE is right.

But nothing will happen. Swept under the rug.
Just like they destroyed the spygate types. Why did that happen ?

[notacon]

Re: The Patriots and Brady's Credibility is for ****

Of COURSE is right.

But nothing will happen. Swept under the rug.
Just like they destroyed the spygate types. Why did that happen ?

No surprise when Bob Kraft was the first, and very publicly vocal, defender of Goodell during the Rice controversy.

Kraft and Goodell are thick as thieves.

[YardRat]

Re: The Patriots and Brady's Credibility is for ****

If this were a DI college program, they wouldn't be able to field a competitive team for a decade after all of the punishment was handed out.

Someday needs to put the hammer down, it's time for the NFL version of a death penalty, and if it drags Goodell down in the process all the better.

[notacon]

Re: The Patriots and Brady's Credibility is for ****

If this were a DI college program, they wouldn't be able to field a competitive team for a decade after all of the punishment was handed out.

Someday needs to put the hammer down, it's time for the NFL version of a death penalty, and if it drags Goodell down in the process all the better.

Quite right.

Now, with the reluctance to punish the Pats in relation to their transgressions, Goodell is dragging down the whole NFL. Once the idea of "winning fair and square" is demolished, then what in the world is the use even watching games?

The Pats have not won "fair and square". It's been mentioned that Brady's inclusion into the Hall of Fame could be affected by this latest cheating.

Pete Rose was banished from baseball forever for what I think is not even close to as bad as what the Pats have done.

Players get fined for wearing the wrong color socks. Lynch got fined for grabbing his crotch. The Pats get a slap on the wrist for damaging the integrity of the game. Why bother even having rules?

[trapezeus]

Re: The Patriots and Brady's Credibility is for ****

classic example of greed. they got 3 wins. no one said anything. they could have all gone quietly as heros. and now the lenght of the numbers show a pretty damning level of "excellence" beyond what is imaginable. a lot of things start popping out as outliers.

and it makes those close superbowl "wins" look so much more suspect. they will never get credit for anything they've done. they could have gotten away with it if they simply stopped. but the greed got to them.

I'm sure the NFL will let this go because they've done so for everything else. unless of course you where beats headphones. then a very strict adherence to the rules is required.

[Generalissimus Gibby]

Re: The Patriots and Brady's Credibility is for ****

Watch them change the rules to increase the amount a ball can be inflated or deflated. Brady is the league's golden boy and Boston is one of its largest media markets. No way does the league cut the balls off the Pats, don't get me wrong it should. However, that ain't happening.

[Strongman]

Re: The Patriots and Brady's Credibility is for ****

Belichick's DeflateGate story is 'BS' says football maker

Everyone from Bill Nye the Science Guy to Saturday Night Live is weighing in on the DeflateGate scandal, and now the official manufacturer of the league's footballs -- Wilson Sporting Goods -- has joined the debate from Arizona, per a report from Boston.com.

The company claims that all of its footballs are set at the regulation air pressure when they are delivered to the NFL, and that there is little chance that a simple change in temperature could have significantly deflated the balls during the AFC Championship.

The company has a booth at this year's NFL Experience -- an interactive fanfest held in the days leading up to the Super Bowl at the Phoenix Convention Center -- where visitors can watch the creation of Wilson's league-regulated footballs from the initial bladder and lacing process, through the pressurization stage, and to the final weight check.

Wilson representative Jim Jenkins explained the process:

"[It] goes to 120 pounds for one minute, then back down to 13, and then when it comes out, see how nice everything looks? All the seams are perfect, laces are perfect. That's what that does right there and it comes out 13 pounds per square inch."

Jenkins confirmed that every single ball that leaves the factory is set at a pressure between 12.5 and 13.5 pounds per square inch, the official legal limit set by the NFL. When asked about Bill Belichick's theory that the cold temperatures and wet conditions likely contributed to the ball being underinflated in the AFC title game, Jenkins laughed and replied, "That's BS."

[ckg927]

Re: The Patriots and Brady's Credibility is for ****

If this were a DI college program, they wouldn't be able to field a competitive team for a decade after all of the punishment was handed out.

Someday needs to put the hammer down, it's time for the NFL version of a death penalty, and if it drags Goodell down in the process all the better.

The NFL doesn't have the BALLS(so to speak)to do this. Period. End of discussion.

[notacon]

Re: The Patriots and Brady's Credibility is for ****

Thanks for the story Strongman. I dug up a link to the story from Boston.com...

'That's BS': Football Manufacturer Doesn't Seem to Buy Belichick's Explanation

I like this line in particular....

Of course, the majority of Patriots fans bought it. Time will tell if the NFL bought it.

Of course the Pat's, Belichick's and, especially Brady's stories are All BULL****. Only blind Pat's fans and the gullible think otherwise.