Merged all things Brady, cheating, bellicheat, etc.

[Strongman]

Under Kraft, the current Pats* dynasty has been built upon a foundation of deception, cheating, and lies. In order to fix this, the NFL should impose a sanction severe enough to dismantle it and force them to rebuild.

Tom Brady and Belichick should be banned for life and only allowed to apply for reinstatment after the 2016 season only if he agrees to turn over his cell phone. The Pats* should lose both a 1st and 2nd round draft choice in 2016 and a first rounder in 2017. They should also be fined the maximum amounts allowable.

Oh, and if the NFL's reinstates Belicheat, there needs to be a provision where he is no longer allowed to wear hoodies on gameday. Make him wear a 3 piece on the sideline.

[Strongman]

And Brady said he could not comment on the Wells report because it has ONLY been 30 hours since it came out & he needed more time to digest it.

THIRTY hours is not enough time for Tom to realize he has been called a CHEATER & a LIAR.

He's simply lying (again). He knows very well what's in it and they have the goods on him. What will happen is he and his agent will denounce it publically, but say they'll respect whatever decision the NFL comes to.

[Bunion]

If you think the NFL is going to spend $5 million on an investigation to fine them $25K then I don't know what to say. Brady and the rest of the Cheats are going to face the biggest penalty ever imposed in the NFL.

IMHO it seems like there's room for Goodell to do three things. First, try to look like a statesman by imposing a sanction he will call 'tough but fair' after giving a week for 'cooler heads to prevail'.

Or he can keep tabs on the sports news talking heads, spot the most common punishment that they mention in their various segments, editorials, whatever. Then he can do that and force everybody to agree with him and get tons of free positive press.

Or he can try to make an example of the Patriots and in doing so, call the football dynasty of the century into further disrepute and with it, two HoF careers and four league titles.

My guess is #2, because that'll get the story out of the headlines the fastest and with the best spin.

[Zoneblitser]

Wagon I couldn't agree more. But i'm just saying since Watergate everybody has said if he can do it and get away with it so can I. And they have.

[Joe Fo Sho]

There is little to no proof of cheating. Less proof Brady himself was directly involved.

C'mon, you have to be smarter than that.

[Strongman]

IMHO it seems like there's room for Goodell to do three things. First, try to look like a statesman by imposing a sanction he will call 'tough but fair' after giving a week for 'cooler heads to prevail'.

Or he can keep tabs on the sports news talking heads, spot the most common punishment that they mention in their various segments, editorials, whatever. Then he can do that and force everybody to agree with him and get tons of free positive press.

Or he can try to make an example of the Patriots and in doing so, call the football dynasty of the century into further disrepute and with it, two HoF careers and four league titles.

My guess is #2, because that'll get the story out of the headlines the fastest and with the best spin.

I think he needs to do #3 to send everyone a message that cheating won't be tolerated. But yes, given his track record he'll do the most expedient thing which, IMO, would be a very light sanction given the severity of their culture of cheating.

[YardRat]

Rain, hell...there better be thunder and lightning.

[Strongman]

There is little to no proof of cheating. Less proof Brady himself was directly involved.

The burden of proof NFL requires has been met by an impartial investigator to conclude they cheated, Brady knew about, and then lied about it.

The Pats* game balls lost more air than can be explained by science, they have a Pats* employee who calls himself "The Deflator" who disapeared unescorted with the gameballs without the officials giving their okay for their removal, video of him disappearing into a bathroom with the gameballs, text messages between Brady and the equipment guys, etc.

Face it, there is substantial proof they cheated and some proff they have been doing this a long time. They are going to be hung!

[coastal]

C'mon, you have to be smarter than that.

[Bunion]

I think he needs to do #3 to send everyone a message that cheating won't be tolerated. But yes, given his track record he'll do the most expedient thing which, IMO, would be a very light sanction given the severity of their culture of cheating.

You can almost hear them reasoning it out.

'Guys, there is no point in cheating a little bit in a game designed to make a lot of people a lot of money. In fact, the more successful you are, the more egregiously you should cheat because the cash is depedent on public consumption. Nobody making money hand over fist off the NFL will have an interest in your bringing down the whole league. Meanwhile, the success you derive from cheating translates into cash, prestige and influence for your club, coach, owner and players. So cheat your ass off because the more successful you are as a result, the more you disincentivize anybody doing anything substantive about it'.

[Strongman]

EVERYONE that is an NFL fan cares that the Patriots* CHEATED.

A deflated football is easier to grip, throw, catch & hang on to than a fully inflated football.

Just like spygate, we were told to move on from that as well by CHEATERS fans.

NOT HAPPENING.

Yep, it's just like a PGA golfer playing a tournament with non regulation golfballs or clubs. It's a huge advantage and it's cheating.

[Strongman]

You can almost hear them reasoning it out.

'Guys, there is no point in cheating a little bit in a game designed to make a lot of people a lot of money. In fact, the more successful you are, the more egregiously you should cheat because the cash is depedent on public consumption. Nobody making money hand over fist off the NFL will have an interest in your bringing down the whole league. Meanwhile, the success you derive from cheating translates into cash, prestige and influence for your club, coach, owner and players. So cheat your ass off because the more successful you are as a result, the more you disincentivize anybody doing anything substantive about it'.

I know that's one way to look at it, but on the other hand you have powerful financial interests (like Vegas) that want games on the up and up or else people won't bet. Also game attendance will be hurt because casual fans will not want to go to games they think are fixed or where the opposing team has an unfair advantage.

[Meathead]

if they give him some kind of token punishment, like four games, why wouldnt that signal open season on cheating? if you know that you are only going to get a handful of games for doing something as serious as MODIFYING THE OBJECT OF THE ENTIRE GAME exclusively for your own benefit, that seems like an easy call. cheat whenever you can bc you are unlikely to get caught and even if you do the punishment is just going to be a few games. by the time they figure it out, you could have altered the outcome of tens of games. how many years did was the rule allowing balls to be managed by the teams in place, seven years? thats 112 regular season games the cheaters had an advantage (!!). the risk of a few games sitting compared to everything you would get by many games of cheating seems way too small to be a deterrent

[psubills62]

Solid troll job.

[Strongman]

if they give him some kind of token punishment, like four games, why wouldnt that signal open season on cheating? if you know that you are only going to get a handful of games for doing something as serious as MODIFYING THE OBJECT OF THE ENTIRE GAME exclusively for your own benefit, that seems like an easy call. cheat whenever you can bc you are unlikely to get caught and even if you do the punishment is just going to be a few games. by the time they figure it out, you could have altered the outcome of tens of games. how many years did was the rule allowing balls to be managed by the teams in place, seven years? thats 112 regular season games the cheaters had an advantage (!!). the risk of a few games sitting compared to everything you would get by many games of cheating seems way too small to be a deterrent

Yep, a token punishment is simply the NFL saying it's okay to cheat because the cost/benefit analysis makes cheating the logical thing to do.

I hope it's more than a 4 game suspension for Brady and Belicheat. To put it in perspective, Ray Farmer got a 4 game suspension for texting during the game and the Browns were fined $250K.

Lifetime bans for the both of them seems very appropriate.

[ckg927]

The Ted Wells report was 243 pages of nothing I guess.

In Chowd Nation, it certainly is.

And people who want to be a part OF Chowd Nation.

[Tiburon1724]

At least get it right, we beat them three times.
2003 Season Opener
Chan Gailey beat them
and we beat them this past season. With Brady starting.

[psubills62]

So every team cheats, but only the Patriots get turned in for it.

And deflating balls isn't a big deal and made no difference, but apparently NE thought it was worthwhile to do despite potential consequences. And statistics also indicate it is extremely beneficial.

NE and Brady are completely innocent, but won't willingly provide any context or evidence to indicate its innocence.

Brady didn't know, yet was one of the people most likely to benefit and texts indicate he did know.

"More probable than not" isn't definitive proof, but in reality almost zero cases provide definitive proof, yet judgments are still ruled. Sometimes you just need to use common sense.

It's stupid for teams who lost to the Patriots to complain simply because we lost to them. Of course, deflated balls clearly had no effect on wins and losses.

NE's PR campaign was super aggressive and blamed everyone else, which is always the way innocent people handle things.

In the end, I think the question is if this is still the era of "just give it to them" or not.

[upstart]

The burden of proof NFL requires has been met by an impartial investigator to conclude they cheated, Brady knew about, and then lied about it.

The Pats* game balls lost more air than can be explained by science, they have a Pats* employee who calls himself "The Deflator" who disapeared unescorted with the gameballs without the officials giving their okay for their removal, video of him disappearing into a bathroom with the gameballs, text messages between Brady and the equipment guys, etc.

Face it, there is substantial proof they cheated and some proff they have been doing this a long time. They are going to be hung!

LMAO

Lets see, ESPN Sport Science showed pretty definitively that the amount of air pressure in the ball would have ZERO affect on the QB's ability to throw and that if anything an under inflated ball is a slight disadvantage...but hey don't let facts change the outcome.

Like I said this is a non issue. Move on.

[upstart]

Blow me