New England Cheats Again

[mtangelsfan]

Brady's suspension will be cut in half, if not completely repealed, once the union does the appeal.

[Spirit]

Looking at their schedule, it looks like they'll be 1-3 by the time he's back.

[Angels_Make_Me_Drink]

Lol, the harshest thing they're gonna lose is the 1st round draft pick. That one stings.

 

I bet Brady's suspension will be reduced to two games and the $1,000,000 probably doesn't hurt them much. 

[Blarg]

In NFL money that $1 million equates to the average Joe's $1 dollar. Way to really come down on them Commish.

[bloodbrother]

Losing the draft picks is the bigger deal. I'm sure Brady will get the suspension reduced to 2 games and they've played in such a crap division for over a decade now that Brady missing 2-3 games won't matter

[AngelsFaninGA]

I'm not even sure the draft picks are a big deal. Since they gave Brady a slap on the wrist their playoff chances won't even be affected and the pick will end up being in the 30-32 range, which is already crapshoot territory. 

[Chimi]

I'm not even sure the draft picks are a big deal. Since they gave Brady a slap on the wrist their playoff chances won't even be affected and the pick will end up being in the 30-32 range, which is already crapshoot territory. 

 

Uh, not quite.  Picks in the first four rounds are highly coveted picks.  This isn't MLB where you're drafting high school kids and wondering how good they will be in 5-6 years.  A 1st and a 4th is a huge hit to any team.

 

Here is a great graph I saw on the interwebs.

 

Edited May 12, 2015 by Chimi

[mrwicked]

a discussion on the impact of early draft picks, and a chart comparing total fumbles to plays per fumble.

 

 

if its a joke then i love it. 

[Chimi]

Yeah, I didn't think of that when I put it there.

 

I didn't want to have back to back posts so I kind of just edited the chart in there since I saw it after the fact.  Doesn't really mesh well, I agree.

[Brandon]

Leave it.

The best part is adding, "I saw on the interwebs"

[nate]

Plus, are we supposed to believe that all of a sudden the patriots figured out that this helped them?

 

My thing is, we pretty much have been told that most teams do something along these lines, I always will agree with cheat and get caught, you get punished... but this seems a bit crazy.  And I ****ing hate the Pats more than any other team.

[arch stanton]

To me the best punishment would have been to no longer allow them to prep their own balls. Let the opposing team do it.

[Tank]

I'm curious how they decided on a first round pick (makes sense) and a fourth rounder (really?). Why not a 1 & 2?

[Hollyw00d]

Lol

[Brandon]

I can't be the only one tired of the NFL punishment system based on media hype, am I?

[Angels_Make_Me_Drink]

I love this guy.

[Lou]

I can't be the only one tired of the NFL punishment system based on media hype, am I?

no

it's entirely a reactionary system

[bloodbrother]

Pretty much. Goodell just wings it

[eaterfan]

I'm not even sure the draft picks are a big deal. Since they gave Brady a slap on the wrist their playoff chances won't even be affected and the pick will end up being in the 30-32 range, which is already crapshoot territory. 

 

4 games isn't a slap on the wrist. It's 1/4 of the season or about a 40 game suspension in baseball. Even if it's reduced to two games, it's still a big deal. Also any 1st round pick is very valuable. Second round picks are valuable. Third round picks are valuable. Even 4th rounders mean something. The million dollars is worthless but those picks hurt. 

 

This punishment is way too harsh. This is like if MLB suspended George Brett 40 games and didn't allow KC to sign any FA for a year (if FA were big back then) for the pine tar incident. Yes, it's cheating but a lot of teams are doing it and it's not like it's creating a huge advantage. Granted this is a second offense but the punishment is very extreme.

[arch stanton]

4 games isn't a slap on the wrist. It's 1/4 of the season or about a 40 game suspension in baseball. Even if it's reduced to two games, it's still a big deal. Also any 1st round pick is very valuable. Second round picks are valuable. Third round picks are valuable. Even 4th rounders mean something. The million dollars is worthless but those picks hurt. 

 

This punishment is way too harsh. This is like if MLB suspended George Brett 40 games and didn't allow KC to sign any FA for a year (if FA were big back then) for the pine tar incident. Yes, it's cheating but a lot of teams are doing it and it's not like it's creating a huge advantage. Granted this is a second offense but the punishment is very extreme.

You don't know if it creates an advantage or not and if the Patriots didn't feel it created an advantage then they wouldn't go to such pains to do it.

[eaterfan]

You don't know if it creates an advantage or not and if the Patriots didn't feel it created an advantage then they wouldn't go to such pains to do it.

We don't know that pine tar doesn't create a huge advantage either.

I'm not saying they shouldn't be punished at all. But this is a $1,000 punishment for a $1 crime.

Edited May 12, 2015 by eaterfan

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

When news first broke some current and former QB's said this isn't anything unusual as far as a QB doing something to the footballs his team provides for the game.  They should be punished for breaking the rules but the penalty is too harsh and I agree that Goodell basically wings it because of the court of public opinion.    

[arch stanton]

We don't know that pine tar doesn't create a huge advantage either.

I'm not saying they shouldn't be punished at all. But this is a $1,000 punishment for a $1 crime.

This isn't some pine tar creeping up over the limit and in plain view of the officials. This was a multi-layered conspiracy intended to hide the fact that they were altering previously checked and certified equipment. It's institutional.

[eaterfan]

This isn't some pine tar creeping up over the limit and in plain view of the officials. This was a multi-layered conspiracy intended to hide the fact that they were altering previously checked and certified equipment. It's institutional.

It's Tom Brady and 2 glorified ball boys according to the report. It's not Watergate. It wasn't anyone on the coaching staff or in the front office. These guys were one step above cleaning toilets or opening the mail.

Brady deserves a small suspension, mostly for not cooperating. It will probably get reduced to a game or two. But the loss of picks is excessively harsh on the organization.

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

Multi-layered conspiracy?  I didn't read the full report but every article said the conclusion was that Brad "probably" knew what was going on and as eaterfan mentioned it was the ball boy and equipment manager while none of the coaches, front office or ownership were implicated.  Again the rules were broken so there should be repercussions but if anything this exposed the holes in how the NFL handles and monitors the footballs teams provide for each game.  They measured the pressure before the AFC title game and the balls were within the limits and after that the guy on the field let some air out.  If it's that big of a deal the NFL should be supplying the ball boys or have the refs keep the balls somewhere that is monitored at all times.