Brady 4 Game Suspension Upheld

[sharpe1027]

That Brady tried to correct for it after-the-fact, says more about his recognition of the possible consequences (mitigation attempt) than it does about the original act.

[pbmax]

That Brady tried to correct for it after-the-fact, says more about his recognition of the possible consequences (mitigation attempt) than it does about the original act.

Yes and in the complicated world of CBA and Federal Law, that is what you get when you change the rules of the game midstream with no notice. This is Roger reaping what he has sowed by acting by fiat and press release. Stradley's quote I put in here yesterday said it better, but he rules by over-reacting and then trying to cover his ass. Its entirely PR and personality driven.

We have not even gone back over the fact that the violation that Brady was judged to have committed was in a policy never given to the players. And there is no precedent for this kind of action for tampering with game equipment, not to mention failure to turn over phone records now being worth some portion of 4 games.

Tagliabue had this guy's number with the Bountygate disaster when he was appointed arbitrator. Goodell rules capriciously, reacting to the worst possible version of events rather than remaining dispassionate and investigating. He doesn't work with teams and players to stop the behavior first. He just wants to level the hammer.

Its shortsighted and has earned him 8 months of bad press.

[pbmax]

If Roger owned his own business, he would be able to run things this way. A small business owner can do a lot by sheer force of will.

But he is in charge of an 11 billion dollar industry that is intimately entangled with Congress and Federal law. He doesn't know what he doesn't know.

Think about his rhetoric of protecting the shield when he weighed in first with the Personal Conduct Policy. He has elevated working for the NFL to something closer to worship than employment. He takes the public face of his role far too seriously and spends too little time on details.

[sharpe1027]

Yes and in the complicated world of CBA and Federal Law, that is what you get when you change the rules of the game midstream with no notice. This is Roger reaping what he has sowed by acting by fiat and press release. Stradley's quote I put in here yesterday said it better, but he rules by over-reacting and then trying to cover his ass. Its entirely PR and personality driven.

We have not even gone back over the fact that the violation that Brady was judged to have committed was in a policy never given to the players. And there is no precedent for this kind of action for tampering with game equipment, not to mention failure to turn over phone records now being worth some portion of 4 games.

Tagliabue had this guy's number with the Bountygate disaster when he was appointed arbitrator. Goodell rules capriciously, reacting to the worst possible version of events rather than remaining dispassionate and investigating. He doesn't work with teams and players to stop the behavior first. He just wants to level the hammer.

Its shortsighted and has earned him 8 months of bad press.

Now we are getting somewhere. Yes, Goodell's approach is short-sighted (or just plain blind). Yes, maybe Brady will get off on a legality issue.

But, the evidence is still there to suggest that the balls were tampered with and Brady was encouraging it.

[mraynrand]

Now we are getting somewhere. Yes, Goodell's approach is short-sighted (or just plain blind). Yes, maybe Brady will get off on a legality issue.

But, the evidence is still there to suggest that the balls were tampered with and Brady was encouraging it.

This is what I think. And the history of cheating by the Patsies also weighs into it.

Being commish is different than being in a court. You are kinda judge and jury. You have to protect the integrity of the game, but you don't have to make snap judgments to do it.

The Nancy Grace comparison PB mentioned a while back is apt. And I confess, I slipped into it a bit in this case. Too much hyperventilating. It sure looks like the patsies were gaming the system, but a little caution and reflection could have helped Roger see it as a smaller issue, that a lot of teams engage in, and he could have issued a slap on the wrist 25K fine with a general promise to review the process and perhaps even allow a small leeway for QB preference.

[pbmax]

...

But, the evidence is still there to suggest that the balls were tampered with and Brady was encouraging it.

I agree that those text messages look like something that is not above board. More than likely, the Pats had tried to develop some system for "correcting" wrongly inflated balls. Remember those text messages refer to Brady being incensed about a 16 PSI beachball? The refs found some of the Pats balls lower than 12.5 and over-corrected.

And let's think about this logically. If the goal is to get the balls as low as possible, then this situation of ref correction is extraordinarily likely to happen. Rodgers described the same situation in reverse, that he would ask the equipment guys to get as close to 13.5 without going over. Because if you get out of spec, you have lost control over the eventual pressure of the ball as the refs will correct it.

This is something that competent administrators would work through. If there is something amiss, what is the corrective measure? I doubt the answer to this question in the manual is to make it 2.5 PSI above the legal limit. BTW, this is a sign of exactly how unimportant the NFL saw this issue until the Ravens and Colts came bellyaching to a former Jets official in the League office. This is why a patient and non-maximalist approach should always be preferred. Prior to the game the only people that cared about this were QBs and 3 officials that were pissed at the Patriots handing them their hat for over a decade now. Goodell, reacting like bad news is a mallet to his patellar tendon, was now chasing leaked false info. And that info was about an issue that did not affect the outcome of the game. It just pissed off three opponents.

I maintain the next likeliest scenario is that this was ALL about pre-inspection ball prep. You have to be careful to go low as you can without raising a red flag with the refs. That limits what you can do pre-game.

Third most likely, as no other ref has reported the game balls went missing before a game, is that the events of this playoff game were an anomaly. So if the Patriots text messages (from earlier in the season) are an indication of an illegal scheme, it most likely happened on the sideline, not during transport while the refs were there.

[sharpe1027]

OK, but if they did it on the sidelines or they did it in the bathroom, it is the same result and they are equally culpable. Further, even if you are correct that they were doing it on the sidelines previously, it seems like they came up with a better plan - grab the balls and do it somewhere private. It seems pretty risky to do it in full sight of fans and the other team.

Your second scenario is at odds with several of the text messages, but I admit that it is possible.

Your conjecture about Rodgers is not accurate from the quotes I read. Rodgers was fine with if they happened to go over the limit. That was what the "no fair" complaints from the Pats fans started from.

Agreed that the NFL could have done any number of things better in their handling of the situation.

[pbmax]

Rodgers admitted that if they went over (and he did say he was fine if they went just over the 13.5 line, to the next hash) they ran the risk of the Refs intervening and undoing their "hard" work.

The ball boys are always rearranging the balls, into and out of the case they are in. They have towels and are always rubbing them down. It could be done on sidelines. Riskier, however, because you could get caught on camera with this method.

Bathroom break makes sense, but after NFL and Wells investigated for 4 months, they came up with not another instance where the balls went missing before the game. And you KNOW they asked the Head Ref for each Patriot game that year. That is why the bathroom break seems like such an outlier. So rare it has to be unrelated.

[sharpe1027]

Valid point on it looking like an outlier. One thing to consider is that memory is a tricky thing, that we all tend to believe is better than it truly is. If it was not on their radar to watch for missing balls before the game, I think that it is extremely unlikely they would remember it happening weeks or months after-the-fact.

It does not have to be unrelated.

By the way, the fact that the balls are constantly being dried and rubbed down is something neither of the post-Wells reports considered. They assumed that the balls were unprotected from the rain. Is that really a valid assumption?

[pbmax]

I'd buy the under the radar thing, but the Ref (Walt Anderson) it happened to for the Colts game said it has never happened to him before. So I am thinking they would remember such an unusual circumstance.

[wpony]

I have not commented on this yet because I am so sick of this topic but here goes from someone that really does not like the pats or Brady so here goes do I think Brady did something wrong or had some one do it for him yes, do I think he destroyed his phone so they couldnt see the texts yes, I also think he is lieing to Kraft so he has him backing him up but do I think that the punishment is over the line yes I do , I think Godel is finally so fed up with the Pats breaking the rules or just right to the point of them that he has had it and trying to make a point of it and say no more will be tolerated . I am also sure he has teams agreeing with him or he probably would have backed down but there has been a good amount of teams blaming the Pats for cheating on one thing or another and have been proven right and old roger just slapped them on the wrist and now he has egg on his face for letting them get away with thing in the past do I think its fair to punish them for previous infractions no but no matter what happens he has sent all the teams a message that the cheating for all the teams is stopping now.

[NewsBruin]

Edit: I'm just frustrated that the punishment can be set for an infraction that changes when the previous infraction can't be proven in a year where punishments can be stiffened after older policies were discarded for not being tough enough.

I think that sets up a chilly world for any NFL player that the hammer can be dropped on them for any reason or no reason or different reason or angry outsiders's protests.

[pbmax]

Judge overturned the 4 game suspension.

EDIT: Word is suspension was "nullified". It could still be sent back for an lower level decision under new guidelines or the Judge could order new talks.


The Associated Press @AP 9m9 minutes ago
BREAKING: Tom Brady beats NFL in 'Deflategate' court case, judge nullifies league's 4-game suspension.

[smuggler]

A victory for law, or a defeat for justice? Both?

[pbmax]

Its a procedural ruling. Failure to serve notice of changes to policies and lack of availability of discovery materials (it would not be called that in a CBA appeal) and the investigators. As frustrating as this is (personally I would prefer a debate on the PSI numbers and an investigation into the Brady text messages that they chose not to recover), this was completely avoidable.

The Judge even quotes Tagliabue about Goodell the lack of previous suspensions for being uncooperative with an investigation. The NFL can get everything it seems to want here, all it needs is to serve notice first. This is what I cannot understand about Goodell's approach.

BTW, the Judge offered no opinion on the appropriateness of a Commissioner being the final arbitrator.

The suspension was "premised upon several significant legal deficiencies," Berman wrote in his opinion, noting that an arbitrator's factual findings are generally not open to judicial challenge.

Berman's ruling does not necessarily end the dispute. The league can appeal. Neither side's top lawyer immediately responded to an email seeking comment.

The judge said Brady had no notice he could receive a four-game suspension for general awareness of ball deflation by others or participation in any scheme to deflate football and for not cooperating with an investigation.

"Brady also had no notice that his discipline would be the equivalent of the discipline imposed upon a player who used performance enhancing drugs," Berman said.

Brady was also denied equal access to investigative files, including witness interview notes, and didn't have a chance to examine one of two lead investigators, the judge said.

http://pro32.ap.org/article/judge-lets-brady-play-ruling-against-nfl-deflategate