I think Brady is absolutely guilty of desiring a ball that’s less inflated than some of the ones he’s had to play with. How that translates into this punishment is an open question. Some of it, to me, depends on the context. By that I mean how careful was the NFL about making certain that the balls met their standards? Its a little hard to tell from the report.
There are texts from the attendants that seem to say that at least one time there were balls in play that were over-inflated by 2.5 !! psi. (this is from the text that says that one attendant measured balls after a game that were 16 psi). It begs the question of how this could have happened, and whether there was some kind of informal desire to undermine Brady’s known wished to have balls that were lightly inflated.
I find it interesting that the investigation seemingly did not lead to the discovery of a desired inflation pressure from Brady. The only discussion of it was the attendants telling the ref’s that Brady liked the balls at 12.5 psi. It seems hard to believe that if Brady had come up with his own preferred specified pressure that that wouldn’t have come out at some point.
One problem with the NFL procedures is that the referee is the last one who measures the balls (presumably alone) and the sole arbiter of whether the balls are properly inflated. Maybe a change in procedure is in order to have team personnel present at a final ball check.
Or maybe the NFL should bring their own danged balls to the game! Seriously, this “the teams provide the balls” is a holdover from the early days when there was no real organization, but the NFL certainly has the resources to handle all of this stuff themselves, and centralizing things like this would make cheating so much harder.
I give it a couple of weeks before the two indefinitely suspended without pay guys start talking to the press. They will be angry for losing their jobs, which indefinitely suspended means. Someone offers them $$ for an interview, it’s all over, and the public will know exactly what Brady did or did not do (assuming they tell the truth). Unless the organization can force them to keep quiet, or has offered them a deal to be silent, why would they not start talking? What would they have to lose?
This actually started in 2007, after a petition for a rule change was signed by Peyton, Brady, and 18 other quarterbacks, to allow them to condition their own balls because none of them like using a brand new ball right out of the box.
What need to change is:
the chain of possession of the balls needs to be secured
better quality gauges need to be provided
records need to be kept, so that there is actual evidence the balls were checked and properly inflated (no more "squeeze" testing)
They do not need to do that. All the balls are the same. What they need to have is a person responsible for checking the balls’ inflation before the game and have a camera on the box where they are kept. No team would dare to mess with the balls if knowing there is a video.
It’s just one of those things that flew below the radar screen – just as the Seattle switcheroo with the FG balls. A simple solution to a problem they did not think existed – and has probably existed for years in NE. The Patriots are punished for --as usual-- being a small step ahead of the others in terms of preparation to gain an advantage.
The organization would have been better off by admitting guilt and being more open about what they did. The martyrdom and dismissal did not help. Everyone just assumed they were hiding something, starting with Tom Brady.
Too bad because the penalty does not fit the crime.
The Dallas long snapper doesn’t believe that there was an issue with the football and I am more apt to trust his opinion as he was handling and snapping the ball. However, even if you must cling to your conspiracy theory, Mike Holmgren was the coach at the time.
I know Pete the Cheat was not in Seattle at that time. He was busy doing “his thing” in a warmer place and collecting his NCAA sanctions. Not hard to remember as the Vince Young show in the Rose Bowl remains one of the last glory acts of the Longhorns. Duly celebrated by the benevolent USC cheerleaders:
In the meantime, here is the story – including what LaDouceur said:
Wax on ball? Slicked ball as could be seen on the Madden video? It does not matter a bit now. Yet, the NFL thought it would be in everyone’s best interest to take the ball away from the local team. And that is a FACT!
Quote:
Ladouceur said he and Romo have “never really talked about’’ the dropped snap in the ensuing years (“I don’t remember negative things very much anymore,” Romo told reporters Wednesday, “I kind of let those things slide by”), and while he thinks a new, perhaps shinier K ball, or kicking ball, was inserted into the game at some point during the long replay review of the spot, he doesn’t see conspiratorial undertones being at work that night.
“I managed to snap that ball fine, and obviously if I can snap it fine, usually you think the ball’s OK,’’ Ladouceur said. “I didn’t think it was anything out of the ordinary. It was a little cool [that night, 44 degrees and overcast], a little misty, but I think it was just one of those fluke plays that happen maybe 1 out of 1,000 times. I think it was just a quirk of fate.’’
I wonder Goodell used the logic that if they gave Brady a suspension, on appeal it would be cut in half, so if they wanted him to have a 2 game suspension, they gave him 4. I think the real reason they threw the book at them is Brady refused to turn over his e-mail and cell phone info, and the league basically used the same concept as implied content with taking a breathalyzer or blood test for blood alcohol, if you refuse you are assumed to be guilty. I have heard people say Brady was afraid of information from his stuff leaking, but the law firm that did the investigation promised him complete confidentiality, that non football stuff would never be seen by the NFL, and had anything private gotten out they knew Brady and Craft would both sue them into bankruptcy and win so they would have strong incentive to make sure it was secured. Unless they could prove Brady told the two schlumpfs who did the deflation to do it, if all they have is Brady should have sensed they were wrong and reported it, the 4 games was too much. Personally, I think a more appropriate penalty would be to make Brady have dinner with Jon Gruden for a week, talking about Spider 2 Y banana, after one night the guy would be begging to be suspended.
Add me to the group of people who think that they should simply use game balls, have X balls, and they are used by both sides. This pandering to the quarterbacks and kickers is absolute BS to me, they should be forced to work with a standard ball blown up to a standard value. If you cater to quarterbacks like this, there will always be rumors of doctoring the balls and such, if the balls are controlled by the league, the teams have no say, that isn’t going to happen.
As an FYI, report is Brady hired lawyer Jeffrey Kressler. Has a long history of pushing the NFL to reduce penalties and represented the players during the last lockout. This case would surely interest him for more than money reasons: I’m not aware of a case where the player insists he’s innocent, where there’s no direct evidence of guilt at all and the main assertion is “at least generally aware”. One of my legal reactions to that last was an organization can be generally aware but there’s nothing in the bargaining agreement that treats players as more than just players, meaning they’re individuals who don’t have specific responsibility for the actions of others. That occurred to me because huge numbers of players are aware of countless league violations and there is no way to hold them accountable under the agreement.
A radio person yesterday pointed out that if Brady takes it outside the NFL his electronic records would be subpoenaed so if he isn’t interested in sharing he will push back within the NFL system. With the “generally aware” language I don’t think that Wells is suggesting that the equipment guys tampered with the footballs of their own accord for their own reasons. To take that tack Brady would have to throw them under the bus even more than he already has which wouldn’t help his image (if that’s what he’s worried about).
Well, Saintfan, that is because Romo has always been a class act who never blame others and circumstances. The fact remains that the NFL changed the rules to avoid … messing with the balls like Seattle DID.
Do you read what you copy and paste? Try again and read the first words under quote!
And if you think your rebuttal undermines my own direct quotes of LaDouceur, you’d be wrong. The players moved on because there is nothing else to do. Fans, however, continue to dissect the last minutes of that game filled with possible ref miscalculations.
Just as the final seconds of tha last SB have been.
But, again, the rule change spoke volumes about what needed yo be changed. Wanna deny that as well?
If Brady has to turn over records under a subpoena, there would be protections about the information. That’s an issue I’d raise as his lawyer: Brady and his wife are international celebrities whose phone records contain lots of information about other national and international celebrities and some of that may be embarrassing AND the NFL has proven itself to be worse than a broken sieve when it comes to leaking information. By contrast, in a lawsuit, Brady’s records would be reviewed, probably submitted to a judge, and only the relevant ones would be given to the NFL. And records would be sealed under penalty. Huge difference between that and handing your phone to the NFL and having some doofus in the NFL office leak stuff about Giselle or one of their many model or actor or sports or political friends. What if there’s information that someone famous is having an affair? Exactly the kind of juicy stuff you would not want the NFL’s people to have.
That excuse is BS. The NFL didn’t do the investigating, they hired a high powered lawfirm to do the investigation, and they promised Brady total privacy with anything non football related and that makes a big difference. If the NFL were looking at Brady’s phone and such, you would have a point, especially since Brady’s options would probably be limited to arbitration if stuff leaked out…but the lawfirm that did the investigation, if Brady’s personal information got out, would be deep, deep trouble, Brady could bankrupt the lawfirm and also pursue ethics charges if they promised him anonymity for non football related stuff and it got out. If it was the NFL investigating, and had access, I would agree, but it wasn’t, it was an outside lawfirm. Brady refused more than likely because there was incriminating evidence in there.
As far as him being married to a super model, having well off friends, etc, he shouldn’t be treated any differently than the two schlubs who worked for the team, while they may not know actors and politicians and famous people, or want to run for office like Brady seems to want to, but they have a right to privacy, too, but they were forced to turn over the phones and such.
Here it is again for your benefit @xiggi. Maybe I’m reading this wrong but to me this sounds like a quote from the snapper:
“I managed to snap that ball fine, and obviously if I can snap it fine, usually you think the ball’s OK,’’ Ladouceur said. “I didn’t think it was anything out of the ordinary. It was a little cool [that night, 44 degrees and overcast], a little misty, but I think it was just one of those fluke plays that happen maybe 1 out of 1,000 times. I think it was just a quirk of fate.’’
