The Patsies weren't the only ones to deflate balls just like they weren't the only ones to video tape sidelines, but they should know better than to do any borderline shit at this point. Brad Johnson paid the refs in the fuckin Super Bowl to deflate footballs and nobody gives a fuck. I don't think Beliterd should be suspended but strip them a 2nd rounder, that'd be legit.
Does anybody get the feeling thatWoody's punishment for "tampering" will be overly harsh if the NFL is forced to come down hard on Belichek?
Banning him next year is the most asinine suggestion I have heard. If he was caught during the season would they let him coach the year and through the Super Bowl and enact the punishment next year? Of course not. So there is no reason to let him coach the Super Bowl just because he was only caught now. They did this to help get to the Super Bowl not to help them next year so you have to punish them in the Super Bowl, not reward them by deferring to next season otherwise it was worth doing, especially if they win. The bigger question is was it Belichick or Brady who did it? Brady's laughing it off on the radio interview was far too exaggerated and forced. There was nothing ridiculous about the question, especially for a QB who in the past has intimated he prefers an underinflated ball. She doth protests too much me thinks.
No, Johnson paid somebody to scuff the balls which were brand new and too slick. I don't know if there is a specific rule against using scuffed balls but there is a rule about how much air needs to be in the ball so they likely aren't even comparable .
I'd be shocked if the punishment would be anything that could affect the game next week. Make the Pats play without their coach? No way, the NFL would keep the investigation going long enough to get the game in.
That's likely, but would it be worse PR wise for the Pats to win the Super Bowl and then the nfl punishes them for cheating leading up to it? That's a worse cloud to hang over the history of football than the Pats being a dead team walking leading up to the game because they lost their coach.
Even if they suspended BB before the Super Bowl he'd just phone in the plays from a van in the parking lot.
i just can't see how you can cheat thru the playoffs, and then get to coach in the Super Bowl. you can be league champion, and just deal with the consequences the following year? anyone would sign up for that. it deters nothing. even worse, this scumbag can actually use these cheating accusations as a rallying cry. 'it's us against the world. well show the world we don't need to cheat to beat the best...blah blah blah' and totally agreed on Brady. knew he was lying the second i heard that fake arrogant laugh. the laughed was forced, but the arrogance came quiet naturally. he's learned from the best on that front.
I said this in the other thread, but I think they're going to have to find bodies to suspend someone for the Super Bowl at this point. The league just can't do something that would affect the outcome of the game for something that I think everyone rational acknowledges really didn't affect the outcome last week. There's bettors, fans, advertisers, etc. that would be screaming about it. I hate those fucks as much as anyone, but I just can't see a disproportionate response coming. I could see a decent suspension next year, but even then, I think they blow it off. Probably to avoid that PR cloud you speak of.
The real question is how long deflated footballs have been used by New England and the extent to which coaches and player knew about the practice. Now you potentially have lying players and coaches to tack onto cheating players and coaches. Pats smell so bad right now; this Super Bowl is a joke to the NFL, and to the fans of an American tradition.
If there not the only ones and the NFL knew about and did nothing then that on NFL. If somebody breaks a rule then something should happen to them. In this case the Pats are repeat offenders so they should get it even worse this time around. Just like a player who test positive for drugs or something like that. It seems the only way to wake some people up is start suspending players. Any fool can tell you Brady knew about and it was appoved by him. BB should be suspended if he knew or not. Goodell should say the same thing to BB that he told Sean Payton in bounty gate. "If you didn't know then you should had known".
I agree the nfl is unlikely to apply the deserved level of punishment, but rationally they should be more concerned about the integrity of the game of football and not simply this one single game. Even if the betting is killed for the game, suspending Beli and/or Brady would generate even more interest and attention to the game. People would tune in to see how badly they get blown out. And if by some chance they keep it close you have an amazing story to tell. Personally, I think it was Brady who directed it to be done.
If nobody from NE (Brady or Beli) will take the fall, the organization will take the hit. The NFL will say something to the extent that there's proof that it was done, but inconclusive as to who specifically orchestrated it. Because of that, they can't suspend anybody, so they'll fine Kraft & the Pats will forfeit a draft pick(s). That's how they'll get around dragging their feet on discipline, because a stripped draft pick affects the team the same way, whether done before or after the SuperBowl (as opposed to a suspension).
If it were any other team/coach it would be a fine and end of story. Problem for the Patriots and coach B. is they have a history of bending rules to, and often past, the breaking point. When you're a repeat offender you tend to get treated more harshly, especially when you're offense comes in a spotlight game.
No banning. You'd think that with Bill denying everything and saying something like "ask Tom" it could indict Brady. And I'm sure Belichick would prefer him being suspended for the Super Bowl or even next regular season than Brady. If BB were banned from coaching in the Super Bowl you know he'd find an illegal way around that. But you couldn't replace Brady.
If nothing is done between now and the Super Bowl it is a sign that the NFL will do anything that has to be done to sweep this under the rug. Allowing the Pats to win the Super Bowl would create the same dilemma for Goodell and the NFL office that existed before: the champion is a cheater and you can't let that become the common perception. So therefore they'd have to go all-in on the cover up afterwards. It didn't help MLB to out the steroid users and clean up the sport. They still lost a lot of moral high ground and declined further in the public estimation. The NFL may have decided that cheating is just part of the sport and that trying to police cheating is just going to create more airspace for the notion that cheating is endemic. This is a problem for the next commissioner to take on and at the rate we're going that will be fairly soon now.
I think the NFL is in a really tough spot here, and any punishment for the Pats is either going to compromise this year's Super Bowl, or taint the league long term. So they are going to do nothing, maybe a small fine after the fact. The real punishment for the Pats and Belichek is the NFL letting them twist in the wind now and leaving them to try to repair the remnants of their legacy in the future
