Tom Brady Suspended 4 games, Pats forfeit 2016 1st rounder and 2017 4th rounder

[sirlancemehlot]

they lose a first round pick and a 4th rounder...that hurts him.

yeah, I mean, this is the bigger part of the punishment by far.  With or without Brady the Pats are in the playoffs this year.  Even if they split the four games they are minimum a wildcard and probably the AFCE winners TBH.  But losing a first rounder and a fourth is a big deal.  Think about our draft this year if we have no 1st or fourth rounder.  What this penalty does is punish Brady (suspension)) the team (lost draft picks) and the owner ($1 million).  This is a punch in the dick across the baord.

[CaliforniaJet]

Evans, Bruschi and McGinnest are also frauds, they know without cheating they would've never won crap. They gonna fight this til the end while the entire world laughs at them. The all high and mighty have been exposed as a bunch of cheaters for a second time, this has to hurt them. 

[flgreen]

This will be a 2 game suspension when all is said and done. The league knows this.  The money is chump change to a multi billionaire.    The draft picks sting a bit, but c'mon  this is a slap on the wrist.

 

The Pats more then likely have been doing this since Brady lobbied to have the rules changed so the NFL could aide him  in cheating.  Then he thumbed his nose by not co-operating, and making a joke out of it.

 

The only reason they were punished at all is because they realize if they aren't careful they will alienate the average fan, and kill the golden goose.   Did anyone else hear the fans in Chicago booing Rodger every time he walked up on to the stage?  That is not music to owners ears.  That reflects on the whole league  

[DaBallhawk]

Stop it. Bill Belichick is the type of dickhead who demands the respect of his players and is a notorious control freak who has repeatedly in the past taken a "buck stops here" attitude when it comes to anything related to his football team. 

 

It's his team, ergo he is responsible. 

 

It's not a difficult leap at all. 

 

So if Dee gets popped for PED's it's Bowles' fault? I mean it's his team after all, his responsibility.

[Larz]

the appeal will fail. disagreeing with it is too bad boo hoo

 

from espn  wells defends himself. 

http://espn.go.com/boston/nfl/story/_/id/12873329/ted-wells-strongly-defends-deflategate-investigation-amid-ridiculous-allegations

 

All of this discussion that people at the league office wanted to put some type of hit on the most popular, iconic player in the league, the real face of the league, it just doesn't make any sense," Wells said at the end of a 30-minute call. "It's really a ridiculous allegation. What drove the decision in this report was one thing -- it was the evidence. I could not ethically ignore the import and relevancy of those text messages and the other evidence."

 

Wells cited text messages in which officials locker room attendant Jim McNally referred to himself as the "deflator," and another message in which McNally wrote "im not going to espn........yet."

 

"No one can ignore the implications of that text message, and no one can see it as a joke," Wells said. "And nor is it circumstantial evidence. It is direct evidence and it is inculpatory."

Wells' voice rose at times as he challenged Brady's agent, Don Yee, to produce all notes from Brady's interview. Yee had been critical of Wells' investigation.

 

"It is wrong to criticize my independence just because you disagree with my findings," Wells said. "In my mind, the NFL certainly wasn't hoping that I would come back with a report that would find that something happened wrong with the Patriots or Tom Brady. They wanted me to get to the bottom of the facts."

Wells dismissed the notion that the NFL had a sting operation against the Patriots, saying "nobody paid that much attention" to the initial email from the Indianapolis Colts expressing concern about the team possibly using underinflated footballs.

PDF: Read entire Wells report

Ted Wells' 243-page report on the "Deflategate" scandal concludes "it's more probable than not" that Patriots personnel "participated in a deliberate effort to release air from Patriots game balls after the balls were examined by the referee." Warning: Some language in the report might be objectionable to users. Wells report PDF

"The Patriots were all over me from day one about why the NFL did not warn them of the complaint and alleging that it was a sting operation," Wells said.

Wells also said the Patriots provided him with "substantial cooperation" except for failing to make McNally available for a second interview. McNally had previously been questioned three times by NFL security.

"We interviewed him before we had discovered that most important text," he said, adding that the Patriots informed him they wouldn't tell McNally of the request.

Wells also said Brady was very cooperative during the process, but refused to let his phone or any information from it be used in the investigation.

"[brady] answered every question I put to him. He did not refuse to answer any questions," Wells said. "In terms of the back and forth between Mr. Brady and my team, he was totally cooperative.

"At the same time, he refused to permit us to review electronic data from his telephone or other instruments. Most of the key evidence in this case, as in most cases, come from people's cell phones. I want to be crystal clear -- I told Mr. Brady and his agents I was willing to not take possession of the phone. I said 'I don't want to see any private information. You keep the phone. You the agent, Mr. Yee, you can look at the phone. You give me documents that are responsive to this investigation and I will take your word that you have given me what's responsive.' And they still refused."

In assessing his personal opinion, Wells said he thinks Brady is guilty.

"If I were sitting on a jury, and judge charged us with finding 'preponderance of evidence' I would check box 'proven,' " Wells said.

"I used the words 'more likely than not' to make perfectly clear what level of proof I was using, so people didn't think I was using 'beyond a shadow of a doubt' ... 'preponderance of evidence' is commonly used burden of proof in civil cases," Wells explained.

Wells said he bills by the hour and the investigation was "no question" in the "millions of dollars." He didn't specify when asked how much the investigation ultimately cost.

[Klecko73isGod]

So if Dee gets popped for PED's it's Bowles' fault? I mean it's his team after all, his responsibility.

 

PEDs are a bad example. The NFL has a pretty robust PED policy that was collectively bargained. 

[Beerfish]

So if Dee gets popped for PED's it's Bowles' fault? I mean it's his team after all, his responsibility.

It's not a matter of if it is right nor not DaBallhawk, it is about the precedent that the league set.  Many people agree with your stance and voiced that at the time of the other punishments.  It was the NFL and Goodell themselves that chose to take the 'ignorance is no excuse' line of thinking.  Since they did take that tact in previous punishments like the Payton suspension and the suspension of the Atlanta exec due to the piped in crowd noise then the same level of punishment should apply here.  That being, after being warned by the league on the issue a few years back the team committed the indiscretion thus part of the punsihment, by precedent falls on the person in charge.

[Miss Lonelyhearts]

Wow. Wells does not suffer fools. They never refute the critics this fast. They certainly don't bother when the complaints are so disingenuous and obvious. This sure doesn't look like it's getting reduced.

[RutgersJetFan]

Wow. Wells does not suffer fools. They never refute the critics this fast. They certainly don't bother when the complaints are so disingenuous and obvious. This sure doesn't look like it's getting reduced.

 

Good for him. Anything other than a sports star and the world universally agrees that those text messages are pretty ******* clear.

[jack48]

the appeal will fail. disagreeing with it is too bad boo hoo

 

from espn  wells defends himself. 

http://espn.go.com/boston/nfl/story/_/id/12873329/ted-wells-strongly-defends-deflategate-investigation-amid-ridiculous-allegations

 

All of this discussion that people at the league office wanted to put some type of hit on the most popular, iconic player in the league, the real face of the league, it just doesn't make any sense," Wells said at the end of a 30-minute call. "It's really a ridiculous allegation. What drove the decision in this report was one thing -- it was the evidence. I could not ethically ignore the import and relevancy of those text messages and the other evidence."

 

Wells cited text messages in which officials locker room attendant Jim McNally referred to himself as the "deflator," and another message in which McNally wrote "im not going to espn........yet."

 

"No one can ignore the implications of that text message, and no one can see it as a joke," Wells said. "And nor is it circumstantial evidence. It is direct evidence and it is inculpatory."

Wells' voice rose at times as he challenged Brady's agent, Don Yee, to produce all notes from Brady's interview. Yee had been critical of Wells' investigation.

 

"It is wrong to criticize my independence just because you disagree with my findings," Wells said. "In my mind, the NFL certainly wasn't hoping that I would come back with a report that would find that something happened wrong with the Patriots or Tom Brady. They wanted me to get to the bottom of the facts."

Wells dismissed the notion that the NFL had a sting operation against the Patriots, saying "nobody paid that much attention" to the initial email from the Indianapolis Colts expressing concern about the team possibly using underinflated footballs.

PDF: Read entire Wells report

Ted Wells' 243-page report on the "Deflategate" scandal concludes "it's more probable than not" that Patriots personnel "participated in a deliberate effort to release air from Patriots game balls after the balls were examined by the referee." Warning: Some language in the report might be objectionable to users. Wells report PDF

"The Patriots were all over me from day one about why the NFL did not warn them of the complaint and alleging that it was a sting operation," Wells said.

Wells also said the Patriots provided him with "substantial cooperation" except for failing to make McNally available for a second interview. McNally had previously been questioned three times by NFL security.

"We interviewed him before we had discovered that most important text," he said, adding that the Patriots informed him they wouldn't tell McNally of the request.

Wells also said Brady was very cooperative during the process, but refused to let his phone or any information from it be used in the investigation.

"[brady] answered every question I put to him. He did not refuse to answer any questions," Wells said. "In terms of the back and forth between Mr. Brady and my team, he was totally cooperative.

"At the same time, he refused to permit us to review electronic data from his telephone or other instruments. Most of the key evidence in this case, as in most cases, come from people's cell phones. I want to be crystal clear -- I told Mr. Brady and his agents I was willing to not take possession of the phone. I said 'I don't want to see any private information. You keep the phone. You the agent, Mr. Yee, you can look at the phone. You give me documents that are responsive to this investigation and I will take your word that you have given me what's responsive.' And they still refused."

In assessing his personal opinion, Wells said he thinks Brady is guilty.

"If I were sitting on a jury, and judge charged us with finding 'preponderance of evidence' I would check box 'proven,' " Wells said.

"I used the words 'more likely than not' to make perfectly clear what level of proof I was using, so people didn't think I was using 'beyond a shadow of a doubt' ... 'preponderance of evidence' is commonly used burden of proof in civil cases," Wells explained.

Wells said he bills by the hour and the investigation was "no question" in the "millions of dollars." He didn't specify when asked how much the investigation ultimately cost.

When the attendants finally sit down with the Daily News or the Boston Globe, and they will at some point in the future, this is going to sound even worse for Tom.  I doubt he appeals.  At lest he can then say he did his time.  He won't save his legacy by whittling down his time in the cooler.

[DaBallhawk]

It's not a matter of if it is right nor not DaBallhawk, it is about the precedent that the league set.  Many people agree with your stance and voiced that at the time of the other punishments.  It was the NFL and Goodell themselves that chose to take the 'ignorance is no excuse' line of thinking.  Since they did take that tact in previous punishments like the Payton suspension and the suspension of the Atlanta exec due to the piped in crowd noise then the same level of punishment should apply here.  That being, after being warned by the league on the issue a few years back the team committed the indiscretion thus part of the punsihment, by precedent falls on the person in charge.

 

But I wouldn't compare the two. In NO the entire coaching staff was in on it, they actually paid the players to end opponents careers, to injure them. This is about one guy forcing 2 poor shmucks to do the dirty work for him and break the rules so he has a football in the condition he wants it to be in. That's apples and oranges to me. But if you do go down that route and say that it's the same thing then you have to punish teams every time one of their player tries to cheat, whether it's using stickum, deflating footballs, using PED's, whatever. It's not right. I wouldn't want the NFL to steal some of our top picks if one of our idiots got caught cheating. Punish the player, severly. You're not doing anybody a favor by punishing everybody. If you want to fix this severly punish the one guy that tried to cheat. A HC can not do anything about this. He can tell player X a thousand times to play clean, to not cheat, at the end of the day it's out of his hands. You're not gaining anything by punishing the team, that doesn't fix anything. That's why I think it's stupid. Punish Brady, take him out for the entire year, I guarantee you this will signal a message to other players / QB's that are doing this or have done this. For players, players come first. Not teams. It hurts them more if you punish them instead of the team so I don't get it. But I can see where you're coming from or what the NFL is trying to do I guess if they want to argue that they punished the Saints a certain way and therefore they have to do the same with the Patriots. I just don't agree with it.

[GREENBEAN]

This will be a 2 game suspension when all is said and done. The league knows this.  The money is chump change to a multi billionaire.    The draft picks sting a bit, but c'mon  this is a slap on the wrist.

 

The Pats more then likely have been doing this since Brady lobbied to have the rules changed so the NFL could aide him  in cheating.  Then he thumbed his nose by not co-operating, and making a joke out of it.

 

The only reason they were punished at all is because they realize if they aren't careful they will alienate the average fan, and kill the golden goose.   Did anyone else hear the fans in Chicago booing Rodger every time he walked up on to the stage?  That is not music to owners ears.  That reflects on the whole league  

I don't know man. Have you heard this interview with Wells?  It sounds like when they go before an arbitrator he will be quite the something or other in that room. He seems to be aggravated with the Pats response. 

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl-investigator-says-found-direct-evidence-against-brady-185753127--nfl.html

[Maxman]

The funniest guy in all this is Brady ' s agent Don Yee. He's like Babdad Bob. The Pats get away with everything but he tells his client not to cooperate because the outcome is "predetermined" What a bunch of nonsense.

I disagree that the suspension will be lowered. The lack of cooperation kills Brady on an appeal, especially if there is an independent arbitrator.

 

I don't care if they lower it to one quarter of one game. I just want him suspended. So the label -- cheater -- will always stick.

[Jetcane Redux]

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/2015/05/06/physics-professor-deflategate-report-science-holds/T2HqI3vFVivr9grXOD2VEI/story.html

 

The 243-page Deflategate report released Wednesday, which included independent analysis by two sources, was a big blow to those holding out hope science would exonerate the Patriots.

 

But could there be any holes to the analysts’ logic? Not likely, says Boston University professor Martin Schmaltz.

 

While the ideal gas law states air pressure in a given volume will drop along with temperature — and the balls used in the AFC Championship game likely...-snip-

[Beerfish]

But I wouldn't compare the two. In NO the entire coaching staff was in on it, they actually paid the players to end opponents careers, to injure them. This is about one guy forcing 2 poor shmucks to do the dirty work for him and break the rules so he has a football in the condition he wants it to be in. That's apples and oranges to me. But if you do go down that route and say that it's the same thing then you have to punish teams every time one of their player tries to cheat, whether it's using stickum, deflating footballs, using PED's, whatever. It's not right. I wouldn't want the NFL to steal some of our top picks if one of our idiots got caught cheating. Punish the player, severly. You're not doing anybody a favor by punishing everybody. If you want to fix this severly punish the one guy that tried to cheat. A HC can not do anything about this. He can tell player X a thousand times to play clean, to not cheat, at the end of the day it's out of his hands. You're not gaining anything by punishing the team, that doesn't fix anything. That's why I think it's stupid. Punish Brady, take him out for the entire year, I guarantee you this will signal a message to other players / QB's that are doing this or have done this. For players, players come first. Not teams. It hurts them more if you punish them instead of the team so I don't get it. But I can see where you're coming from or what the NFL is trying to do I guess if they want to argue that they punished the Saints a certain way and therefore they have to do the same with the Patriots. I just don't agree with it.

A head coach with the control of BB can have an affect on this, the team was previously warned.  In the end he has developed a culture that has fostered this kind of behaviour, from the illegal taping after being warned to forcing the nfl to change substitution rulings.  The way Brady and Belly are attached at the hip, the way Bely has 100% control of the organization and by precedent.

 

If you hold with your line of thinking the pats should not have been fined at all and should not have to surrender any picks, what did the rest of the team have to do with Brady and the ball boys?  Why should the team have to pay any price due to the actions of just the qb?

[DaBallhawk]

A head coach with the control of BB can have an affect on this, the team was previously warned.  In the end he has developed a culture that has fostered this kind of behaviour, from the illegal taping after being warned to forcing the nfl to change substitution rulings.  The way Brady and Belly are attached at the hip, the way Bely has 100% control of the organization and by precedent.

 

If you hold with your line of thinking the pats should not have been fined at all and should not have to surrender any picks, what did the rest of the team have to do with Brady and the ball boys?  Why should the team have to pay any price due to the actions of just the qb?

 

What if this was the Jaguars? They don't have a BB, a Brady, or even a BB & Brady type combo. Would the punishment have been different?

[Warfish]

What if this was the Jaguars? They don't have a BB, a Brady, or even a BB & Brady type combo. Would the punishment have been different?

 

Yes.

 

QB involved in a competative rule breaking, stretching back multiple years, and who obstructs the investigation?

 

1 year for the QB.  6 games for the Head Coach.  +Draft Picks and Fine.

 

JMO.

[DaBallhawk]

Yes.

 

QB involved in a competative rule breaking, stretching back multiple years, and who obstructs the investigation?

 

1 year for the QB.  6 games for the Head Coach.  +Draft Picks and Fine.

 

JMO.

 

QB I absolutely agree with. But the rest would be our best guess. There's no evidence BB knew anything about this and you can't just suspend somebody because you think they might have done something wrong when all the evidence basically suggests the opposite. It's not like they didn't try to find out. They looked over the texts and they couldn't find any evidence. But who knows, maybe this is why Brady doesn't want to hand over more evidence. Either he doesn't want to get punished any further or he fears that he might drag BB into this.

[jgb]

Love the "defense" that it was a sting. To get stung you have to have done the deed to begin with. Worst defense ever to complain you were only caught because they were ready for you.

[Larz]

Love the "defense" that it was a sting. To get stung you have to have done the deed to begin with. Worst defense ever to complain you were only caught because they were ready for you.

 

"The Patriots were all over me from day one about why the NFL did not warn them of the complaint and alleging that it was a sting operation," Wells said.

 

let that sink in.  

 

 

the arrogance is stunning.  what an institution of douchebags

[GREENBEAN]

Yes.

 

QB involved in a competative rule breaking, stretching back multiple years, and who obstructs the investigation?

 

1 year for the QB.  6 games for the Head Coach.  +Draft Picks and Fine.

 

JMO.

Agreed. 

[GREENBEAN]

"The Patriots were all over me from day one about why the NFL did not warn them of the complaint and alleging that it was a sting operation," Wells said.

 

let that sink in.  

 

 

the arrogance is stunning.  what an institution of douchebags

Agreed again 

[FidelioJet]

"The Patriots were all over me from day one about why the NFL did not warn them of the complaint and alleging that it was a sting operation," Wells said.

let that sink in.

the arrogance is stunning. what an institution of douchebags

Exactly. Basically saying. It's okay for us to cheat. If we get caught I expect to be warned first so I don't get penalized.

You couldn't make this sh-- up.

[Larz]

image.jpg

 

totally stealing this, lol

[Klecko73isGod]

Love the "defense" that it was a sting. To get stung you have to have done the deed to begin with. Worst defense ever to complain you were only caught because they were ready for you.

 

This. According to Wells the Pats defense the whole time has been that it was a sting operation. Even if that was true, you don't start a sting operation unless you have a suspicion of wrongdoing to begin with. 

[Charlie Brown]

Wow. Wells does not suffer fools. They never refute the critics this fast. They certainly don't bother when the complaints are so disingenuous and obvious. This sure doesn't look like it's getting reduced.

BINGO!!!

 

An arbitrator is not going to say that Wells erred easily. 

 

Wells is one of the most well respected litigators in the US and to say that he made a mistake you had better be very very sure because you would be making him personally look bad and that is not how fellow lawyers operate at that level of the game

[Il Mostro]

I don't care if they lower it to one quarter of one game. I just want him suspended. So the label -- cheater -- will always stick.

 

 

Thus rounding out the Pats* legacy -- convicted murderers and cheaters. 

[GimmeShelter]

I would not be at all surprised if BB and Brady call it a career under the premise that this was a witch hunt in a last attempt to appear innocent.

 

Every Brady interview on this looks more damning each time ESPN runs a clip.

 

 

My favorite part is Patsfantx insisting at the start of the investigation that nothing would come of it.

[rillo]

Schefter on Sportscenter just said he got a text from a source today: "Brady's (legal) team is unreal. My prediction..he won't miss a game"

[Larz]

Schefter on Sportscenter just said he got a text from a source today: "Brady's (legal) team is unreal. My prediction..he won't miss a game"

 

that's great.  if he goes to court everything gets subpeonaed.  this is just a gigantic bluff

[rillo]

that's great.  if he goes to court everything gets subpeonaed.  this is just a gigantic bluff

I hope so, but I wouldn't be surprised if he starts week 1

[Larz]

I hope so, but I wouldn't be surprised if he starts week 1

 

all they can say is it's circumstantial and we don't agree with the conclusion.  if they go all OJ on it and try to establish a chain of custody for the balls and make walt coleman their mark furman they will regret it.  everybody is already just about done with this story.  I don't think he wants the country talking about it for 4 months

 

ted wells reaction today was very strong.  it was no random comment when he called out Yee for not making ALL of his notes public.

 

it seems to me like he knows he left some meat on the bone if he needs it on appeal.

 

I think brady can only look worse if he goes to court

 

don't forget mcnally and the other guy (lol) were muzzled.  if they testify they could sink his ass ass for good. don't forget mcnally is already on record that brady is the one who  told him to deflate the balls.  he can't go back on that

[Miss Lonelyhearts]

Schefter on Sportscenter just said he got a text from a source today: "Brady's (legal) team is unreal. My prediction..he won't miss a game"

My prediction...source obviously never went to law school.

[Jet Fan RI]

I don't care if they lower it to one quarter of one game. I just want him suspended. So the label -- cheater -- will always stick.

Well I care. He should have gone for a year, along with hid coach. The actual penalties were a travesty.

[Larz]

I was just at patsfans.com

 

did you guys know all it would have taken to avoid this mess is one single lousy phone call from the NFL about the colts complaints ?

 

but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

the NFL had to go and let the patriots* cheat with no warning !!  assholes !!!!

 

 

 

lol they are in for a hard fall