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Deflate-Gate \ Patriots Cheating Again Thread: MERGED


indygirl4jets

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Eat it, Patriot Cheats!

Cheating Scandals Will Forever Tarnish the Brady-Belichick Legacy

It's time to stop with the excuses. Stop with looking the other way. Just stop. Stop defending Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

I've defended their Spygate shenanigans as minor cheating. Defended their Super Bowls. Defended it all. But no human being with a functioning cerebrum can do that now.

Sure, New England Patriots fans will. This is what fans do. Everyone cheats. All teams try to get an edge. You think the Patriots are the only team to underinflate footballs? It wouldn't have mattered in the game anyway. You're just a hater. All Brady and Belichick want to do is win. They are winners. Because winning. Patriot winning is greater than your winning. Mom, apple pie and winning. Please hold it down over there. We're winning.

The excuses from Patriots fans are flowing like a fine vintage of clam chowder. This is the second time the Patriots have shown they don't care about rules. To the Patriots, rules are for suckers. Rules are for losers. Rules are for you and me, not for Brady and B.

One underinflated football is interesting. Three are curious. Eight are a pattern. But 11 of 12?

That's serial.

Don't blame the weather. Don't look for false equivalence. Don't say the Packers overinflated, the Vikings warmed their footballs, the Earth's gravitational pull caused the air to leak or microscopic black holes sucked out the pressure.

Matt Slocum/Associated Press

Just use your mind, embrace the common sense of it all. I've defended Belichick as pushing the boundaries of the rules, right up to the wall, but won't defend him for cheating—for breaking the rules to gain an advantage. It's different now. You may believe in coincidence, but if you do, you are a fool.

Belichick and Brady cheated. No, they are not the only ones. But this is the second blatant example of rules skirting. This is no longer coincidence. This is a culture that I didn't think existed there but does.

There is no explanation for 11 of 12 footballs being doctored other than purposeful manipulation.

This is why the NFL should, and I think will, come down hard on the Patriots. If the NFL doesn't, it will look like it's enabling cheating. Roger Goodell is on record as saying he would punish teams harsher that try to cheat the competitive balance rules. After Spygate in 2008, he wrote this to the competition committee:

Too often, competitive violations have gone unpunished because conclusive proof of the violation was lacking. I believe we should reconsider the standard of proof to be applied in such cases, and make it easier for a competitive violation to be established.

And where a violation is shown, I intend to impose more stringent penalties on both the club and the responsible individual(s). I will also be prepared to make greater use of draft choice forfeiture in appropriate cases. I believe this will have the effect of deterring violations and making people more willing to report violations on a timely basis.

What I hear most from Patriots fans is wait and see what the NFL says. Why should I? Tell me why the Patriots deserve the benefit of the doubt here?

"It's a mess just because it's the Patriots and what Spygate…all the implications from that," Steve Young said on ESPN, "and then also, the fact the Patriots are one of the best organizations in football. Maybe in history. They do all the most difficult things so well, all the the things that no one else in the league can do, free agency and salary caps and bringing out the best in players. All the things they do that are very difficult.

"And now this is going to be talked about. Underinflation of footballs. Hey look, it's outside of the rules, I get it. It will mean more to the legacy of what the Patriots are trying to do."

That is perhaps the most significant point of all. Belichick will go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Brady will, as well. But all of this will follow them. Belichick, in particular, didn't make just one mistake. We all do that. This now looks like he's a serial cheater.

All of his brilliance and coaching acumen and stunning winning can't be taken away. I've defended that just as recently as this week. But this new information changes things. Because I don't believe this is Belichick and Brady's first rodeo with deflating footballs. It's likely this has gone on for some time.

You'd be a fool not to believe that.

Belichick deserves most of the heat. It's hard to fathom that a man who controls every aspect of the organization down to the mitochondrial level wouldn't know about this.

Brady is also not absolved. If there were 11 of 12 footballs underinflated, and Brady is on the record saying he likes them underinflated, it's impossible to believe he didn't know.

Matt Slocum/Associated Press

When Brady goes to that microphone in Canton one day, as he should, it will be a glorious day for him. But before that day, and beyond it, these controversies are now attached to him.

Patriots reporter Tom Curran wrote for Comcast Sports Net in New England:

This is officially a big deal.

It doesn't matter if every other team in the league screws with the PSI. It doesn't matter if Bill Belichick didn't even know the balls were manipulated (if they were). It doesn't matter that they would have bludgeoned the Colts anyway.

The Patriots cannot comport themselves with a 'do business as business is being done' mentality. They forfeited the right to that mentality in 2007 when they got pinched for filming defensive signals and the 72 miles of fire and sharp glass the team got dragged through as a result should have convinced them.

I want fans defending the Patriots to consider this scenario: The Patriots lost their last two Super Bowls to the Giants. What if it was discovered in those games that the Giants had some sort of edge the Patriots did not? And that edge was illegal?

What would you think? What would you say?

The Patriots are winners. They're brilliant. They may also be something else.

And here we are. Entering the Super Bowl, we have The Deflatriots. And God forbid they lose this Super Bowl, because if they do, everyone will say the team can't win without cheating.

And this is how legacies are destroyed.

Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report.

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I hope he does not get suspended before the super bowl, perfect deflection and the team will be made out to be heroic for winning without the guru.  I'd rarther they play, win or lose and then get the hammer tossed at them next year.

 

If they suspend him and they win the Pats get to be made out as heros for pulling it off.  If they suspend him and they lose they have a ready made excuse for all time.

 

No, do not suspend him now, throw the book at him and the team after the season.

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How does that help the Jets?

 

Even if BB gets suspended for the season, Jets will win no more than 4-6 games and the Pats will continue to win their annual 12+ games.

 

How do yo see that helping the Jets?

Only way I can see is maybe FAs dont go there if BB suspended, or vibe the franchise is ending it 'reign'.. Conjecture from me Tex?

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wouldn't be surprised if brady get some sort of punishment also. or maybe he just retires. pats will be back to yearly suckage after that.

Bready safe,, IMHO Kraft pays with $$ abd drfat picks,,Belly get seither SB suspension or 2015 suspension aka Sean Peyton. I think Peyton pusinshment more likely.

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I actually feel kind of bad for the rest of the team.  They probably had zero part in this, just busting their humps to win the game and their scumbag Head Coach and QB made a decision that tarnishes the rest of the teams amazing season.  It really is a shame. I'd be pissed if I were a player.  I'd probably want BB to punished for tarnishing their reputation let alone damaging the integrity of the game. 

 

It's like you and Rodney Harrison share the same dentist. 

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Speaking of Rodney Harrison...Merrrrry Christmas everybody ho ho ho

 

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/01/10/rodney-harrison-reacts-to-shulas-use-of-beli-cheat/

 

 

Rodney Harrison reacts to Shula’s use of “Beli-cheat”
Posted by Mike Florio on January 10, 2015, 8:04 AM EST
belichick.jpg?w=235Getty Images

Recently, legendary NFL coach Don Shula referred to Patriots coach Bill Belichick as “Beli-cheat.” The story created plenty of buzz — and generated a large stack of approved (and deleted) comments from PFT Planet.

On Friday’s edition of PFT Live on NBC Sports Radio, former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison defended Belichick against Shula’s remark, and also gave Belichick high praise.

“I just think it’s flat-out disrespectful,” Harrison said. “I always have respect for Don Shula. I don’t think that Bill Belichick deserves that. People make mistakes and do things, but Bill Belichick has proven that he’s the greatest coach of all time. You can look at the last decade of what he’s done, what he’s been able to accomplish. But it’s one of those things where as a coach, another well-respected coach, you don’t come out and say those things like that about another coach. I think it’s flat-out disrespectful.”

Shula’s comments, rooted in the lingering fumes of Spygate, overstate the value of the infraction (videotaping the opponent’s defensive coaching signals) and overlook the reality that plenty of mild-to-moderate (and worse) cheating occurred throughout the sport before, during, and after Shula’s coaching tenure. The bigger question is whether Harrison accurately pegs Belichick as the greatest coach of all time.

I have a feeling a few of you may be chiming in on that one below.

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Speaking of Rodney Harrison...Merrrrry Christmas everybody ho ho ho

 

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/01/10/rodney-harrison-reacts-to-shulas-use-of-beli-cheat/

 

 

Rodney Harrison reacts to Shula’s use of “Beli-cheat”
Posted by Mike Florio on January 10, 2015, 8:04 AM EST
belichick.jpg?w=235Getty Images

Recently, legendary NFL coach Don Shula referred to Patriots coach Bill Belichick as “Beli-cheat.” The story created plenty of buzz — and generated a large stack of approved (and deleted) comments from PFT Planet.

On Friday’s edition of PFT Live on NBC Sports Radio, former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison defended Belichick against Shula’s remark, and also gave Belichick high praise.

“I just think it’s flat-out disrespectful,” Harrison said. “I always have respect for Don Shula. I don’t think that Bill Belichick deserves that. People make mistakes and do things, but Bill Belichick has proven that he’s the greatest coach of all time. You can look at the last decade of what he’s done, what he’s been able to accomplish. But it’s one of those things where as a coach, another well-respected coach, you don’t come out and say those things like that about another coach. I think it’s flat-out disrespectful.”

Shula’s comments, rooted in the lingering fumes of Spygate, overstate the value of the infraction (videotaping the opponent’s defensive coaching signals) and overlook the reality that plenty of mild-to-moderate (and worse) cheating occurred throughout the sport before, during, and after Shula’s coaching tenure. The bigger question is whether Harrison accurately pegs Belichick as the greatest coach of all time.

I have a feeling a few of you may be chiming in on that one below.

 

 

 

Losing two Super Bowls makes somebody the greatest coach of all time? Harrison has some pretty low standards. 

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Since the Pats have not said anything yet on this, by being silent means they are guilty of cheating. These things should occur:

1)Superbowl cancelled

2)Patriots banned from NFL for atleast 3 years

3)All titles won with same staff stripped for good

4)Lose of top two draft picks when re-instated

 

Fines dont matter as Kraft is a millionaire. Since this is there second time caught cheating, this punishment should be made. However, I am sure NFL will only slap a fine and a lose of a draft pick.

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Bready safe,, IMHO Kraft pays with $$ abd drfat picks,,Belly get seither SB suspension or 2015 suspension aka Sean Peyton. I think Peyton pusinshment more likely.

Me too , as the day goes on its becoming more and more likely that he's sitting next year..the real question is are they gonna let him coach the super bowl
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The tickets were bought from the teams. That is an easy one to refund. The hotels can be backed out of. The airfare I can see as an issue - but it's really the only issue and the Pats fine can be reimbursing its fans. The commercial time can be resold. Not an issue there either. Especially when most is sold far in advance. The NFL licenses the super bowl a year in advance, sometimes farther.

The tickets were bought from the teams? You think there are no fans who have already bought superbowl tickets from stubhub or any other ticket broker? C'mon.

Actually, hotels cannot be backed out of. Superbowl hotel reservations are non-refundable.

There are many things already in place because they know who's playing, that has cost an unknown amount to an unknown number of people.

It is totally unrealistic idea, no matter how much it satisfies your (or my) sense of justice.

Any hope of that happening had to be done at halftime in the Colts game, in the form of a forfeit on the spot. Now what's done is done.

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