#DFG: Canceling the Noise

[Average Reds]

There is no great risk going to court.  Just as the court will not likely have a trial on whether balls are deflated or not, it will not compel TB to produce his cell phone records.  The court is going to be bound mostly by the record that has been compiled.  It is serving a review function.
 
All the bs to the contrary coming from people like Borges should be ignored.  Again, we have reached the stretch of the road where it's a one-way street in TB's favor.  It cannot get worse insofar as penalties are concerned.

 
We should pin a notice somewhere in the forum saying "Brady is not putting anything at risk by asking for court review."

 

[DavidTai]

Can they submit the team penalties as part of a 'This goes to show the history of poor judgment/lack of sensible proportionality by Roger Goodell' in court?

 

[joe dokes]

 
Now that the hearing is over, I hope the nation's sports press turns an inward look upon itself. This entire narrative is a sad commentary on the independence and critical thinking capabilities of the American sports "press." Far too many reporters and columnists immediately and unthinkingly cast their lot in with the official NFL word, for fear of upsetting the gravy train that gets them access to all the hot events and inside sources or upsetting self-hating fans who prefer to believe lies about a good team rather than ask hard questions about the mediocre football teams in their own markets.
 
Exceptions like Florio and Riess and Jenkins have been refreshing simply by applying normal journalistic practices to the inflow of half-truths, lies and prevarications oozing out of 345 Park Avenue. 
 
And where is the accountability? The next time ESPN apologizes to its web site readers for the lies that have gone out under its reporters' names will be the first time. It's almost as if ESPN has gotten so bloated, so incestuously embedded as a P.R. arm of the NFL that it has entirely forgotten its duty to the truth. It is well past time for ESPN to review its policies for printing anonymous statements. If an ombudsman were still on the staff, he or she would be waist deep in items to tackle on this story. 
 
I don't expect knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing partisan fans from other markets to ever look at this story objectively, but I do expect that from sports journalists. Even now, it's not too late.
 

 
There have been far more important stories than this which should have spurred such introspection.  It didn't happen then and it won't happen now. Outlets like ESPN and "sports" radio offer only opinions meant to incite; the days of offering information meant to provide insight are gone. Such efforts, to the extent they exist, are the exceptions that prove the rule.

 

[Stevie1der]

 
Which would mean the whole thing becomes even more ridiculous because "failure to cooperate" will have cost the Pats a major fine plus a 1st and a 4th.  This is why I believe Goodell will uphold the penalty. Either way he looks like a jackass, but if he reverses Brady's penalty, but not the Pats, he looks like a bigger fool to the owners.

 
I think Roger's best way out while still getting to swing his dick is to narrowly rule that after Brady's further "cooperation" and new evidence, he is convinced that these low level employees did all of this without Brady's knowledge.  Brady is completely exonerated, Goodell ignores that the science is shitty and keeps the team penalties intact for "lack of institutional control" and  "repeat offender" purposes.

 

[MarcSullivaFan]

 
Me too, but I'm skeptical.
 
What keeps coming back to me is the almost hour long telephone call and the personal meeting with a guy who previously had no contact with TB. Tie that to the banter between the two idiots and it becomes hard to explain rationally.
 
I think he gets a 2 game reduction for cooperating.

It's not true that he had no contact previously. He had plenty of contact with Jastremski. What they had not done before was talk on the phone or meet in the QB room. Brady had just been accused of cheating. It would be surprising if he hadn't talked to him at length. Anyone would want to know what the F was going on before addressing it in public. If it turned out that J and M were fucking around, that would come back to bite TB in the ass in a major way. There is nothing remarkable about this.

Some of the texts, OTOH, sound pretty bad -- but don't really implicate TB.

 

[Otis Foster]

 
Brady calling JJ is the most rational thing there is.  Out of the blue Brady is accused of something, he hears the lies about how deflated the balls are, so he calls his equipment guys to find out WTF is going on.  If Brady DIDN'T call or text to look into it, now that would surprise me.

 
30 minutes, maybe if you stretch.  If there's nothing going on, it's a 10 minute call at most.

 

[joe dokes]

It's not true that he had no contact previously. He had plenty of contact with Jastremski. What they had not done before was talk on the phone or meet in the QB room. Brady had just been accused of cheating. It would be surprising if he hadn't talked to him at length. Anyone would want to know what the F was going on before addressing it in public. If it turned out that J and M were fucking around, that would come back to bite TB in the ass in a major way. There is nothing remarkable about this.

Some of the texts, OTOH, sound pretty bad -- but don't really implicate TB.

 
I'm pitcturing Brady explaining to Goodell that he's happy to fully explain the conversations now.; to the extent he was less forthcoming to Wells, "it's because I didn't trust Wells.  "But I trust *you* Mr. Commissioner.  I know that *you're* searching for the truth,"  followed by a Brunell Tear.

 

[jtn46]

There is no great risk going to court.  Just as the court will not likely have a trial on whether balls are deflated or not, it will not compel TB to produce his cell phone records.  The court is going to be bound mostly by the record that has been compiled.  It is serving a review function.
 
All the bs to the contrary coming from people like Borges should be ignored.  Again, we have reached the stretch of the road where it's a one-way street in TB's favor.  It cannot get worse insofar as penalties are concerned.

It absolutely can get worse. Every team in the league now knows every time they get the league sniffing around the Patriots these kinds of penalties are on the table. Next time Brady is questionable with a shoulder the league can make an example of the Patriots again. As much as there has been back and forth talk the only action taken by the Patriots at all has been Brady's appeal which is par for the course, every player appeals his suspension. Taking that to court is another step entirely.

 

[LuckyBen]

 
30 minutes, maybe if you stretch.  If there's nothing going on, it's a 10 minute call at most.

 
I think you're confusing Jastremski with McNally. And obviously there was something going on if he was accused of deflating footballs, no way that is a 30 minute call, nevermind 10.

 

[Hendu for Kutch]

 
30 minutes, maybe if you stretch.  If there's nothing going on, it's a 10 minute call at most.

 
McNally was interviewed by Wells for 7 hours, yet Brady talking to JJ for an hour is unrealistic?  10 minutes should do it?  Really?

 

[MuppetAsteriskTalk]

 
I'm pitcturing Brady explaining to Goodell that he's happy to fully explain the conversations now.; to the extent he was less forthcoming to Wells, "it's because I didn't trust Wells.  "But I trust *you* Mr. Commissioner.  I know that *you're* searching for the truth,"  followed by a Brunell Tear.

 
Jeez I hope not.
 
But anyway what makes you think Brady didn't fully explain the conversations to Wells?

 

[tims4wins]

The thing that gets me about the media coverage - and only Florio, Jenkins, a couple others get this - is that there is an even BETTER story out there than "HOF QB deflated balls": namely, "NFL HQ exhibits massive corruption". Now THAT is a compelling story.

 

[BelichickFan]

 
30 minutes, maybe if you stretch.  If there's nothing going on, it's a 10 minute call at most.

 
Impossible to say.  Where did the conversation go, how detailed was it, was Brady asking what happens to the balls from the moment he is done with prep to the opening kick ?  Was he getting into the false reports of the more than 2 PSI deflation ?  No way to reasonably say how long a call should or shouldn't be.  But this certainly isn't a smoking gun or anything close.

 

[DennyDoyle'sBoil]

The optimism today reminds me of the days we all convinced ourselves that the Wells report was going to hammer Kensil. What evidence does anyone have for thinking the league isn't going to do exactly what it's been hell bent on doing since day 1? The recent exercise has been all about the league trying to make this thing as resistant to appeal as possible. The most likely scenario here is that Covington and Pash are very hard at work as we speak trying to write a decision that will fix or moot all the many errors that have been pointed out in the last few months, make it look like they did a fair evaluation, recognize flaws in the Wells report but find they don't matter, and to hammer Brady.

There has been nothing to ever suggest an alternate scenario. They are not operating in good faith. That is why Goodell took the appeal himself. The outcome has been clear since that day.

Nothing would please me more than to come back here and say I was wrong, but I can't see a single bit of evidence to suggest otherwise.

 

[allstonite]

It absolutely can get worse. Every team in the league now knows every time they get the league sniffing around the Patriots these kinds of penalties are on the table. Next time Brady is questionable with a shoulder the league can make an example of the Patriots again. As much as there has been back and forth talk the only action taken by the Patriots at all has been Brady's appeal which is par for the course, every player appeals his suspension. Taking that to court is another step entirely.

What difference does taking it to court have to do with this? If you are thinking this way, why wouldn't teams do this anyway with what's already happened? If anything, Brady taking it to court will reduce the chances of this happening because teams would want to be absolutely sure they caught the Patriots doing something knowing how far they will go to defend themselves. But I also think that this is a strange argument to make.

 

[snowmanny]

 
Public opinion is not being turned around.
 
I was at a dinner last night and this subject came up.  To a man, the four others I was with said that any reduction in Brady's punishment was due to Goodell showing favoritism to the Pats.  When I brought up the fact that the AEI story effectively
debunks the idea that any deflation occurred, I was hit with a round of comments/questions like "so why wasn't there any deflation in the balls used by the Colts?"  The conversation was
unproductive from there.
 
The point is that the vast majority of casual fans aren't paying attention and in their minds Brady has already been branded a proven cheater.  The only opinions that are beginning to turn is the handful of reporters who are paying attention.

Also, most people are relatively stupid.

 

[DJnVa]

EDIT: Covered 

 

[amarshal2]

 
30 minutes, maybe if you stretch.  If there's nothing going on, it's a 10 minute call at most.

 
No.  Being skeptical is one thing but this is just blatantly not true.  There are a multitude of ways we can explain this away as absolutely nothing but they haven't been brought to your attention or you just haven't thought of them.  
 
For example, maybe Brady and J were worried based on Mort's report that something did happen to the balls and wanted to retrace everything and make sure that nothing did happen!  How is that even remotely implausible?
 
You're prioritizing explanations available to you over those that are not available to you.  It's quite common and is just generally human.  But it doesn't make for strong reasoning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Availability_heuristic 

 

[crystalline]

This is so sad but true. There are those of us, myself included, that in general find the truth to be the more compelling story. However I fear we are far outnumbered.

What we can do is read Chad Finn and Reiss, who are excellent - and not just in this case, they are solid year in and year out. They tell positive human interest stories (mostly Chad) and they give good deep looks at on field issues. I think Simmons is in this category too- he does a lot of fun positive stuff, and analyzes the teams. He did tear down Doc Rivers, but that was rare enough that there might be something real there.

 

[MarcSullivaFan]

The optimism today reminds me of the days we all convinced ourselves that the Wells report was going to hammer Kensil. What evidence does anyone have for thinking the league isn't going to do exactly what it's been hell bent on doing since day 1? The recent exercise has been all about the league trying to make this thing as resistant to appeal as possible. The most likely scenario here is that Covington and Pash are very hard at work as we speak trying to write a decision that will fix or moot all the many errors that have been pointed out in the last few months, make it look like they did a fair evaluation, recognize flaws in the Wells report but find they don't matter, and to hammer Brady.

There has been nothing to ever suggest an alternate scenario. They are not operating in good faith. That is why Goodell took the appeal himself. The outcome has been clear since that day.

Nothing would please me more than to come back here and say I was wrong, but I can't see a single bit of evidence to suggest otherwise.

This pretty much sums up my feelings as well. The wild card here is that Goodell does whatever the fuck he wants, and has no problem throwing people under the bus. So nothing he does would really be a surprise. If he wants to wash his hands of Wells, or if he doesn't want to run the risk of an adverse ruling in federal court (doubt he's worried about that, but it's possible) he could zig instead of zag.

Also, I think there is something to the idea that Goodell will value Brady "looking him in the eye." He clearly makes decisions more on the basis of gut feelings than rational thought. One way to wield his awesome power is by being magnanimous.

All that said, I expect that the suspension will stand or there will be a partial reduction. No suspension seems like a remote possibility.

 

[MuppetAsteriskTalk]

The optimism today reminds me of the days we all convinced ourselves that the Wells report was going to hammer Kensil. What evidence does anyone have for thinking the league isn't going to do exactly what it's been hell bent on doing since day 1? The recent exercise has been all about the league trying to make this thing as resistant to appeal as possible. The most likely scenario here is that Covington and Pash are very hard at work as we speak trying to write a decision that will fix or moot all the many errors that have been pointed out in the last few months, make it look like they did a fair evaluation, recognize flaws in the Wells report but find they don't matter, and to hammer Brady.

There has been nothing to ever suggest an alternate scenario. They are not operating in good faith. That is why Goodell took the appeal himself. The outcome has been clear since that day.

Nothing would please me more than to come back here and say I was wrong, but I can't see a single bit of evidence to suggest otherwise.

 
 
Yup.
 
That about nails it IMO. 

 

[joe dokes]

 
Jeez I hope not.
 
But anyway what makes you think Brady didn't fully explain the conversations to Wells?

 
Well, my contributions to this exercise have been what I hope is reasonable legal insight combined with virtually complete wise-assery when it comes to the speculative side of things. (This whole thing is something of a comedy, anyway, IMO). The comment to which you are responding was on the wise-assery side of the line. (But tinged with a dash of reality in that Goodell probably appreciates a good ego-job like that). So...Brady probably did explain himself to wells in some way shape or form.

 

[MarcSullivaFan]

Also, most people are relatively stupid.

It doesn't take being stupid. A lot of smart people I know don't give enough of a shit (understandably so) to educate themselves, and are enjoying a good chuckle at the expense of the Patriots. People have other more important shit to worry about than whether the Patriots are getting a fair shake.

 

[Gorton Fisherman]

So, really, what's the downside for Goodell in vacating the suspension? It seems to me it's 1) absorbing the blow to his own ego/pride 2) dealing with some butthurt owners and "public outcry"'. That's it. While this would likely kind of suck from his perspective, it's still better than going to federal court, where he could 1) be publicly bitch-slapped by a federal judge 2) effectively have his own power regarding punishments permanently hamstrung 3) risk having the NFLPA effectively get to modify the CBA in their favor. If he were a rational actor in this affair, he would certainly choose the first option.

 

[snowmanny]

It doesn't take being stupid. A lot of smart people I know don't give enough of a shit (understandably so) to educate themselves, and are enjoying a good chuckle at the expense of the Patriots. People have other more important shit to worry about than whether the Patriots are getting a fair shake.

True. I suppose that willfully ignorant is something else.

 

[TomRicardo]

But ding him one game because stupid.

 
And makes to go to court where Goodell is going to be thoroughly embarrassed.

 

[drbretto]

I think people are optimistic because all reports are everything went very well for Brady. Even if it ends up not going that way, a lot of people were pretty happy with the idea of it going to court anyway, so there's really not much of a downside. Besides, wouldn't a nice neat twist on this saga be Brady looking Goodell in the eye and convincing him of the impossible?
 
I still think there's a greater than zero chance this whole thing is eliminated before it goes to court. Complete exoneration. And I only say that because it looks genuinely like that is Goodell's best move right now. Will he make that move? Who knows. But if he doesn't, again, it just goes to court anyway, so nothin to lose.

 

[Harry Hooper]

The optimism today reminds me of the days we all convinced ourselves that the Wells report was going to hammer Kensil. What evidence does anyone have for thinking the league isn't going to do exactly what it's been hell bent on doing since day 1? The recent exercise has been all about the league trying to make this thing as resistant to appeal as possible. The most likely scenario here is that Covington and Pash are very hard at work as we speak trying to write a decision that will fix or moot all the many errors that have been pointed out in the last few months, make it look like they did a fair evaluation, recognize flaws in the Wells report but find they don't matter, and to hammer Brady.

There has been nothing to ever suggest an alternate scenario. They are not operating in good faith. That is why Goodell took the appeal himself. The outcome has been clear since that day.

Nothing would please me more than to come back here and say I was wrong, but I can't see a single bit of evidence to suggest otherwise.

 
 
Yes, in regard to the bolded, can the legal types provide some insight on why Kessler & Co. would "show their hand" here with the hours of proceedings (possible making a successful appeal more difficult) vs. the walk out of the Commish's sham procedure with the Saints players?

 

[Average Reds]

It doesn't take being stupid. A lot of smart people I know don't give enough of a shit (understandably so) to educate themselves, and are enjoying a good chuckle at the expense of the Patriots. People have other more important shit to worry about than whether the Patriots are getting a fair shake.

 
Yup.
 
The guys I was with last night are not stupid.  They just don't care.  And like most people, their opinions were formed early by the inaccurate media reports.  It's simply impossible to unring that bell.

 

[Punchado]

Wait, so the nfl comes out and says, wow, you know what, we think the wells report is wrong and Tom never instructed anyone to deflate footballs. Not this time or any other time probably. We are vacating the suspension. Then, unless I'm missing something and since the wells report already exonerated the team and the coach the new narrative is, we still believe the science of the wells report and think the balls were intentionally deflated but it was done by one part time employee who, working for a team who's attention to detail is legendary, for the greatest quarterback and coach of all time just decided it was a good idea to fuck with the footballs because he knew it would give them an advantage even though they never asked him to. In other words, if they say brady had nothing to do with it and yet still stand firm that the balls were intentionally deflated then all they have is one part time rogue worker to blame. And this one part time worker acting alone is enough to lose a first round draft pick over. I honestly can't believe goodell still has a job after all of this. This whole thing could not be more fucked.

 

[EL Jeffe]

A few other items of note from that Sal Pal piece I forgot to mention:
 

• He said Brady was very forthcoming in his testimony, and much more so than he was in the original interview with Wells. Sal Pal actually said this (really, he did; I'm not making this up): If Brady was this forthcoming from the start, this whole saga could have been avoided. (Yes, the ESPN guy - who made the absurd Uggs comment - actually said this.)
• Sal based his one game suspension theory on this above fact; that Brady wasn't forthcoming enough initially. 
• Sal also mentioned at one point that the NFL really backed themselves into a corner on this one. He didn't expound on it and wasn't pressed to explain but the context was that there wasn't much meat on the Wells Report but this became such a big story that the league feels compelled to do something, even with Brady's impressive performance yesterday.

 

[cornwalls@6]

The optimism today reminds me of the days we all convinced ourselves that the Wells report was going to hammer Kensil. What evidence does anyone have for thinking the league isn't going to do exactly what it's been hell bent on doing since day 1? The recent exercise has been all about the league trying to make this thing as resistant to appeal as possible. The most likely scenario here is that Covington and Pash are very hard at work as we speak trying to write a decision that will fix or moot all the many errors that have been pointed out in the last few months, make it look like they did a fair evaluation, recognize flaws in the Wells report but find they don't matter, and to hammer Brady.

There has been nothing to ever suggest an alternate scenario. They are not operating in good faith. That is why Goodell took the appeal himself. The outcome has been clear since that day.

Nothing would please me more than to come back here and say I was wrong, but I can't see a single bit of evidence to suggest otherwise.

 
My optimism is based on the scenario that Brady is ultimately exonerated in court, not that Goodell reverses field based on yesterday, and vacates the suspension, and considers doing the same with the Patriots team penalties. I don't get the sense that many posters think that will happen. Only that by most accounts, Brady acquitted himself very well yesterday, and that his legal team presented a very thorough, compelling case. Both of which, I would think, bode well for when this does goes to federal court. Which I absolutely still think is going to happen.       
 

 

[ivanvamp]

Kessler should have told Goodell this, after Brady left:  "Roger, we know that public opinion probably won't change because they don't even bother to read everything; they don't really know what's going on, just what the media tells them.  But if we take this to court and all this evidence is presented before a judge, you and I both know that we are absolutely going to hammer you.  And the NFL office is going to look very, very bad here.  Your have no case, and we'll destroy you in court.  Spare yourself the embarrassment and take the best way out now.  Drop everything, exonerate Brady completely, but we'll accept a fine for "obstruction" or something - something along the lines of what you gave Brett Favre ($50k).  You can simply say that new evidence was produced that made it clear that Brady knew nothing and was not involved in any shenanigans.  Phrasing it that way allows you to keep the Patriots' penalties in place because it doesn't mean NOTHING happened.  So you still get to play tough cop, Brady doesn't serve any suspension, his reputation is intact.  Win-win."
 
I don't for a minute think this conversation happened, or that, if it did, Goodell would accept it.  But still…..

 

[tims4wins]

Florio jumps on the bandwagon of using the 2015 season to test psi throughout the season
 
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/06/24/search-for-new-information-about-deflategate-should-include-nfls-next-333-games/

 

[drbretto]

Wait, so the nfl comes out and says, wow, you know what, we think the wells report is wrong and Tom never instructed anyone to deflate footballs. Not this time or any other time probably. We are vacating the suspension. Then, unless I'm missing something and since the wells report already exonerated the team and the coach the new narrative is, we still believe the science of the wells report and think the balls were intentionally deflated but it was done by one part time employee who, working for a team who's attention to detail is legendary, for the greatest quarterback and coach of all time just decided it was a good idea to fuck with the footballs because he knew it would give them an advantage even though they never asked him to. In other words, if they say brady had nothing to do with it and yet still stand firm that the balls were intentionally deflated then all they have is one part time rogue worker to blame. And this one part time worker acting alone is enough to lose a first round draft pick over. I honestly can't believe goodell still has a job after all of this. This whole thing could not be more fucked.

 
 
They haven't come out and said anything yet. People are just guessing the outcome.

 

[dcmissle]

There is no way in hell the team penalties are reversed.  If that happens, RG may as well resign.
 
The smart move here if evil is on your mind was always to take a big chunk out of the team because, as a practical matter, those penalties are bulletproof.  That's why I expected to lose a first round pick from this.

 

[MuppetAsteriskTalk]

My 100% dream case scenario is it goes to court based on procedural issues, and the judge sends it back to the NFL with the stipulation that an actual independent arbitrator must review the facts of the entire case. And that then means the independent arbitrator gets to do discovery on the NFL cover up along with everything else.
 
Is that less than 1% chance of happening?

 

[BannedbyNYYFans.com]

The optimism today reminds me of the days we all convinced ourselves that the Wells report was going to hammer Kensil. What evidence does anyone have for thinking the league isn't going to do exactly what it's been hell bent on doing since day 1? The recent exercise has been all about the league trying to make this thing as resistant to appeal as possible. The most likely scenario here is that Covington and Pash are very hard at work as we speak trying to write a decision that will fix or moot all the many errors that have been pointed out in the last few months, make it look like they did a fair evaluation, recognize flaws in the Wells report but find they don't matter, and to hammer Brady.

There has been nothing to ever suggest an alternate scenario. They are not operating in good faith. That is why Goodell took the appeal himself. The outcome has been clear since that day.

Nothing would please me more than to come back here and say I was wrong, but I can't see a single bit of evidence to suggest otherwise.

Couldn't agree more. If we use recent history as a gauge, this won't end well for Brady, regardless of what the facts say. I bought into the Sharks of Vegas tweets and was stunned when the Wells report came out. I'm not going to get burned again.

The NFL isn't about doing what is right, it's about making the NFL look good. Roger and his minions aren't going to say, "Sorry, we were wrong." Maybe the penalty gets dropped by a game because Brady "cooperated". I'd be shocked if Patriot fans will be happy with the outcome.

 

[drbretto]

Kessler should have told Goodell this, after Brady left:  "Roger, we know that public opinion probably won't change because they don't even bother to read everything; they don't really know what's going on, just what the media tells them.  But if we take this to court and all this evidence is presented before a judge, you and I both know that we are absolutely going to hammer you.  And the NFL office is going to look very, very bad here.  Your have no case, and we'll destroy you in court.  Spare yourself the embarrassment and take the best way out now.  Drop everything, exonerate Brady completely, but we'll accept a fine for "obstruction" or something - something along the lines of what you gave Brett Favre ($50k).  You can simply say that new evidence was produced that made it clear that Brady knew nothing and was not involved in any shenanigans.  Phrasing it that way allows you to keep the Patriots' penalties in place because it doesn't mean NOTHING happened.  So you still get to play tough cop, Brady doesn't serve any suspension, his reputation is intact.  Win-win."
 
I don't for a minute think this conversation happened, or that, if it did, Goodell would accept it.  But still…..

 
That's not win-win. Why does everyone think it's OK to let McNally and JJ be the fall guys if nothing happened? Why is it OK to penalize a team for a crime that didn't occur just because Brady gets to play football? Those are still two huge draft picks.

 

[Eddie Jurak]

So, really, what's the downside for Goodell in vacating the suspension? It seems to me it's 1) absorbing the blow to his own ego/pride 2) dealing with some butthurt owners and "public outcry"'. That's it. While this would likely kind of suck from his perspective, it's still better than going to federal court, where he could 1) be publicly bitch-slapped by a federal judge 2) effectively have his own power regarding punishments permanently hamstrung 3) risk having the NFLPA effectively get to modify the CBA in their favor. If he were a rational actor in this affair, he would certainly choose the first option.

One option for Goodell is to vacate on the grounds that, after the hearing, he now disagrees with the finding of "more probable than not that TB was at least generally aware". That would allow him to maintain the fiction that the Pats cheated (and maintain the team penalties) while not giving the NHLPA any excuse to take him to court.

 

[MarcSullivaFan]

Brady will not be "exonerated" if the case goes to court. Brady's guilt or innocence will not be at issue. The issue will be the propriety of Goodell's decision in light of the CBA, past practice between the parties, industrial "common law," etc. Its not an exercise in fact finding. Best case scenario is that Goodell's decision is vacated and Brady gets a new hearing in front of a neutral. That second hearing could conceivably result in something close to exoneration, but that's a long way down the road.

 

[dcmissle]

Nobody thinks it's ok, but that ship has sailed.  Those picks are not coming back. 
 
It's easy for RG to exonerate TB and keep the team on the hook if he wants to.

 

[drbretto]

OK, that's the third time someone has called it the NHLPA. Is this some kind of inside joke I'm not getting?

 

[MarcSullivaFan]

Florio jumps on the bandwagon of using the 2015 season to test psi throughout the season
 
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/06/24/search-for-new-information-about-deflategate-should-include-nfls-next-333-games/

I mean, I'll take it if it helps the Pats or Brady, but it's a really dumb concept. We don't need an NFL science project to establish that footballs are not exempt from the ideal gas law. Jesus Christ.

 

[DJnVa]

OK, that's the third time someone has called it the NHLPA. Is this some kind of inside joke I'm not getting?

 
Actually, Eddie Jurak has done it twice, and I quoted it--in the hopes he would notice.
 

 

[DavidTai]

 
That's not win-win. Why does everyone think it's OK to let McNally and JJ be the fall guys if nothing happened? Why is it OK to penalize a team for a crime that didn't occur just because Brady gets to play football? Those are still two huge draft picks.

 
I agree. It ticks me off that even the Wells report itself absolved the team/coach of anything and we -still- got dinged two picks.

 

[drbretto]

 
Actually, Eddie Jurak has done it twice, and I quoted it--in the hopes he would notice.
 

 
Ahh, that makes sense. I'm at work so I usually have the left side cut off (avatars, etc) so it looks like I'm looking at something official, so I didn't know who said what.
 

 
I agree. It ticks me off that even the Wells report itself absolved the team/coach of anything and we -still- got dinged two picks.

 
I don't understand why people think that vacating that punishment as well would not be an option. If Goodell is no convinced that no wrongdoing has taken place, why not eliminate the whole thing? How is that not his smartest move?

 

[Bleedred]

At some point it has becmoe the operating assumption here that Brady is going go to court if he receives anything less than full vacation of the 4 game suspension.  I, for one, pray that's true, but I'm not convinced.  If he gets the 1 game suspension - for non-cooperation, and is otherwise exonerated as to the "cheating," I think it's possible he accepts.  I think it would be stupid if he did, but I'm not convinced it is Federal court or bust.

 

[MuppetAsteriskTalk]

 
 
I don't understand why people think that vacating that punishment as well would not be an option. If Goodell is no convinced that no wrongdoing has taken place, why not eliminate the whole thing? How is that not his smartest move?

 
The problem is, I think Goodell knew a long time ago that no wrongdoing actually took place. Yet, here we are.

 

[Punchado]

 
 
They haven't come out and said anything yet. People are just guessing the outcome.

I know. That is what I was commenting on. Basically goodell CANT do that.