But it’s such a scandal if true that gate needs to included. So Inflatehategate?
This year's ESPN hit piece
- Thread starter Dr. Gonzo
- Start date
It seemed like a really odd idea that Brady would be driving the trade instead of Don Yee. (Edit: I mean, I believe he did drive it, since he presumably said Jimmy wouldn't take a discount, wanted to start now, etc) I mean, how would Garoppolo's camp not know what Brady's camp was up to since the camps overlap in the most key area?
Yes. What is up with the snowflakery here?
This is manna from fucking heaven. If I’m one of the other 11 playoff teams, I am pissed.
"If Tom Brady did this, it would be news to Garoppolo's camp https://twitter.com/ProFootballTalk/status/949100222319349761 …"
"...and we'd furthermore like to thank him for all time, for getting us a starting role where we can win, and the forthcoming 9-figure contract..."
The horrible NFL ratings book having come in, no doubt there are people at NFL HQ who are increasingly in fear for their jobs and really don't want to see the Pats win another SB. Great sources for Wickersham. Very hard to swallow Brady as Salomé, Kraft as Herod, and JimmyG as John the Baptist.
Brady and Belichick have a close working relationship with private meetings every week. I have never seen a smidgen of evidence that they have a significant personal relationship beyond the workplace. Is there any such evidence?
Brady and Belichick have a close working relationship with private meetings every week. I have never seen a smidgen of evidence that they have a significant personal relationship beyond the workplace. Is there any such evidence?
If there was prior evidence, it would’ve been big news. Any rifts in Foxboro rarely are public knowledge.
Quibble? That quote totally contradicts what Bruce Allen said to start out with.
It's amazing to me how many local media types want this team to crash and burn so bad they they're missing the obvious point. Belichick has roster control in his contract. If he wanted to keep Jimmy G and trade Brady, he can tell Kraft to fire him if he doesn't like it. So maybe the more likely scenario is he played it out with the two of them as long as he financially could, and then made a decision. That doesn't make good talk radio though so that can't possibly be what happened.
Yes. So, one could quibble and say that it contradicts the tweet. Which is what I said. He was posting it to buttress his point. And I quibbled.
The TB12 Method: Keeping Brady limber enough to do the Dance of the Seven Veils
I disagree. There’s a clear implication that Brady “repeatedly” told Kraft he wanted to play to 45 in order to get Kraft to act.
None of this will come as any surprise to the principals.
If you want this story to be taken at all seriously, you have to go to BB, TB and Kraft. That’s journalism 101. Even if you are result oriented in the extreme, entirely blinded by anti-Pats bias, you realize this. You have to be able to write this sentence:
“We reached out the [three], who declined to be interviewed for this story.”
If you cannot write that sentence, then B.B., TB and Kraft say the writers never contacted us. And then you are dead.
They knew about this well before we did.
If you want this story to be taken at all seriously, you have to go to BB, TB and Kraft. That’s journalism 101. Even if you are result oriented in the extreme, entirely blinded by anti-Pats bias, you realize this. You have to be able to write this sentence:
“We reached out the [three], who declined to be interviewed for this story.”
If you cannot write that sentence, then B.B., TB and Kraft say the writers never contacted us. And then you are dead.
They knew about this well before we did.
Bedard's story is that BB was determined to somehow keep TB and JG for a couple of more years for a smooth transition but Kraft told him it wasn't going to work. I'm guessing the only way it would work would be if TB restructured and JG took a below market two year deal, and one or both balked. I can see TB refusing to accommodate this, and I can see that being interpreted as him forcing the issue. Bedard talks coyly about this on the radio, but won't write it, presumably to protect a source.
Well, Brady "wins" by having an uber-clear path to being the starting QB for the Pats for the next 3 years or so.
Based on previous episodes, blaming Don Yee is the go-to move here.
How is that a story? Of course BB would want to keep both if financially feasible, and there's no reason to expect either to take a discount at this point.
I would think Jimmy would have been the one that balked if anyone did (if it even happened this way).
There is no way Jimmy would take below market not to play. He deserves to be a starting QB in this league and acted accordingly.
Time for the Pats to win another SB.
To be fair, if BB went to Kraft with a strong recommendation on personnel, and Kraft said no, that would be newsworthy. And if it involved Brady, doubly so.
But Bedard’s story (as related above) is contradicted by some reporting. Schefter’s. Schefter said the Pats worked on extending JG for months, without success. So it’s not just a matter of Kraft throwing his arms up and saying this will not work.
With the possible exception of Curran, if forced to choose between Schefter and a Boston based reporter, I go with Schefter every fucking time.
Didnt Belichick already say that JG was unwilling to sign an extension this year?
PatriotsHateGate is a total non-story. None of BB, TB12, or Kraft will comment on it. It will likely steel this team even moreso for their annual postseason run, and Kraft will drunkenly slur “This is the shhweeeeetest of them allllll!” from the podium in Minneapolis.
The only thing that makes sense to me in this potential story is the idea that BB would trade Brady. I think BB 100% would do so if he thought it would make the team better. He didn't make that decision and traded Jimmy G instead.
Perhaps there is a story in there somewhere, but the sensationalism in this is real issue here.
ESPN and all news media are notorious for this. See the IT Paul Pierce "controversy". All you have to do is watch the clip to see that there is some good-natured shit being talked. ESPN runs it as a Top Headline like this: 'Pierce: Don't Want to see C's honor IT Feb. 11'. (That he has a point is neither here nor there, it's just manufacturing controversy that is tiring here.
Perhaps there is a story in there somewhere, but the sensationalism in this is real issue here.
ESPN and all news media are notorious for this. See the IT Paul Pierce "controversy". All you have to do is watch the clip to see that there is some good-natured shit being talked. ESPN runs it as a Top Headline like this: 'Pierce: Don't Want to see C's honor IT Feb. 11'. (That he has a point is neither here nor there, it's just manufacturing controversy that is tiring here.
The only part of this whole thing I even give any consideration to is Kraft vetoing BB. I don’t particularly buy that BB wanted to dump Brady - I think they ride off into the sunset together, or within a short span of each other; I don’t buy the ‘BB wants to prove...’ crap - but I’ve maintained since this discussion started that Kraft would never let Brady leave on anything but his own terms. He’s quite frankly the definition of the exception to the rule. I don’t think for a second that BB would move him either, but that’s at least more open for debate imo. I think they tried to keep JG and (rightfully so) he wanted a paycheck and a starting gig. So next man up.
I've believed from day one that Kraft probably told Belichick Brady had to stay.
I doubt Brady told him he had to trade Jimmy G or that the Brady-Belichick rift is of any concern.
I doubt Brady told him he had to trade Jimmy G or that the Brady-Belichick rift is of any concern.
Pretty interesting piece from Curran (despite a major typo -- I think the word "not" is missing from the first sentence here "I was told more than once that Robert Kraft did tell Bill Belichick that he wasn’t allowed to trade or release Tom Brady. However, I was also told that if Belichick had brought it up, he would have been discouraged from doing so.").
Upshot is: there is smoke here, but not enough to blow things up.
Upshot is: there is smoke here, but not enough to blow things up.
The inability of people to even try to understand the salary cap when posting about keeping Brady and Jimmy in 2018 is inconsistent with how I usually think of this place. It is a non-starter. Anyone who says it was BB's desire to do so should not be taken seriously, unless the term "desire" is used in the sense that I desire to be an MLB center fielder. It is not a serious suggestion. It would not work. The idea that Belichick would commit $48.5 million to one position for another year of pushing the same decision down the road is simply not credible.
The Patriots have $3 million in space. Gronk is looking at a tack on of $3 to $5.5m in realized NLTBE. Brady is due an $8m raise, and has a dead cap number of $14m in 2018. Cooks is due $8m more next year. Hightower and Gilmore are going to be in year 2 and virtually non-restructurable. The money isn't there. You can't tag without the space.
If someone wants to write a story, or make a claim, that BB wanted to keep both, I think it's incumbent on them to at least make a passing attempt to show their math. I don't know if they could even have traded Brady and made it work. I suppose with an outright cut of Cooks it's theoretically possible (though he is guaranteed for injury).
They really didn't have many options here. This story just doesn't pass the smell test, because math.
Exactly - it was basically a bunch of stuff we already know or could reasonably assume with a big bomb (belichick will leave!) tacked on to the end.
I did a bit of research last week and noted the Pats should have about 40 million in cap space after factoring in the projected increase, money coming off the books, and obvious cuts, but they’ll also have some key areas of need (LT, RB, DE, LB, TE, etc.). They could, in theory, have tagged Jimmy, but he possibly would have needed to protect Brady’s blindside in the interim.
You’re also down a high 2nd round pick as an asset.
Good to see that ESPN really worked assiduously to prepare this article, or is Joe Dolce Brady's friend quoted here?
Brady had a sideline tiff with a coach! Kraft hugged Brady! Treating this stuff like singular events is a hallmark of the piece. Mentioning Josh's father was in the stands was a great bit of pearl clutching.
In regard to Brady's revised contract:
I find the first sentence hard to believe. Beyond that, wasn't the $28 million signing bonus really designed to protect Tom in the event that he got stuck with the Deflategate suspension?
There was also the reference to it being so unusual that Brady missed practices this season. Didn't the running joke about Brady getting routinely listed on the injury report come about because Brady skipped so many midweek throwing sessions?
As for the Dorito Dinks, I don't know about this year, but we had multiple reports about them still working in Foxboro after Deflategate.
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To be fair, I had not previously known about the allegedly very sizable offers made to JG.
I certainly did not know that Kraft, only a few weeks in, acknowledged that trading JG might have been a mistake and that B.B. has taken satisfaction in that acknowledgement.
Although I suspected BB fought hard to retain JG, angry and discouraged are not the adjectives I would have guessed if asked to describe BB’s mood when Kraft said JG had to go.
I did not know that the mood in the building this season has been sad. I find that sad.
If these assertions are true, they are significant.
Nothing said about bad news Guerrero surprises me or is news to me.
This is exactly right. It struck me as I was reading it that there seemed to be a whole lot of creative writing weaving together very sparse facts.
Oh, and there it is...
...twisting innocuous words and actions into an admission by the Patriots brass that Deflategate was actually a thing. Glossing over the fact that the team might have parted ways with Jastremski and McNally because they violated team policy.
People are going to eat this article up. Hopefully, meanwhile, it sparks the drive for #6.
Volin also in his latest article is insisting that Kraft/Bill disagreed on Jimmy G and Kraft won.
pretty sick of the drama honestly
pretty sick of the drama honestly
Curran always has been an informed and sensible guy. Everything in this piece seems informed and sensible
I've waded through the Pats piece. I don't find it a "hit piece" in the sense we've grown accustomed to seeing. It's a rehash, with a few unnamed sources and stuff that will be "news" to the national audience but boring to us here.
It's also being released on a Friday, in the midst of a major storm, with wild card games to divert attention and the Patriots not playing for nine days.
Yawn
It's also being released on a Friday, in the midst of a major storm, with wild card games to divert attention and the Patriots not playing for nine days.
Yawn