here's a pats thread for everyone to talk about patritos shit because nobody else cares

I want to draw a cartoon where Brady is doing his pre-game football routine where he is picking out the balls when suddenly he notices that they feel a little deflated. He jumps up, runs for the nearest ref crying "HALP HALP THESE BALLS ARE SQUISHY!! PLEASE REF, SAVE THE DAY FROM THESE SQUISHY BALLS".

okay maybe it wouldn't be that funny, but goddamn, even if Brady didn't know about teamsters and their needles, who the hell would report it?

the penalty seems to be about arrogance on both sides - how far it escalated without getting anyone to admit they did something, and therefore showing what happens if you don't cooperate 100% with the all powerful nfl.

watching closely how NE has operated over the past 10+ years, if kraft/belichick believe brady is also responsible, i'd expect they would do something - bench him, even. kraft cares way more about the brand of the pats organization than he does about any one player.

i wish the season was starting and there could just be football without all this drama

it's true we all diminished for this

eh I think that is true for everyone but touchdown tom if only bc brady is the root of everything, he is the ultimate belichick vanity reclamation project, the proof of his brilliance (and kraft's but less so) that validates those years where he was (in his mind of have to assume) an underappreciated assistant

(xp)

*i have to assume

everyone is on the table & no one matters because the system etc. but I really don't think that will ever apply to brady

brady IS the system!

yeah kraft and beli shd prob retire as soon as toms gone

i've always assumed beli and brady will retire together. no need for kraft to retire, though. money still gonna come in.

kraft needs to like "put one of his sons in charge" so he can blame him

absolutely that's how it worked for the steinbrenners, no one blames the unsustainable groundwork laid by george, they blame the dumbass sons

or the buss family but tbf the groundwork was quite sustainable but jim buss is an idiotic garbage child

everything i've read about belichick/brady gives me the impression that they are not exactly friends and brady gets yelled at same as anyone on the team in practice, and I really think if kraft and belichick believe brady is at fault here, something would happen. this is the coach who benched welker during the first series of a playoff game for joking around at a press conference. i read that the pats already suspended the two equipment guys when the report came out. i know, it's brady, but kraft cares about the brand first.. there was already plenty of talk early last season (when they were 2-2) on how brady's exit from NE would not be on his terms.. the moment the next guy played better he'd be gone.. that's how they are

basically i don't think kraft would stand behind him if he believed brady was guilty here so i'm curious to see if pats put out another statement

there was already plenty of talk early last season (when they were 2-2) on how brady's exit from NE would not be on his terms.. the moment the next guy played better he'd be gone.

but that was just talk, and it was outsider talk. they've dealt harshly with stars galore through the years, from welker and mankins and woodhead back to seymour, milloy, law, etc., but they've never done anything that even remotely suggest brady isn't the one untouchable centerpiece of their galaxy. (and as a fan i have no problem with that!)

and i don't think either belichick or kraft gives two fucks if brady underinflated his footballs.

r u kidding they LOVE it

he's only untouchable because there isn't a better QB available for less money. i was trying to think of the last quote i read on this & it was brady's father telling reporters before the super bowl that he fully expected things in NE to end badly, eventually

kraft cares a LOT about the value of the franchise. if most of the public decides the pats are shady cheaters because of this he definitely cares

as sports crimes go, i'd equate throwing underinflated footballs with a baseball pitcher throwing spitballs.

there isn't a better QB available for less money

there, that's better.

and i'm just saying all this because i don't believe the nfl finding fault with brady here. if kraft/belichick do something to indicate brady is also to blame for this, then i'd believe it

nah you're right. brady or rodgers best QB

Kraft:

"Despite our conviction that there was no tampering with footballs, it was our intention to accept any discipline levied by the league. Today’s punishment, however, far exceeded any reasonable expectation. It was based completely on circumstantial rather than hard or conclusive evidence.

"We are humbled by the support the New England Patriots have received from our fans throughout the world. We recognize our fans’ concerns regarding the NFL’s penalties and share in their disappointment in how this one-sided investigation was handled, as well as the dismissal of the scientific evidence supported by the Ideal Gas Law in the final report.

"Tom Brady has our unconditional support. Our belief in him has not wavered."

B-)

need a youtube with robert kraft explaining the ideal gas law

gotta say this is pretty funny

do other team fanbases genuinely kind of adore their oligarch owners of late or is it just the pats and kraft

like I don't see the average cowboys fan (and I know quite a few) being like "wow jerry jones what a great dude"

White, media-friendly superstar suspended for allegedly cheating. WHAT AN OUTRAGE, amirite

I don't think anyone here is that outraged morbs chill

if u bring the rings home sports fans will love u regardless if ur an owner player coach trainer whatever

*checks mets score* oh that's why morbs is mad

i'm going more by the reaction of the Great Unwashed

xp I guess it's just not something I personally think about much, like I attribute that to coaches/managers and GMs more than those who write the checks

i don't get upset by one of 162 games, sloth

vs the crapshoot that are most NFL playoff games

do other team fanbases genuinely kind of adore their oligarch owners of late or is it just the pats and kraft

the rooneys are pretty revered in pittsburgh, even as the generations pass from their humble beginnings. on the spectrum of nfl owners, i feel like they're okay even though they evidently support goodell

'the spectrum of nfl owners' is pretty fucked up tho

I recall there being a sort of cult around al davis, like a "he's our demonic asshole" thing but he is obvs long gone and it did not carry over to his horribly haired spawn

fuck this, a first-round pick is a complete outrage

New mascot PerVNeRT the Patriot

Davis is one of the most important dudes in NFL history, so we cut him some slack in his tracksuit years.

He stood up to the commish when no one else would. He was the Bill Simmons of his era.

People in Oakland talk about the "tuck rule" game fucking every day, by the way. It is maddening.

http://deadspin.com/the-patriots-war-against-the-nfl-has-spilled-online-1703915895?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_twitter&utm_source=deadspin_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

Of course Kraft, one of Goodell’s strongest allies, could have smothered this in the crib years ago. Starting from Spygate, Goodell has been allowed to wield disciplinary powers like his big swinging dick, with only the ineffectual NFLPA opposing his arbitrary and publicity-driven punishments. And not one owner has publicly stood up for another. Not when Tom Benson lost coaches, players, money, and draft picks for a ginned up bounty scandal. Not when Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder were docked $46 million in cap space for spending “too much” in a year without a salary cap. Those were apparently acceptable to Kraft—or not worth weakening the commissioner—because they didn’t concern him. (“First they came for the Saints, and I did not speak out...”) Now the chickens are roosting, and they’re here for Tom Brady, and only now does Kraft apparently see a problem with having empowered the commissioner to be judge, jury, and executioner.

It’s more than a little disingenuous for Bob Kraft to act surprised that he’s lost control of the monster he helped create.

feel like the kraftman should've realized putting goodell in his pocket would mean that goodell would have to occasionally pretend he was not in said pocket by enacting an ultimately excessive punishment for a fairly mundane rule violation, seems like an expected cost of doing business

like how corrupt cops occasionally had to arrest mafia soldiers, its just how it works

feel like four games at the start of the season, even if you lose two or three of them, is really not that big a deal with this team and this division. the issue for the patritos has always been how well they're playing in january and february, not how well they're playing in september.

you're right, the real competitive balance issue is the draft picks and i am at a loss as to how that punishment can be justified

i think if the likely appeal is successful maybe they reduce it to one lost pick rather than two?

yeah docking a 1st rounder is harsh considering that it seems like only Tom, Bird, and the other guy knew about this

http://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/blog/2015/the-new-england-patriots-mysteriously-became-fumble-proof-in-2007

wut, me worry
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CE57eqcWYAAK7YV.jpg