NFL: 2014 Season

[MRG]

There must be a mistake. Do the rules specifically say you can't modify the pressure after the balls are inspectected? I read TB's comments the week prior about reading the rule book, he did say maybe they'd have a new trick. I'm sure there must be an explanation.

I'm so disgusted with the league this year. Maybe it's time to become a football fan, the game the rest of the world plays.

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[eytonxav]

I don't like either team, but the lesser of two evils for me is the hawks.

[Midpack]

11 of 12 balls under minimum psi sure doesn't sound good, but I will wait until the NFL says something formal. There are several ways it could happen, some the Pats would be responsible for, some not at all.

At least the Pats haters can repeat themselves another twenty times until then...

[Corporateburnout]

Quote:

Originally Posted by utrecht Like I said earlier, Belichick is a cheater. Always has been. Always will be. This is the third time hes been caught. I only wonder how many other times they've cheated and not been caught? The last time they were caught cheating, they were fined $500,000 and their first round draft pick was taken away from them. The NFL needs to strip them of their entire draft this season and ban Belichick for life. No matter what happens, the fans will always remember the 2004-2014 Patriots as cheaters and their records and Super Bowl wins will always be tainted.

As a PATS fan I am waiting for the final findings by the league and if they hold true then I will be disappointed by Belichick breaking the rules for the second time. They deserve to be penalized according to league rules but to say he should be banned from coaching for life?

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MRG I'm so disgusted with the league this year. Maybe it's time to become a football fan, the game the rest of the world plays.

Now there's an idea. No controversy or even a whiff of wrongdoing in that sport.

[easysurfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by utrecht Like I said earlier, Belichick is a cheater. Always has been. Always will be. This is the third time hes been caught. I only wonder how many other times they've cheated and not been caught? The last time they were caught cheating, they were fined $500,000 and their first round draft pick was taken away from them. The NFL needs to strip them of their entire draft this season and ban Belichick for life. No matter what happens, the fans will always remember the 2004-2014 Patriots as cheaters and their records and Super Bowl wins will always be tainted.

A harsh penalty even if caught is very unlikely to happen. The main reason is that Goodell does the deciding, and Kraft, the owner of the Pats (the commission works for the owners ) has one of the biggest voices amongst the owners.

I read an article the other day that Goodell had ordered the tapes from spygate burned. About protecting the seal I guess

[Car-Guy]

Here's an extract from the Boston Globe on the issue.

"At least one official touches the football on every play, yet none seemed to notice until halftime. The Patriots led, 17-7, at intermission, and outscored the Colts, 28-0, after the officials seemingly corrected the ball issue."

So if the Patriots did manipulate the air pressure, it didn't seem to work very well. (note, the quote above was from a Boston newspaper

[Sea Kayaker]

Belicheat indeed....

[timo2]

Then this come out Brad Johnson paid a bribe to tamper with footballs at the Super Bowl | ProFootballTalk

[Chuckanut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dtbach As a Packer fan, I hope that Coach McCarthy and his genius DC Dom Capers get sacked tomorrow. Both of them grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory.

Reading the Wisconsin papers earlier this week, I am surprised that the coach and general manager haven't put in the town center stocks, and left there for people to throw stinky cheese on them.

If the Packers weren't publicly owned, I suspect the owners would also join them, but Wisconsin probably doesn't have that many stocks available.

[Chuckanut]

I don't know if the Pats cheated or not. Or if not cheating would have changed the results of their game with the Colts.

Quote:

Then this come out Brad Johnson paid a bribe to tamper with footballs at the Super Bowl | ProFootballTalk

I do know that playing against cheaters takes all of the joy and sport from the game. I remember playing with cheaters back in jr. high and high school. The better students just decided move on to other games/activities rather than waste time playing against a cheater.

IMHO, cheaters should be banned for a long time, and any victories reversed. Otherwise, the joy goes out of the sport. That is very bad for the teams, players and the fans. But, since modern college and pro sports is first and foremost about money, I doubt if that will happen.

[Birdie Num Nums]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut Reading the Wisconsin papers earlier this week, I am surprised that the coach and general manager haven't put in the town center stocks, and left there for people to throw stinky cheese on them. If the Packers weren't publicly owned, I suspect the owners would also join them, but Wisconsin probably doesn't have that many stocks available.

And while the LOB's Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas played with injured wings, Clay Matthews, who took a cheap head shot to QB Russell Wilson (Video), said that he was "too tired" to finish out regulation play and sat on the bench instead (while the Hawks took the lead), according to Packers beat guy @TyDunne.

The Seahawks’ defense remains great. Aaron Rodgers may be the best player in the NFL right now, but Seattle made him look ordinary. Rodgers finished 19-for-34 for 178 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions, for a passer rating of 55.8. That was just the second time in the last four years that Rodgers finished a game with a passer rating under 60. If the Seahawks have another great game in the Super Bowl, they have to be considered among the handful of greatest defenses in NFL history.

Tom Brady may be the last remaining elite QB and the Seahawks' toughest challenge to date. Should be another great, entertaining game the Hawks give.

Go Hawks!

[Midpack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut IMHO, cheaters should be banned for a long time, and any victories reversed. Otherwise, the joy goes out of the sport. That is very bad for the teams, players and the fans. But, since modern college and pro sports is first and foremost about money, I doubt if that will happen.

I don't disagree in principle, but where would you draw the line? Belichick will never be forgiven for Spygate for most non-Pats fans, we get that and understand why. It looks bad, but we still don't know what the NFL will conclude about this latest deflate-gate. But there have been confirmed ball tampering scandals even in the Super Bowl. How about bounty gate? Domestic violence offenders? And hundreds of other iffy situations.

How about the league itself for covering up one questionable event after another?

The league is the only entity that can really change anything. Do those who dislike Belicheck have the same animosity for Goodell and the NFL?

How about their stance on head injuries? Seems they're still going to any length to cover that up too. Mad about that?

Unfortunately I think you're right, professional sports is big business and it makes lots of people (very) wealthy, so it's all about profits - period. The league only cares about "image" or anything else when it threatens profits. And there will be bad choices made by teams, coaches, players - and penalties handed out when the league has no other choice. And the merry go round goes round and round...

[marko]

The sad part about this story is that the Pats pretty much won the game with defense and a running game. They would've won if they were carrying rocks; this was so unnecessary!

Maybe a deflated ball would've allowed the Colts to get an extra touchdown? What difference would it make?

[Bestwifeever]

This is why I love sports--the golden QB is playing with underflated footballs, the beloved coach at Penn State gets bulldozed in the aftermath of a pedophile, the best golfer at the time runs into a fire hydrant escaping a wife armed with a five iron, the record breaking batters get caught doping and corking bats. You just never know when something fun is going to break out.

[urn2bfree]

I would like to see cheaters simply own up to it. Say "we thought we could gain an unfair advantage by cheating this way. We figured even if we got caught the rules do not ever seem to take away wins, so it would be a fine at worst...and that is the price of winning we were willing to pay."
Of course, expecting cheats to show the character necessary to own up to their transgressions is silly. It is not in their nature. I thought the Patriots were a really great team, now I don't know. The Patriots have never won a clean Super Bowl...asterisk, anyone?


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[easysurfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bestwifeever This is why I love sports--the golden QB is playing with underflated footballs, the beloved coach at Penn State gets bulldozed in the aftermath of a pedophile, the best golfer at the time runs into a fire hydrant escaping a wife armed with a five iron, the record breaking batters get caught doping and corking bats. You just never know when something fun is going to break out.

Who needs "Survivor" or "The Bachelor/Bachelorette" when we have this?

[easysurfer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by marko The sad part about this story is that the Pats pretty much won the game with defense and a running game. They would've won if they were carrying rocks; this was so unnecessary! Maybe a deflated ball would've allowed the Colts to get an extra touchdown? What difference would it make?

Let's see, rigging something to win by a landslide. Where have we heard that before in history? Hint...ends with the word "gate"

That said, it's sad that instead of the match ups on who will win the coverage is about ballgate. Was this all from sour grapes (as the story started from a Colt's writer after their team got clobbered), or the pattern of Belichick?

Now even if the Pats win, there's the whisper of cheating to win (as in Gaylord Perry in the baseball Hall of Fame).

[Jack_Pine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by marko But I'd also assume that it is up to the officials to insure that the balls are the right shape, size, weight etc. In hockey the refs must check the nets for holes before the game. IIRC, at last night's game the refs held up a play for a bit in order to get the proper ball on the field (kick-off balls are inflated differently than field balls).

I read they check them at 1/2 time, that;s when they found a problem.

[Corporateburnout]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sea Kayaker Belicheat indeed....

And your Pete Carroll is squeaky clean

Seattle Seahawks Beware: New Head Coach Pete Carroll Reeks of Scandal | Bleacher Report

Just saying.........