Tom Brady suspended

I think this is a blessing in disguise for the Pats. They just won the SB so it's not like the clock is ticking on getting one more ring for Tom. They have a young QB who looked OK last year and they probably want to get him quality reps anyway. They're a very good team but they just dumped their starting secondary in the off-season and are retooling there (and don't kid yourselves, without Revis they don't win the SB) so you have to temper expectations for next year at least a little bit anyway.

So they get a good look at their guy while the team is still talented overall, if he looks good that makes things easier for a future transition. After 2015 Pats save $3m by cutting Brady. After 2016 they save $10m. He'll be 40. Based on the way BB runs things, if Garoppolo performs well, would anyone be shocked if this was Brady's last year with the Pats? Based on the cap savings, isn't it more likely than not that 2016 is his last year with them anyway? Getting Garoppolo in front of some live bullets now and seeing some success there sets them up for a Favre-Rodgers situation in 1-2 years, and that's not a bad thing. tc(

As the board Pats fan, nothing BB does would shock me...

But wouldn't it be quite the middle finger to Goodell is the Pats trade Brady for a (multiple) 2016 first round picks and end up better than they were before the ruling? I know, that is not gonna happen.. But it's funny to think about.... :p
 
rebuttel for the defense :) http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-s...ate-gate-punishment-dead-wrong-233900364.html

How do I know the NFL didn't care about ball tampering before? Well, there are two cases in which it did practically nothing, seeing them as the misdemeanors they were. Many people have brought these situations up in previous days, including ESPN.com's Mike Reiss. They are perfect examples of the NFL's hypocrisy when it came to the Patriots.

Last season, the Carolina Panthers and Minnesota Vikings were caught, on a cold day, using sideline heaters to warm up footballs. That's against the rules. You can argue that it's not the same level as deflating footballs in a bathroom, but it has the same effect: something outside of the rules to make the football easier to grip and catch. The Panthers and Vikings were ... warned. That's it.
 
Kick Brady out of the league for life and pull the Patriots franchise. :)
 
Now we all can agree this is a little overblown.. so lets have some fun...:cool:

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From Ben Volin at the Boston Globe:

Patriots fans point to other incidents involving equipment tampering — the Panthers and Vikings placing footballs under a heater late last season, and the Chargers using “sticky” towels in 2012 — to prove the absurdity of the Patriots’ punishment. The difference between those incidents and Deflategate? Those teams owned up to it. They pleaded guilty and took their medicine. They Patriots kicked and screamed the entire time, and mocked the process.
 
SD tried to hide the towels, officials asked for the towels and SD tried to get rid of them... ;)

Though the Patriots as an organization do not believe anything was done wrong. And the Wells report can be called into question (just look at the question about gauges). So while the NFL says "we looked at the evidence took what backed up our position and think they did something" the Patriots say "we looked at the evidence took what backed up our position and think nothing was wrong"

It's not like they didn't let anyone get interviewed, those equipment managers were interviewed like 4 times I believe. Brady did talk to them. But after awhile when it's obvious Wells was just fishing for something he could use, they said enough.

Kraft was going to just accept the punishment even though he doesn't think anyone did anything wrong, and move on. Not admitting guilt but just taking it so it goes away (always a bad move) But Goodell decided to go overboard, and now he's going to have a very messy, very public fight on his hands...

Admittedly, i just like to argue and ya I grew up a Pats fan so i have my bias :) but both sides think they are right, so the Patriots reaction to everything is completely understandable when viewed from a team that thinks they are innocent.

Now if either one of those equipment managers starts changing their story and admits to something. Patriots are in even bigger trouble...
 
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I hear ya CD, they're your second team and I'd do the same in your shoes. Truth be told if there was anything else to talk about in the league I probably wouldn't devote brain wrinkles to this. I think the NFL doesn't see itself as a sports league, but as a creator and purveyor of entertainment and real life human drama - reality TV, if you will - and thus is happy to promote "bad" drama (Brady suspension, domestic violence cases) as well as "good" (games, draft). Whatever keeps them atop the news cycle. Promote the shield, not protect it.
 
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