Reiss expects Pats to be fined-deflategate? No farking way

flasox27 said:

I hope your belief in the influence of Kraft to make Goodell to do the right thing is well founded. I disagree and we will see who is right. In the big picture what happens is irrelevent, Kraft will come out of it fine because he makes money for his beloved partners and the Pats reputation is already irrepairably damaged and has been since 2007 by the big capitulation.

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I do agree with the damaged part from SpyGate etc. Kraft's worst moment as an owner. I guess all our perception of reading between the lines is different.

What I take from it is this time Kraft took a stand to protect his teams name and mostly BB and Brady. He will need to take a power stance to preserve that stance. Especially his two greatest assets BB and Brady. If they are really his guys he will need to draw a hard line in the sand.

Because of Goodell's shaky future and the damage's to the teams name in the past. I believe Goodell will be more influenced this time around. I do believe Kraft is in his ear this time.

I could be blinded by a hope that if there was proof this time around of coercion to ruin our name it will take the sting out of the past accusations.

This is big business and not a court of law. So none of us can predict the outcome. We think with our heart. They think with their wallet. Hopefully Kraft does have enough power to isolate this outcome and realize his wallet is large enough

I believe both of our hearts are in the same place and if the camera placement issue and its aftermath didn't exist , I would agree with you. However I trust Reiss's opinion of the Pats reputation which is consistent with my experience living outside New England and believe there is nothing that will change the vast majority opinion of the Pats. Sorry to say it is so bad that absolute lies like the story of the taping of the Rams practice are considered fact. I will never stop supporting the team and explaining that other teams like the 49ers, and Broncos have committed far worse violations but it falls on deaf ears.

flasox27 said:

Sorry to say it is so bad that absolute lies like the story of the taping of the Rams practice are considered fact.

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Sadly true. Just look at the number of columns this playoff season alone that people here have posted links to that said NE taped the STL walkthrough.

I agree that a number of rabid fans of other teams will always hang on to "the Pats as cheaters" regardless of the information provided them.

My personal experience has been that most NFL fans are actually quite open minded when I present my information to the contrary. I get far more, "Really? I had no idea!" reactions than I do hostile or stubborn ones.

I think there is a lot of room for Kraft to make hey with a strong, public stance about all this, using deflategate as an opportunity. It is up to him. And there is a lot at stake for him and the Pats; I hope they realize it.

rlcarr said:

Sadly true. Just look at the number of columns this playoff season alone that people here have posted links to that said NE taped the STL walkthrough.

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Yep. I hear it regularly on sports radio. Say something enough times and it just becomes truth. Sad.

At this point, I don't really care if there's a nominal fine. Kraft can pay it and say it's BS and say he is 100% confident the team did nothing wrong and the league office is blowing smoke. As long as no draft picks are taken, I don't really care anymore.

The haters are always going to hate. If the team gets fined they will say we did it. If there's no fine then they'll say it's just Goodell doing his buddy Kraft a favor. You can't change their mind, and why would you want to anyway? They're idiots and losers. Real fans realize that the league office is full of crap and appreciates the Patriots for what they've accomplished.

Ross12 said:

At this point, I don't really care if there's a nominal fine. Kraft can pay it and say it's BS and say he is 100% confident the team did nothing wrong and the league office is blowing smoke. As long as no draft picks are taken, I don't really care anymore.

The haters are always going to hate. If the team gets fined they will say we did it. If there's no fine then they'll say it's just Goodell doing his buddy Kraft a favor. You can't change their mind, and why would you want to anyway? They're idiots and losers. Real fans realize that the league office is full of crap and appreciates the Patriots for what they've accomplished.

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I would like to know where those real fans are outside of New England because there sure aren't any in the South. It has been my experience that fans of loser teams would rather say they were cheated than acknowledge being beaten by a better team. This is especially true when NFL and its mediots like ESPN foster that belief.

flasox27 said:

I would like to know where those real fans are outside of New England because there sure aren't any in the South. It has been my experience that fans of loser teams would rather say they were cheated than acknowledge being beaten by a better team. This is especially true when NFL and its mediots like ESPN foster that belief.

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I realize there are a lot more bad fans than good fans, but that's life. Lots more jerks out there than good people. Tune out the noise.

Ross12 said:

I realize there are a lot more bad fans than good fans, but that's life. Lots more jerks out there than good people. Tune out the noise.

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You speak the truth. I just hope reality doesn't bite a lot of people on this thread when Goodell makes his judgement.

How does Goodell know it's almost complete if he hasn't talked to Wells in weeks?

Let's say the league doesn't find any proof of wrongdoing. All they find is that there was pressure missing in a football. So they fine the pats for the simple fact that regardless of how it happened there was air pressure missing. To the general public a fine is the same as guilt. The majority of the public won't care that no wrongdoing was found. They will just say the league punished the pats because they had lower air pressure and an advantage. If that's the case then the entire investigation was only to see how bad of a punishment to give the pats. There was never a chance that the league would find the pats innocent. That wasn't an option. In that case Kraft should defend the team. The league better be careful because if weather does play a factor in air pressure they will be handing out a lot of punishments to teams next season.

4thRing-Hunt said:

Let's say the league doesn't find any proof of wrongdoing. All they find is that there was pressure missing in a football. So they fine the pats for the simple fact that regardless of how it happened there was air pressure missing.

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In that case, I'm suing Goodell for what happened on 9/11/2001. There's no evidence he was involved, but he was alive that day.

4thRing-Hunt said:

Let's say the league doesn't find any proof of wrongdoing. All they find is that there was pressure missing in a football. So they fine the pats for the simple fact that regardless of how it happened there was air pressure missing. To the general public a fine is the same as guilt. The majority of the public won't care that no wrongdoing was found. They will just say the league punished the pats because they had lower air pressure and an advantage. If that's the case then the entire investigation was only to see how bad of a punishment to give the pats. There was never a chance that the league would find the pats innocent. That wasn't an option. In that case Kraft should defend the team. The league better be careful because if weather does play a factor in air pressure they will be handing out a lot of punishments to teams next season.

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I agree with you up until you say Kraft should defend the team. There are already incidents concerning violations of the handling of footballs like Aaron Rodgers admitting he overinflates the ball and the ball warming by Minnesota. Is there any other investigations or potential punishments taking place. This is a targeted witch hunt in which Kraft has absolved the witch hunter.

shmessy said:

In that case, I'm suing Goodell for what happened on 9/11/2001. There's no evidence he was involved, but he was alive that day.

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Next to that of Kraft, I am sure Goodell appreciates your belief in his unbiased judgement. LOL

flasox27 said:

I agree with you up until you say Kraft should defend the team. There are already incidents concerning violations of the handling of footballs like Aaron Rodgers admitting he overinflates the ball and the ball warming by Minnesota. Is there any other investigations or potential punishments taking place. This is a targeted witch hunt in which Kraft has absolved the witch hunter.

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MODS tell Ian that Joker is taking over people's accounts!

PatsWickedPissah said:

MODS tell Ian that Joker is taking over people's accounts!

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Still as funny as a rubber crutch. You must be the unknown comic from the Gong Show.

Ross12 said:

The haters are always going to hate. If the team gets fined they will say we did it. If there's no fine then they'll say it's just Goodell doing his buddy Kraft a favor. You can't change their mind, and why would you want to anyway? They're idiots and losers. Real fans realize that the league office is full of crap and appreciates the Patriots for what they've accomplished.

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Exactly. Their minds were made up about this whole thing once there was an "initial report" that the patriots cheated again. The outcome of the investigation, the actual facts, common logic, penalty or not, will hardly change a majority of minds.

flasox27 said:

Next to that of Kraft, I am sure Goodell appreciates your belief in his unbiased judgement. LOL

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Your Kraft bashing has really reached the point of absurdity. You give him practically no credit whatsoever for his role in turning the Patriots into the best franchise in football and one of the very best in professional sports as a whole, and you take the few mistakes he has made and act as if those are really what defines his legacy. Kraft was the person who deserves the most credit for keeping this team in New England when the Budweiser billionaire had them ticketed for St. Louis, he then paid a high price, which many Patriot fans were furious about, to both sign Bill Belichick and give him complete control of the football operations and did what many owners can't bring themselves to do and stayed completely out of his way and gave him complete support throughout his time here. Should he have fought back harder on Spygate? Absolutely, but other than that he has been as good an owner as any fan could hope for and his major decisions not only brought the Patriots 4 Lombardi's but also ended a lockout that was threatening the sport as a whole. Feel free to show us an owner who has brought their team more success in the free agency era, I can't wait to see the list. Where all the hate for Kraft comes from is beyond me but it is really ridiculous IMO.

Brothers, we are giving the league what they want! We are turning against one another! We must stand strong in the face of the hate, hold our fourth Lombardi high in one hand, and our middle finger high in the other!

Ross12 said:

Brothers, we are giving the league what they want! We are turning against one another! We must stand strong in the face of the hate, hold our fourth Lombardi high in one hand, and our middle finger high in the other!

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Can't help but think the exact same thing...but then again, I'm a paranoid from what I hear.