Tom Brady should be suspended for Super Bowl

[Giblien]

You know what ... no way. I don't want to see any kind of suspension whatsoever for either Brady nor Belichick. I want to beat this Patriots team as is at full strength -- at its very best. No asterisks next to this game.

:13:

 

[ivotuk]

Belicheck sold Brady out. I heard him on the radio this morning and he basically said "You need to talk to Tom Brady about that, he knows what he wants in the football."

 

[ivotuk]

Wow, I thought Hawks fans were smarter than this thread shows. The best solution would be to drop that rule and let teams inflate to whatever they want (except for kicking balls). Who cares if Brady prefers 11 psi and Rodgers prefers 14? The other team is not affected in any way. They already allow each team to customize the footballs by scuffing etc., because a brand new football is too slippery to throw.

Also, here's Terry Bradshaw in a book he wrote previously:
Most fans don’t know it, but before the game we would doctor the footballs that would be used. Until the season of 2000 it was up to the home team to provide twenty-four game balls to the officials for each game. A brand-new NFL football straight from the factory is not easy to throw or catch. It’s rock hard and very slippery. So in the privacy of the locker room before the game, players would take the footballs and rub them and scrub them to remove the glaze, or deflate them, then pump them up with air real big to stretch the leather. On some teams the kickers would put them through a cycle in the dryer. Some teams did this, but naturally not the Steelers, because we were righteous folk who would never stretch the rules, and when these other teams—not the Steelers—were finished, they would put them back in the plastic wrapping and right back in the box. Some teams—who were not the Steelers—after the officials had checked and approved the game balls, would let out a couple of pound of air to make it easier for the quarterback to grip it. A little less air would make the ball spongier. It was what might be called a perceived advantage-both teams played with the same ball.

This controversy is a total farce.

I thought Pats fans were smarter than this. It is only the OP who feels this way

Apparently he's like radio hosts, he enters with a preconceived notion and runs with it without investigating reality.

 

[marko358]

I echo the sentiment that it would be a bad idea to suspend him or anyone on the team for the Super Bowl. We'd never hear the end of it if that happened and we won the game. I'm positive the team would rather play them at full strength to prove that they're better.

 

[rastahawk]

Businesses make business decisions. No way Brady and Bellicheck get suspended for the superbowl. Ticket prices would plummet and tv ratings would also suffer.

I think a good punishment for the Pats once and for all, is to send Bellicheck back to the Browns and suspend Tom Brady for 1 year. Send him to work at Gary's Shoes as an UGG boot fitter to ladies of larger persuasion.

 

[davdog]

good grief the balls were under inflated. are there any guys posting in this thread?

 

[Jiggy]

 

[JustTheTip]

Not being very realistic with this post. No way in hell is Brady getting suspended for the Superbowl due to this. At most the Patriots lose a draft pick and maybe a fine to the club and Bill.

Yeah, even if they decided to go so extreme, the timeline is awefully short.

Why is it extreme though? They cheated in the AFC Title Game, why should they get off the hook by just giving up a 1st round pick but still getting to play in the Super Bowl? It's basically saying "go ahead and cheat to win Super Bowls, we'll just take away a few draft picks and fine you a few hundred thousand dollars and call it good". They are repeat offenders with the same coach, same QB on the same team. The hammer should come down.

If the game had been slightly close I might think something needs to be done immediately, even the Colt players are saying it wasn't a factor as bad as they lost. I also want no excuses, we took down manning last year now it is time for Brady to go down too. They need to be penalized but that can happen next year during the draft or by suspending the coach!

This is BS. The game is about momentum. Once the Pats got it, sure they rolled. But who knows how an early fumble due to a properly inflated ball could have impacted that game.

 

[TwistedHusky]

There is a larger problem here.

Bill states that he was not aware of the ball deflations. However, if you consider this, that is not an alibi but almost an indictment.

Why would anyone on the Patriots staff attempt to manipulate or "doctor" the footballs? Because they were instructed to. If lower ranking Patriots staff did this, which looks to be the case, it shows that there is a consistent pattern of looking for rules to both bend/break to provide advantages to their team.

In other words, this is the cheating they were caught at - but cheating is clearly part of their PROCESS. It isn't all the cheating they must be doing. The %s and numbers don't match up.

There are very likely roles in the organization that ask people to identify rules and look to break them where possible, because otherwise how would so many small cheating incidents that would otherwise be unrelated be caught?

You aren't caught 100% of the time you cheat. You likely are caught less than 10% of the time. I know, I cheated at every sport I ever played because I had to. I was slower and smaller than other players, so to be effective I had to do what I had to do. I admit, I believe there is a difference between individual cheating and ORGANIZATIONAL cheating, which is then systemic. (Which could just be something I use to convince myself that I was justified when I really wasn't).

When you have respected coaches like Shula literally accusing the coach of cheating, I am not sure how much more perspective you need. You might not like Shula, but it is a big leap to move from believing someone is cheating to publicly accusing them - especially when you do not have a direct stake in the outcome but for being professionally embarrassed.

The NFL has a problem that a system of small rules starts to fall apart if teams are allowed to grant themselves advantages by willfully breaking certain rules given the expectation they are unlikely to get caught. A lot of small advantages can tip the scale in even matches.

The weird thing is the Bill is a fantastic coach without it, and the Patriots are a fantastic team without it. But it derails the whole point of the game, which is to use a series of contests to measure which team is "best" based on a series of rules put in place that supposedly make it a level field/contest. (Which is why everyone freaks out when these rules are applied unevenly by a ref missing a call ....)

This is bad not because one rule was broken, but because it is an indicator that many more must have been.

 

[JustTheTip]

Wow, I thought Hawks fans were smarter than this thread shows. The best solution would be to drop that rule and let teams inflate to whatever they want (except for kicking balls). Who cares if Brady prefers 11 psi and Rodgers prefers 14? The other team is not affected in any way. They already allow each team to customize the footballs by scuffing etc., because a brand new football is too slippery to throw.

Also, here's Terry Bradshaw in a book he wrote previously:
Most fans don’t know it, but before the game we would doctor the footballs that would be used. Until the season of 2000 it was up to the home team to provide twenty-four game balls to the officials for each game. A brand-new NFL football straight from the factory is not easy to throw or catch. It’s rock hard and very slippery. So in the privacy of the locker room before the game, players would take the footballs and rub them and scrub them to remove the glaze, or deflate them, then pump them up with air real big to stretch the leather. On some teams the kickers would put them through a cycle in the dryer. Some teams did this, but naturally not the Steelers, because we were righteous folk who would never stretch the rules, and when these other teams—not the Steelers—were finished, they would put them back in the plastic wrapping and right back in the box. Some teams—who were not the Steelers—after the officials had checked and approved the game balls, would let out a couple of pound of air to make it easier for the quarterback to grip it. A little less air would make the ball spongier. It was what might be called a perceived advantage-both teams played with the same ball.

This controversy is a total farce.

Some offensive lines prefer to hold to keep the opposing defense from getting to the QB, so I guess we should just eliminate that rule as well.

I know that isn't quite the same thing, but to say they shouldn't be punished for getting caught breaking a rule because it shouldn't have been a rule is ridiculous.

 

[captSE]

Point taken, but lets kick their ass fair and square.

 

[ZagHawk]

Brady and Belichick should both be in the SB. If the Hawks were to beat a brady or belichick-less SB, you know how garbage that victory would be? The Patriots need to get punished not the Hawks.

Take away draft picks
Lower their salary cap
Suspend Brady/Belichick for 4 games or the entire season.

Some combo of the above.

 

[Hasselbeck]

Brady and Belichick should both be in the SB. If the Hawks were to beat a brady or belichick-less SB, you know how garbage that victory would be? The Patriots need to get punished not the Hawks.

Take away draft picks
Lower their salary cap
Suspend Brady/Belichick for 4 games or the entire season.

Some combo of the above.

Agreed.

What's done is done. They were caught. They blew out the Colts, so this wasn't a big enough factor to sway that game. The end. Punish these guys in 2015, not for the Super Bowl.

Don't want a possible Super Bowl repeat to be tarnished by some deflated footballs. That's just ridiculous

 

[pmedic920]

I didn't read this whole thread but I'm going to toss in my two.

Based on what I've heard this A.M. from BBs press conf. He is washing his hands of the ordeal.
He is the HC and IMHO ultimately responsible.
I also absolutely think this was NO accident or oversight, I think it was an attempt to cheat and it's probably been going on for some time.
If the NFL truly wants to get to the bottom of it, they will.
I expect it to be down played even though it's a big story right now. I think if the NFL really investigates it, it won't be fully understood until after the Super Bowl and that is fine with me.
The can and should impose any punishment on the draft and next season.
IMHO this is as bad or worse than the Saints bounty thing.
If the NFL can prove the "cheating" BB should be suspended for a whole season, period. If Brady was involved in getting an equipment guy to do the deed, he to should be suspended (I would be ok with a full season).
ANY non player personnel involved should be fired AND banned from any other employment in the NFL.
There is no telling how many games that could have been effected by this.
If you think that this IS NOT a big deal, I challenge you to go get two footballs and inflate them to the pressures at question and see the difference for yourself. The diff. is huge and absolutely could effect a game, especially in could or wet weather. Maybe not so much in throwing the ball as in catching and retaining the ball.
I agree with not punishing the Pats prior to the SB, simply because if we win, I want it to be against a "full strength" team.
I just hope that a true, full investigation takes place and that if "cheating" did in fact take place, all involved get punished severely.
I would be embarrassed if this was our team but I would feel the same about how I think it should be handled.

Edit:
To add, I also find it quite telling that 1 ball WAS NOT under inflated.
Obviously the kicker/punter would not want a flat ball. And I would guess they would throw a fit, if they had to kick one in a game.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

There will be a scapegoat! A ball boy, a cheerleader, someone will dive on his or her sword for the good of the team!

It will be the ball boy besides I don't see any way the NFL can directly link Brady or Belicheck to any of this. They know that cheating occurred but not exactly by whom so the logical thing to do is to mete out whatever punishment is due after the game. And whatever it may be should be pretty serious and at least to the level of Bounty Gate for a start.

 

[MVP53]

Tired of hearing the score against the colts mentioned as son kind of minimizing factor.

If Toms not using cheater balls who's to say his first pass isn't a pick that changes the direction and momentum of the game?

I don't want him suspended from the superbowl even though he should be. But he needs to be held accountable.

Exactly. If you're taking a test, and you answer the first 99 questions, but for question 100, you look at your neighbors test to get the answer, and the teacher sees you do it, what grade do you get on that test?

Cheating is cheating whether you needed to or not.

 

[DavidSeven]

Maybe the best case scenario for the league would be to announce a suspension for Brady but also announce that he will appeal, which will allow him to play in the SB. NFL can defer to due process but remain firm.

Next year, he misses a game or two. Belicheck can move on to Garoppolo. Brady's deal is non-guaranteed, but some team will pay him a ton if he's cut. Wins all around.

That being said, I want Brady in the Super Bowl. Leave all the asterisks in the Patriots' column.

 

[MVP53]

The NFL had no problem at all suspending Brandon Browner for doing weed last year for the entire duration of the playoffs (including the Super Bowl) or the year before for Adderall which would have cut into the playoffs but he chose to serve the suspension right away during the end of the 2012 regular season. What makes Tom Brady so special? It's clear he was the one who was the main culprit when cheating by deflating the footballs, the deflating was done for him by his demands. Why isn't he at the center of the issue? John Madden makes a perfect argument.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... footballs/

You'll have to explain how it is "clear he was the one". Outside of him admitting it, or him being on camera deflating the balls, there's no way you can suspend a player for the SB simply because you assume he was responsible. And no, "he's the QB" is not a reasonable reason to punish him specifically for this.

 

[Seahawk Sailor]

There will be a scapegoat! A ball boy, a cheerleader, someone will dive on his or her sword for the good of the team!

It will be the ball boy besides I don't see any way the NFL can directly link Brady or Belicheck to any of this. They know that cheating occurred but not exactly by whom so the logical thing to do is to mete out whatever punishment is due after the game. And whatever it may be should be pretty serious and at least to the level of Bounty Gate for a start.

"I didn't know the car was stolen, officer, I swear! I was just driving it. My buddy told me it was totally cool and not stolen!"

Kids usually learn by kindergarten that the ol' "But I didn't know!" excuse doesn't work when you get caught with your hands in the cookie jar... or on deflated balls.

 

[MVP53]

I just don't see how you can suspend 1 player for this. Is it because the QB is the one who benefits from throwing the ball? Do you suspend all the WRs too, since a deflated ball helps them catch it? What about the running backs since a deflated ball helps them not fumble. Maybe the kicker or punter likes a softer ball. Should they be suspended too?

If you want to suspend someone for this, it has to be the head coach. I just don't see how you could pinpoint one specific player for suspension.

The NFL will probably just issue a fine, maybe take away a draft pick, and announce they are taking over providing & maintaining the footballs beginning next year. I don't really know why they don't do that anyway.