Belichick could get suspended from the Super Bowl
- Thread starter MadJack
- Start date
Troy Aikman said he believes Tom Brady spearheaded Deflategate and Bill Belichick should pay dearly for it.
The Cowboys great and Fox analyst held nothing back in a Dallas radio interview Thursday when discussing the latest controversy to envelop the Patriots and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
?It?s obvious that Tom Brady had something to do with this,? Aikman told the station, according to the Dallas Morning News.
?I know going back to when I played, they?ve loosened up the rules in terms of what each team is able to do with the footballs coming into the game. Used to, the home team provided all the balls. And now, each team brings their footballs the way they like them and break ?em in. Used to you couldn?t break them in. So for the balls to be deflated, that doesn?t happen unless the quarterback wants that to happen, I can assure you of that. Now the question becomes did Bill Belichick know about it.?
Belichick denied just that when he spoke to the press after Aikman?s comments were made. Belichick contended he had no clue how the 12 balls were deflated below league standards in the Patriots? 45-7 rout of the Colts in the AFC Championship Game.
Modal Trigger Brady and Belichick during the AFC Championship Game.Photo: Getty Images
However, the rule change Aikman discussed was actually advocated by Brady and Peyton Manning in 2006 when the star quarterbacks successfully lobbied the league. Brady noted at the time, in an interview with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, how each quarterback likes the football ?a little bit different.?
Aikman sees the controversy as another black eye not only for the Patriots, but for Goodell. Aikman said Goodell?s ?ignorance is no excuse? policy that he used to bury the Saints during Bountygate in 2012 will come back to hurt him again, just as it did when he bungled Ray Rice?s domestic violence case ? where Goodell used his own ignorance as an excuse for originally handing out a two-game punishment to the Ravens running back.
?Sean Payton did not cheat,? Aikman said of the Saints coach who was suspended a full year for Bountygate.
?There was nothing that Sean Payton and the Saints did that was illegal. And they did not give themselves a competitive edge. I maintain, regardless of whatever was said in the locker room, and in that locker room, is not anything different than what?s been said in any other locker room around the league. There?s no proof on the field of what took place that guys were targeting players. You can always pull out a play here and there. They were one of the least penalized teams for unsportsmanlike conduct. So there was no evidence that anything translated to the field that they were trying to hurt players. And they did not give themselves a competitive advantage.
The Cowboys great and Fox analyst held nothing back in a Dallas radio interview Thursday when discussing the latest controversy to envelop the Patriots and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
?It?s obvious that Tom Brady had something to do with this,? Aikman told the station, according to the Dallas Morning News.
?I know going back to when I played, they?ve loosened up the rules in terms of what each team is able to do with the footballs coming into the game. Used to, the home team provided all the balls. And now, each team brings their footballs the way they like them and break ?em in. Used to you couldn?t break them in. So for the balls to be deflated, that doesn?t happen unless the quarterback wants that to happen, I can assure you of that. Now the question becomes did Bill Belichick know about it.?
Belichick denied just that when he spoke to the press after Aikman?s comments were made. Belichick contended he had no clue how the 12 balls were deflated below league standards in the Patriots? 45-7 rout of the Colts in the AFC Championship Game.
Modal Trigger Brady and Belichick during the AFC Championship Game.Photo: Getty Images
However, the rule change Aikman discussed was actually advocated by Brady and Peyton Manning in 2006 when the star quarterbacks successfully lobbied the league. Brady noted at the time, in an interview with the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, how each quarterback likes the football ?a little bit different.?
Aikman sees the controversy as another black eye not only for the Patriots, but for Goodell. Aikman said Goodell?s ?ignorance is no excuse? policy that he used to bury the Saints during Bountygate in 2012 will come back to hurt him again, just as it did when he bungled Ray Rice?s domestic violence case ? where Goodell used his own ignorance as an excuse for originally handing out a two-game punishment to the Ravens running back.
?Sean Payton did not cheat,? Aikman said of the Saints coach who was suspended a full year for Bountygate.
?There was nothing that Sean Payton and the Saints did that was illegal. And they did not give themselves a competitive edge. I maintain, regardless of whatever was said in the locker room, and in that locker room, is not anything different than what?s been said in any other locker room around the league. There?s no proof on the field of what took place that guys were targeting players. You can always pull out a play here and there. They were one of the least penalized teams for unsportsmanlike conduct. So there was no evidence that anything translated to the field that they were trying to hurt players. And they did not give themselves a competitive advantage.
The second half that was played with balls in spec. When Brady tore the Colts apart.
Nobody is disputing who won the game. NE won easily.
Does that give them a pass for using illegal equipment?
?Sean Payton did not cheat,? Aikman said of the Saints coach who was suspended a full year for Bountygate.
?There was nothing that Sean Payton and the Saints did that was illegal. And they did not give themselves a competitive edge.
I'll raise the bullshit flag on that stupid comment all day! I saw both of those games when the saints not only knocked Farve out with a dirty hit and when they did the same to Kurt Warner. and yes when you knock out a QB you gain a competitive edge!
?There was nothing that Sean Payton and the Saints did that was illegal. And they did not give themselves a competitive edge.
I'll raise the bullshit flag on that stupid comment all day! I saw both of those games when the saints not only knocked Farve out with a dirty hit and when they did the same to Kurt Warner. and yes when you knock out a QB you gain a competitive edge!
like saying "we don`t penalize a guy for using performance enhancing drugs if he doesn`t win"....
I thought brady seemed genuine(unlike the espn talking heads) and I tend to believe him... but I don`t get the argument that the fact that brady had a good second half means he couldn`t have had a good second half with a ball that wasn`t skewed to his liking....the guy`s a future h.o.f`er...nobody`s saying he can`t play a lick without a deflated ball...it`s an "integrity of the game,intentional violation of the rules to gain an advantage"(or not) issue...
I don`t think anything will be proven...and if it can`t be proven,i`m not sure a penalty can/should be levied...
I believed Belichick until Brady spoke, now I don't believe neither one of them. :lol:
How can Brady say he's particular about his footballs and likes them at 12.5 pounds and then claim he couldn't tell the difference between the 1H 10.5 balls and the 2H 13 pound balls? That's more than a 20% difference. This is a guy that's had a football in his hand his whole life. Gimme a break.
Anyway, I've spent way too much time on this the last 2 days, I wish the NFL would just come in and end this thing by doing whatever they have to do and be done with it. If they can't prove anything, let's just move on.
Deal with TB and BB later, if they are the guilty parties, but don't ruin it for the rest of the team that has a shot of being in the Super Bowl. Geez.
I think Brady/Bill Belichick were both lying today. For the record. But this is the most overblown thing in sports history. Colts crying about this while getting their asses kicked by 38 points is ridiculous. I believe Brady went nine for nine in the third quarter with the "legal balls" that were put in play last minute after halftime. This being the lead story on the national news of every station is completely insane. If the NFL knew about this, which they did. Previous to the game. Why didn't they confiscate the balls before kickoff, instead of waiting till halftime? Was it more important to bag the patriots at halftime, then have legitimate balls for the opening kickoff? I believe the integrity of the game is important, and the patriots should be penalized draft picks or whatever. But how many games did Indianapolis throw to get Luck at the end of that season, is that integrity? Brady should have just come out and said he sprayed deer antler spray on the balls.
Wow, there might be something to that.
So, all along they have been playing with a deflated football and were caught by the other team that does it. :lol:
This is insane.
Is the NFL Going to Let Brady and Belichick Play It for a Fool?
There has never been a series of press conferences more full of nonsense than what we saw in New England Thursday.
Bill Belichick: I don't know what you're talking about. I would never. How dare you?
Tom Brady: I didn't alter the balls in any way. I don't know what you're talking about. How dare you?
Brady actually said these words: "I have no knowledge of anything."
These pressers, brought to you by Olivia Pope.
"I did not believe what Tom had to say," said former quarterback Mark Brunell, now an ESPN analyst, on the network following the Brady press conference. "Those balls were deflated. Somebody had to do it. I don't believe there is an equipment manager in the NFL who would on his own initiative deflate a ball without that starting quarterback's approval."
Brady, on who in the organization has custody of the footballs after the referee checks them: "I have no idea. That's not part of my process."
No idea? A meticulous, brilliant guy like Brady?one of the most well-prepared and detail-oriented players in NFL history?has no idea?Really?
No one believes any of this except Patriots fans. No one. It's a joke. It's worse. It smells like a cover-up.
This was a chance for Brady to come clean. Instead, he pulled a Lance Armstrong.
I can tell you, I received texts from about a half-dozen current and former team officials, and they all mocked Belichick and Brady. Not a single, objective soul believes them.
Brady has expressed in the past how he liked his footballs to be under-inflated. Now, he's acting like he's never even heard of a football. A football? What is this football you speak of? Is that a game of some kind? Can you prove the existence of said football? Air pressure? What is this air pressure?
Think about this for a second. Brady selects the balls he deems as the ones he wants to play with. So, if you believe him, the footballs are unilaterally deflated, and he didn't notice? He carefully picked out the footballs, gauged how they felt, and then when they were under-inflated, he was fine with that?
Brady sounded lawyered up. If I was a ball boy or member of the equipment staff, I would look over my shoulder for a big-ass bus.
I think what the Patriots are doing is daring the NFL to punish them. I think the NFL should take that dare.
The Patriots just aren't believable, and for that reason they deserve the same type of suspension the New Orleans Saints received post-Bountygate. Because if you believe the Patriots, the footballs deflated themselves or some poor ball boy or equipment person did this on their own. Both things are total science fiction.
"We have to be careful not to conflate practical issues with philosophical issues," former Oakland Raiders executive Amy Trask, now an analyst for CBS, told Bleacher Report. "From a practical perspective, the use of under-inflated footballs is not the reason that New England won the AFC Championship. From a practical perspective, the New England quarterback is not the only quarterback who wants (and who has communicated that he wants) his footballs 'just so.'
"From a philosophical perspective, the league can't trumpet the integrity of the game without protecting it?belief in the integrity of the game is precious and to be cherished. From a philosophical perspective, the league can't enjoy the fruits of being the most popular game in the country without understanding the scrutiny and attention that come with being the most popular game in the country.
"Are these footballs the reason New England won? No. Is the New England quarterback the only quarterback who is particular about his footballs? No. But we must be careful not to conflate those practical issues with larger philosophical issues, and the league must do what is in the best interests of the game and public trust in the integrity of the game. Those who love this game want that."
There is one question that I've had throughout this Deflatriots saga, and it's this: How exactly did any manipulation of the footballs occur, exactly?
Doing this, deflating footballs so no one sees you or knows what you are doing, would be no easy task. Sidelines are constantly videotaped. There are fans in the stands, all equipped with cellphone cams, watching. There is media on the field and in the press box watching.
There are eyes everywhere. So how exactly did any manipulation of the football happen post-ref inspection hours before the game?
One theory?and I'm going to apply this in general and not say it is about any specific team?goes like this. The ball boy, during the game, keeps the footballs in a large bag, and in the bag is the needle that's used to inflate or deflate the football.
It would be relatively easy, a player told me, for a ball boy to reach inside the bag and drain the footballs of air with no one seeing what he or she was doing.
If that is what was done in the Patriots' case, it is extremely devious. Even if it wasn't, and the cheating was done by some other shady means, this puts the Patriots organization in a horrible spot. More than that, it puts the entire NFL in a horrible spot.
What the Patriots did was sleazy. No, it doesn't compare to football players abusing women or other malfeasance, but it does compare to one of the league's most infamous cases, Bountygate.
For that reason, the NFL needs to suspend Belichick for a season, the way Sean Payton was, and Brady for half a season.
We all make mistakes. None of what I'm about to say is from a high horse. This comes from a sensible place: The NFL needs to severely punish this franchise. Not a slap on the hand. Not a moderate punishment. This organization needs a serious butt-kicking.
The Patriots reek of cutting corners. Reek of being shady and doing whatever it takes. Reek of not caring about the rules or respecting that the NFL is bigger than them. The fictional football teams inPlaymakers, which the NFL hated and said didn't resemble its league, are like monasteries compared to the Patriots.
Belichick gave what some considered a heartfelt press conference, saying he was shocked?shocked, I tell you!?about footballs being deflated. Maybe he was, but as Roger Goodell said after the Bountygate case, ignorance is no excuse.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...to-let-brady-and-belichick-play-it-for-a-fool
There has never been a series of press conferences more full of nonsense than what we saw in New England Thursday.
Bill Belichick: I don't know what you're talking about. I would never. How dare you?
Tom Brady: I didn't alter the balls in any way. I don't know what you're talking about. How dare you?
Brady actually said these words: "I have no knowledge of anything."
These pressers, brought to you by Olivia Pope.
"I did not believe what Tom had to say," said former quarterback Mark Brunell, now an ESPN analyst, on the network following the Brady press conference. "Those balls were deflated. Somebody had to do it. I don't believe there is an equipment manager in the NFL who would on his own initiative deflate a ball without that starting quarterback's approval."
Brady, on who in the organization has custody of the footballs after the referee checks them: "I have no idea. That's not part of my process."
No idea? A meticulous, brilliant guy like Brady?one of the most well-prepared and detail-oriented players in NFL history?has no idea?Really?
No one believes any of this except Patriots fans. No one. It's a joke. It's worse. It smells like a cover-up.
This was a chance for Brady to come clean. Instead, he pulled a Lance Armstrong.
I can tell you, I received texts from about a half-dozen current and former team officials, and they all mocked Belichick and Brady. Not a single, objective soul believes them.
Brady has expressed in the past how he liked his footballs to be under-inflated. Now, he's acting like he's never even heard of a football. A football? What is this football you speak of? Is that a game of some kind? Can you prove the existence of said football? Air pressure? What is this air pressure?
Think about this for a second. Brady selects the balls he deems as the ones he wants to play with. So, if you believe him, the footballs are unilaterally deflated, and he didn't notice? He carefully picked out the footballs, gauged how they felt, and then when they were under-inflated, he was fine with that?
Brady sounded lawyered up. If I was a ball boy or member of the equipment staff, I would look over my shoulder for a big-ass bus.
I think what the Patriots are doing is daring the NFL to punish them. I think the NFL should take that dare.
The Patriots just aren't believable, and for that reason they deserve the same type of suspension the New Orleans Saints received post-Bountygate. Because if you believe the Patriots, the footballs deflated themselves or some poor ball boy or equipment person did this on their own. Both things are total science fiction.
"We have to be careful not to conflate practical issues with philosophical issues," former Oakland Raiders executive Amy Trask, now an analyst for CBS, told Bleacher Report. "From a practical perspective, the use of under-inflated footballs is not the reason that New England won the AFC Championship. From a practical perspective, the New England quarterback is not the only quarterback who wants (and who has communicated that he wants) his footballs 'just so.'
"From a philosophical perspective, the league can't trumpet the integrity of the game without protecting it?belief in the integrity of the game is precious and to be cherished. From a philosophical perspective, the league can't enjoy the fruits of being the most popular game in the country without understanding the scrutiny and attention that come with being the most popular game in the country.
"Are these footballs the reason New England won? No. Is the New England quarterback the only quarterback who is particular about his footballs? No. But we must be careful not to conflate those practical issues with larger philosophical issues, and the league must do what is in the best interests of the game and public trust in the integrity of the game. Those who love this game want that."
There is one question that I've had throughout this Deflatriots saga, and it's this: How exactly did any manipulation of the footballs occur, exactly?
Doing this, deflating footballs so no one sees you or knows what you are doing, would be no easy task. Sidelines are constantly videotaped. There are fans in the stands, all equipped with cellphone cams, watching. There is media on the field and in the press box watching.
There are eyes everywhere. So how exactly did any manipulation of the football happen post-ref inspection hours before the game?
One theory?and I'm going to apply this in general and not say it is about any specific team?goes like this. The ball boy, during the game, keeps the footballs in a large bag, and in the bag is the needle that's used to inflate or deflate the football.
It would be relatively easy, a player told me, for a ball boy to reach inside the bag and drain the footballs of air with no one seeing what he or she was doing.
If that is what was done in the Patriots' case, it is extremely devious. Even if it wasn't, and the cheating was done by some other shady means, this puts the Patriots organization in a horrible spot. More than that, it puts the entire NFL in a horrible spot.
What the Patriots did was sleazy. No, it doesn't compare to football players abusing women or other malfeasance, but it does compare to one of the league's most infamous cases, Bountygate.
For that reason, the NFL needs to suspend Belichick for a season, the way Sean Payton was, and Brady for half a season.
We all make mistakes. None of what I'm about to say is from a high horse. This comes from a sensible place: The NFL needs to severely punish this franchise. Not a slap on the hand. Not a moderate punishment. This organization needs a serious butt-kicking.
The Patriots reek of cutting corners. Reek of being shady and doing whatever it takes. Reek of not caring about the rules or respecting that the NFL is bigger than them. The fictional football teams inPlaymakers, which the NFL hated and said didn't resemble its league, are like monasteries compared to the Patriots.
Belichick gave what some considered a heartfelt press conference, saying he was shocked?shocked, I tell you!?about footballs being deflated. Maybe he was, but as Roger Goodell said after the Bountygate case, ignorance is no excuse.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/...to-let-brady-and-belichick-play-it-for-a-fool
TWO PEOPLE NEED TO BE SUSPENDED ALL OF 2015. And it looks like its going to be the ballboys.
N F L = NOT FUCKING LEGITIMATE
They are runned by creeps, played by thugs. Look at this pathetic running back on Seattle, a grown man constantly grabbing his dick in the endzone.
They have no morals. Got guys on murder charges too.. We are talking about a small amount of people.
But look at the immature and criminal behavior involved.
\
This league is rife with scumbags....NFL...do your job and clean out all the scumbags.....PERIOD
N F L = NOT FUCKING LEGITIMATE
They are runned by creeps, played by thugs. Look at this pathetic running back on Seattle, a grown man constantly grabbing his dick in the endzone.
They have no morals. Got guys on murder charges too.. We are talking about a small amount of people.
But look at the immature and criminal behavior involved.
\
This league is rife with scumbags....NFL...do your job and clean out all the scumbags.....PERIOD
well if this is true due to the statistical analysis then I guess the Falcons were deflating the balls too - oh wait, they play in a dome so their numbers don't count......
does anyone think that maybe, possibly, all teams do/have done the same thing regarding the manipulation of game balls? just like the Saints episode, were they the only team ever who administered bounties on opposing players? obviously the answer to the latter is no, and I would think that the same answer applies to the former - but this is the Patriots......and "they cheat"
I am no Patriots fan, have never liked them - cheered like hell against them winning any of their SB's (outside of the 1st against the Rams) - but I do think that this whole thing is overblown
I don't think it would have gone this far had the NFL stepped right in on Monday and fined the team for playing with balls that were not up to regulation specs.
Now it's gotten way out of hand to the point where people are going back 10 years and checking on fumbles and trying to tie both together. Wow!
AND, I may be wrong, but it sure looks like they are lying about their knowledge of the deflated balls, but that's speculation too.
One thing for sure is; they played with deflated balls that are against the rules, they got caught, and they should pay the price. No?
JMO
Where the hell is the NFL?
