Brady to be suspended…which will happen…when? a May-July saga

from off the net

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cydekikk

Kraft and Pats to accept NFL/Goodell’s Punishment

Just heard on ESPN’s blogcast… Kraft has decided to leave the Deflatgate santions alone… I think Goodell told him, “look man, this ain’t all we got on your team, Okay?”…

Darrelle Revis has no sympathy for ex-teammate Tom Brady: ‘[The Patriots] have a history of doing stuff’

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/mehta-jets-revis-no-sympathy-ex-teammate-tom-brady-article-1.2229942

Darrelle Revis has a healthy professional respect for nemesis-turned-teammate-turned-rival Tom Brady, but he’s not shedding any tears for the golden boy quarterback at the center of the Patriots’ latest cheating scandal.

“Everybody’s blowing it up because it is Tom Brady,” Revis told the Daily News Wednesday in his first extended comments on the Deflategate fallout. “I understand that. But if (the NFL) feels he did the crime or he did something and they want to penalize them, then that’s that. (The Patriots) have a history of doing stuff. You can’t hide that.… Tom was there when they did that stuff in the past.”

Revis, the centerpiece of Bill Belichick’s defense last season, made it clear that he was unaware of any wrongdoing by Brady and his alleged air-pressure-releasing accomplices that prompted the league to suspend the signal caller for four games and slap the Super Bowl champions with a $1 million fine and loss of two draft picks, but suggested that the franchise’s rule-breaking history likely played a role in this latest punishment.

“New England’s been doing stuff in the past and getting in trouble,” Revis said. “When stuff repeatedly happens, then that’s it. I don’t know what else to tell you. Stuff repeatedly happened through the years. You got SpyGate, you got this and that and everything else. Obviously in those situations in the past, they had the evidence. So they did what they needed to do.”

Revis, one of the savviest players in the league with great perspective, disagreed with the Players’ Association’s insistence that Roger Goodell recuse himself from Brady’s appeal. The union, Revis smartly maintained, has nobody to blame but itself for agreeing to a structure in the Collective Bargaining Agreement that gives the commissioner so much power. His take: Don’t whine about it now.

“He’s the judge, jury and executioner,” Revis said of Goodell, who danced around whether he’ll recuse himself for the Brady appeal when asked at the league meetings in San Francisco on Wednesday. “Everybody signed off on it…. Why didn’t we stand up when it was time to stand up? You can talk about it after the fact, but we all agreed to it. So (the union’s) got to point the finger back at (the union).”

There’s a sentiment that Brady, an ambassador for the game with a previously pristine image, was handed too harsh of a punishment in the absence of a smoking gun.

Although the circumstantial evidence led league officials to conclude that Brady was aware of the deflating shenanigans, Revis believes that the only way Brady’s suspension should be amended is if new information not contained in the Wells Report is uncovered.

The three-time Super Bowl MVP’s stature and prior spotless record shouldn’t be any consideration, according to his former teammate.

“If I fail a drug test, then I fail a drug test. If I get a DUI, I get a DUI,” Revis said. “If Tom gets caught with a DUI, it’s a DUI. …. If they are saying that he did what he’s done, then the suspension is the suspension. I’m not the commissioner and don’t make the rules. If they want to change (the suspension) based on new information or new evidence, then okay, but it should have nothing to do with Tom being the face (of the NFL).”

Brady’s former teammates have predictably been his apologists during the scandal (with the exception of ESPN analyst Damien Woody), but Revis doesn’t play that game. He admitted that Brady “is going to go down as one of the greatest – if not the best – quarterback that’s ever played” and “he’s definitely a Hall of Famer,” but can’t say for certain if the man is a cheater.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I don’t care. It doesn’t matter. If people want to judge him as a cheater, that’s their opinion.”

Revis has taken plenty of heat from Patriots fans, who have behaved like scorned ex-lovers after the top cornerback in the league signed a blockbuster five-year, $70 million deal with the Jets this offseason. He’s back to being Public Enemy No. 1, which feels perfect given the animus that prompted the Patriots to whine to the league about tampering charges that resulted in a hollow and harmless $100,000 fine last month.

So forgive him if he isn’t losing sleep over Brady’s fate.

“If he had nothing to do with it, then hey…” Revis said. “There’s really nothing you can say. There’s people in the world that get convicted all the time that didn’t do the crime. That’s just the history of how stuff goes sometimes.”

Revis isn’t the only one not feeling sorry for the golden boy.

Olbermann: Remember Deflategate and Ballghazi?

Published on Jul 2, 2015

As the NFL delays it’s announcement of the results from the Brady hearing, in all likelihood they will release their decision while no one is watching. Keith explains.

Stephen A Smith @stephenasmith

I’m hearing that Brady’s 4-gm suspension will likely be upheld by the NFL

from off the net

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guinnessram

Adam Shefter on NFL Insiders today said: “New information has surfaced that on or shortly before March 6th, the day that Brady met with Ted Wells, Brady directed that the cell phone he had been using for the prior 4 months be destroyed. He did so even though he was aware that the NFL requested access to text messages and other electronic information that had been stored on the phone. I know the NFL was very upset about the phone not being turned over, so the obviously factored that information into the decision to uphold the suspension.”

Shefter thinks that it will all end up in front of Judge Dody in Minny. He said the Brady camp can prove that Tom changes phones every 4 months, and Bill Polian jumped on that. He pointed out that evidence cannot be litigated on appeal, only “procedure and correct application of the CBA.” Polian added the appeal can’t exonerate Brady, so he doubts that the suspension will be overturned.

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Goodell cites destroying phone in upholding Tom Brady’s suspension

Darin Gantt

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/28/roger-goodell-upholds-tom-bradys-four-game-suspension-2/

In a not-at-all unexpected end (for now) to the #DeflateGate saga, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has upheld his four-game suspension of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady

In the league’s release on the matter, they stated that “important new information disclosed by Brady and his representatives” during his appeal hearing came into play.

“On or shortly before March 6, the day that Tom Brady met with independent investigator Ted Wells and his colleagues, Brady directed that the cell phone he had used for the prior four months be destroyed,” the league statement read. “He did so even though he was aware that the investigators had requested access to text messages and other electronic information that had been stored on that phone. ‎During the four months that the cell phone was in use, Brady had exchanged nearly 10,000 text messages, none of which can now be retrieved from that device. The destruction of the cell phone was not disclosed until June 18, almost four months after the investigators had first sought electronic information from Brady.”

As a result, Goodell did not shorten his initial punishment, which will now certainly be headed to court.

“The commissioner found that Brady’s deliberate destruction of potentially relevant evidence went beyond a mere failure to cooperate in the investigation and supported a finding that he had sought to hide evidence of his own participation in the underlying scheme to alter the footballs.”

Don Yee says shift to “destroyed” cell phone was expected

Mike Florio

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/29/don-yee-says-shift-to-destroyed-cell-phone-was-expected/

On the same day that the NFLPA fired back at the NFL in court, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s agent went on the offensive, too.

Don Yee, who made some questionable arguments in the aftermath of the publication of the Ted Wells report, shared plenty of information in a discussion with Tom Curran of CSNNE.com.

“They shifted from PSI to the new shiny object, the cell phone,” Yee said of the ruling upholding the four-game suspension. “We expected this. Because this was the easy way to pivot off the junk science and get off the PSI issue. And we knew that from a newsworthiness standpoint, the general public might be easily fooled. But in the coming days — just like the Wells Report being picked apart after its issuance — the same thing happens with this.”

If Yee knew that the cell phone would become a red herring, it would have been smarter for Yee to get ahead of the notion that “Tom Brady destroyed his cell phone” before the NFL could unleash that mantra in masterful fashion, winning the P.R. battle with a one-punch knockout.

Then again, maybe Yee didn’t take the lead on the topic because he possibly would have been leading with his chin. Consider the explanation from Yee to Curran about what happened with the phone.

“What happened is this,” Yee said. “After Goodell decided to take the appeal and publicly asked for new information, we were under the authority of the actual Commissioner, not private investigators with dubious authority. We decided to provide him with the new information. This was in June. The information that Wells requested covered September 2014 to February 28, 2015. The first thing we did in June was say, ‘Holy cow, do we have a cell phone left from that time period?’ because Tom regularly cycles through phones. We happened to find one and we tested that phone and found it covered the period October through November.

“In a letter to Goodell, we told him that we don’t have any other phones that cover November through March. We believe Tom may have cycled through a phone. We were the ones that disclosed this issue. Meaning that if Tom Brady was trying to hide something, why would we voluntarily disclose that fact? . . .

“It wasn’t until February 28 that Ted Wells’ team sent us an e-mail asking for contents off Tom’s phone. They never asked for the actual device. Ted Wells, in his May 12 press conference actually said that — he emphasized that. They didn’t want the actual device. On March 2, we wrote back to Ted Wells and told him we considered his request for information off the phone and we declined his request. On March 3, they said they hoped we would reconsider. They knew going into the March 6 hearing that they were not going to get the actual device. They knew that.”

So, from Yee’s perspective, it doesn’t matter what Brady did with the phone after March 3, because he wasn’t giving it to Wells as part of the investigation.

“Why did Tom cycle through a phone that week?” Yee said. “It turns out he just got back to the country after taking a trip. Why did he cycle through the phone that week? The iPhone 6 was coming out. [Brady] happened to want a new phone and knew Ted Wells’ team didn’t want the actual device, they only wanted information from the device.”

That’s where Yee’s explanation gets a little wobbly. For starters, the iPhone six came out months before March 2015. (In fairness, it came out in September, so Brady perhaps decided to wait until after the season to get one.) Also, if Wells wanted not the device but the information from it, Brady should have retained the data card.

Yee explained that Brady nevertheless equipped Goodell with the information necessary to reconstruct the text messages.

“We compiled all of Tom’s personal cell phone billing records from his vendor from September through the end of February 2015,” Yee said. “The records detail every incoming and outgoing phone call. Every incoming and outgoing text. We submitted that to the Commissioner. They would then be able to determine were there any other communications with Patriots personnel that were not outlined in the Wells Report. Everything matched up perfectly with the Wells Report with the exception of three texts between Tom and [John] Jastrzemski on February 7, and that was only because Wells had given Jastrzemski’s phone back [on] February 7. As far as any texts prior to the AFC Championship Game, where any alleged scheming would have taken place, Ted Wells would have had any communications between Tom, Jastrzemski and [Jim] McNally. This personal phone billing record compiled by an independent third party shows that he had no communications at all with McNally.

“In an effort to be even more transparent, we decided to offer to the Commissioner to disclose the identities of everyone that Tom communicated with. We said that some of these individuals are NFL-related personnel and that the Commissioner has the power to compel a search of their phone to see if they have texts remaining on their phone from Tom. The Commissioner’s own decision in footnote 11 acknowledges this and says they thought it was impractical to conduct this search. The amount of NFL-related personnel that the league needed to consult, if they so chose, was 28 people. Which is not very many people. And a number of those people they had information from already. Tom texted from December 24 to February 24 these NFL-related personnel. Ten teammates, two current coaches, five former teammates, one NFL Network personnel, five front-office personnel and five other Patriots employees. A number of them, the league had the authority to say, ‘Check your cell phone, we want any text exchanges between you and Tom Brady from that period.’ They chose not to. I don’t know why.”

The answer could be that accepting this offer would rob the NFL of the “Tom Brady destroyed his cell phone” silver bullet, which delivered on Tuesday a conclusive win in the court of public opinion.

But the inevitable pushback has commenced, and this red state/blue state issue will continue to polarize fans until it is finally resolved in court. And beyond.

Reports from the NFL’s settlement hearing with Tom Brady are out, and it sounds like the NFL got crushed

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/reports-nfls-settlement-hearing-tom-175716170.html

Judge Richard Berman was hard on Roger Goodell and the NFL in court.

The NFL and NFL Players Association had its second settlement hearing in court on Wednesday, and it sounds like it went horribly for the NFL.

Since the NFLPA took the NFL to court over Tom Brady’s four-game suspension, the two sides haven’t made any progress on a settlement.

While Judge Richard Berman, who is overseeing the case, can’t force either side to come to a settlement, he can push in one direction to encourage a settlement, perhaps hinting that he favors one side’s argument.

Based on the reports from Wednesday’s hearing, it sounds like Berman may be pushing the NFL to come to a settlement.

Berman was apparently very critical of the NFL’s argument:

Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter

If Judge Berman was critical of NFL last week, he was even more critical today. Questions of fundamental fairness and evident impartiality.
12:30 PM – 19 Aug 2015

Ben Volin @BenVolin

UPDATE: Hearing over after 2:15. No settlement. Judge Berman was very, very critical of NFL. Brady/NFLPA are making a good case
12:23 PM – 19 Aug 2015

Berman was reportedly critical of the Wells Report saying Brady was “generally aware” as a way for the NFL to argue Brady was part of the scheme.

Stephen Brown @PPVSRB

Berman: “There is a bit of a quantum leap from the finding of Mr. Wells to the finding of Mr. Goodell.” (from general awareness to scheme)

Berman also questioned why the Wells Report didn’t specifically mention January 18, the day of the AFC Championship game against the Colts, when referees found the balls were deflated under regulation:

Andrew Brandt @adbrandt

Berman wondered why Wells Report was not more specific to January 18th, why Wells didn’t specify. “He’s a smart guy, right?”
12:33 PM – 19 Aug 2015

Though, in fairness, the NFL had a good counterargument:

Stephen Brown @PPVSRB

Berman: Brady’s “general awareness” described by Wells didn’t refer specifically to AFC championship. Said that was “conspicuously absent.”

Stephen Brown @PPVSRB

Nash, for NFL, countered that entire Wells Report revolved around that game, so that should be assumed. Berman seemed skeptical.
12:31 PM – 19 Aug 2015 · Manhattan, NY, United States

As has been commonly argued against the NFL, Berman was curious as to how and why the NFL chose a four-game suspension for Brady:

Stephen Brown @PPVSRB

Berman also wanted to know how Goodell settled on four game suspension.
12:39 PM – 19 Aug 2015 ·

Stephen Brown @PPVSRB

Berman: “Which of the four games were for ball tampering and which were for non cooperation?”
12:39 PM – 19 Aug 2015

When league lawyer Daniel Nash said he would defer to Roger Goodell on that, saying Goodell weighed all evidence and made a decision, Berman responded:

Stephen Brown @PPVSRB

Nash again deferred to Goodell’s judgement on that.

Stephen Brown @PPVSRB

To which Berman said “I have a little trouble with that.”

Berman was also unhappy with Goodell comparing the situation to a player being on steroids:

Andrew Brandt @adbrandt

Berman uncomfortable with Goodell’s comparison to steroid suspension “to secure competitive advantage.” Wondered why that comparison used.
12:38 PM – 19 Aug 2015

Stephen Brown @PPVSRB

Berman: How did he pick steroid use to explain he suspended Mr. Brady four games?”

Stephen Brown @PPVSRB

Berman: “I don’t see how four games (for deflation, non cooperation) is comparable to using steroids and a masking agent.”

Andrew Brandt @adbrandt

Questions re apportioning 4 games between deflation and non-cooperation. “What if there was deflation and cooperation? How many games?”
12:35 PM – 19 Aug 2015

Berman ultimately didn’t side too heavily with Brady, however:

Max Stendahl @MaxLaw360

Judge: “There are enough strengths and weaknesses on both sides..all the more reason why a settlement seems a logical and rational outcome.

As Andrew Brandt mentioned, this could be Berman’s way of pushing the NFL closer to a settlement. Berman doesn’t want to make a decision; he wants to push the sides to come to a settlement. So by grilling the NFL today, he may be pointing out the biggest flaws in their arguments in hopes that they’ll bend a little bit toward Brady and the NFLPA’s side.

Unless the two sides come to a settlement out of court, the next settlement hearing will be August 31 — just two weeks before the regular season begins.