Report: Tom Brady and Patriots knowingly cheated

[hawkwing]

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/05/tom-bra ... eflategate" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Excerpts from the story:

It was anything but. Despite the headlines that say the Patriots weren’t proved to be involved in wrongdoing in the long-awaited Wells Report, they were. Just because it was lower-level employees doesn’t make the Pats any less culpable. No, the report didn’t reveal some massive Watergate-style cover-up, but told us what we generally expected: Some assistant managers were messing around with the football, likely at the behest of Tom Brady. It’s not cause for a football death penalty, but it’s still cheating and shows the Pats haven’t learned a thing in the decade since their dalliance with illegal videotaping of teams.

...

Brady doesn’t get to make that call. It appears he cheated and he did it knowingly. He should, and will, get suspended (probably for 2-4 games) because he knew the deflation of balls was against the rules and apparently stayed involved with it anyway. Cheating isn’t a zero-sum game like some believe. There can be degrees of it and Brady is probably at the lower end, but it’s cheating nonetheless. In the 1960s or 80s, such a move might considered creative, like those moves above or putting a little Vaseline on the baseball just to get some break. But everyone’s far too serious about everything these days, especially sports, and that’s why this excerpt from Page 2 of the 243-page Wells Report is all that matters:



In layman’s terms: The Patriots (probably) cheated.

[Qman]

How is this differently than committing pass interference but trying to conceal it from the refs? It is all cheating to create an advantage.

[SpiffCoug]

Weren't the balls corrected at the half and it was after halftime when the Pats pulled away and put the game away?

[Brayden Green]

It is different because you are being given an unequal advantage... both sides can PI and they may or may not get away with it. But in cold air, how well one team grips the ball versus the other is a big deal. If one team's qb is hitting guys in stride right and left, and the other teams guy can't hit water if he is standing on the beach... that plays with you. Plus, there is a underlying advantage to knowing that you are cheating and the other team isnt. You play better, because you believe the odds to already be stacked in your favor.

If the Patriots were first time offenders, then that is one thing. But they aren't. They have cheated (and will continue to cheat) in any known quantity.

They are a terrible example to anyone with kids. You can cheat, and win. And if you are a patriot, the only way to win it all is to cheat. (Haven't won a superbowl since spygate, unless you count the deflate gate victory).

The rules clearly show that if you are caught cheating, you should be ejected and another team should replace you. But that is only if you have a commissioner with a spine. We have Goodell, the coward. So don't expect any asterisks, punishments, or maybe even fines. Some lower level employees will take the fall, get some hush money, and this will all go away, just like spygate did.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[Schmoe]

How is this differently than committing pass interference but trying to conceal it from the refs? It is all cheating to create an advantage.

You're right, or tampering with the opposing team's food to get them all sick, or paying the refs to call it in your favor, or hiring some guy to club the opposition in the knee caps, or causing the opposing team's plane to go down so you win by default; it's all the same level! It's all fair game!

[hawkwing]

How is this differently than committing pass interference but trying to conceal it from the refs? It is all cheating to create an advantage.

I know others have responded but I'm going to chime in. I think if you as a coach teach your defenders to knowingly and purposely interfere on every play then you are a cheater and the player, if he knows that it is interference and does it anyway is a cheater. But if in a game situation you inadvertently interfere and the ref doesn't call it, then it's not cheating. You're not there to call fouls, you're there to play the best of your ability.

[hawkwing]

Weren't the balls corrected at the half and it was after halftime when the Pats pulled away and put the game away?

Yes, that is the case, but the results of cheating aren't the problem, it's an organization that has a history and culture of cheating. It wouldn't have mattered if the Patriots had ended up getting blown out in the first half during the time in which they were cheating, they were still cheating.

[SpiffCoug]

True, but if it's failed cheating that does, to a certain extent, make the cheating irrelevant.

Of course, to a certain extent Ben Kenobi told Luke that Darth Vader killed his father. And that wasn't even remotely the case.

[BroncoBot]

And that wasn't even remotely the case.

not literally...

[redneckjedi]

Of course, to a certain extent Ben Kenobi told Luke that Darth Vader killed his father. And that wasn't even remotely the case.

What he told him was true... from a certain point of view.