New Englands Punishment if found guilty? Thoughts?

[Lords of Scythia]

There really isn't anything to directly compare this to. Videotaping your opponents (Spygate) is a far cry from paying bounties on players ala "Bountygate", but if you look at the results of those two (roughly) comparable infractions you should be able to draw some parallels as far as punishment.

Spygate- In the End Bellichick got a 500K fine, The Pats team got a 250K fine and the team was stripped of a FRDP. Again these are just the high points.

Bountygate- The Team got a 500K fine and lost a single SRDP in both the 2012 and 2013 seasons, and Payton and some of his subordinates were suspended for ~1 season. Also just the High points.

So unless you could prove(!) that they had been serial cheating for the past 7 years, any penalty is unlikely to be more than either of those two. I would guess it would be the standard 500K and a few Draft picks at worst. Then again I would bet that many millions of Dollars changed hands over Pats Games during that 7 year span. Teams potentially cheated out of Playoff spots and SuperBowl appearances etc etc. Then you open yourself up to lawsuits, and the league will by necessity have to make an example of them. I couldn't even speculate over what might happen then, maybe move them to London?

Bountygate was not against the rules, just poor manners.

 

[chris98251]

No punishment, we will change the inflation rules to accommodate them. Not joking,

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...ys-nfl-will-look-at-permitted-pressure-range/

 

[Lords of Scythia]

After seeing the fumble data get adequately debunked this week by multiple statisticians, I am now at the point where I wouldn't put an asterisk on the Patriots success. There's no way of proving how big of an impact it had on the games they'e played and Belichick has proven with spygate that he is willing to cheat to gain a nearly non-existent edge, so I'm inclined to think that deflating the footballs probably didn't help New England in a way that is as meaningful as it's been made out to be.

Roger Goodell was a different man in a different environment back during spygate. He didn't have people's respect so he tried to earn it with hardlining and false bravado, and it worked about as well for him as it did for Theon Greyjoy when he returned to Winterfel. (I'm pretending that Greyjoy was taller and fatter, and that Goodell is a few months away from being thrown into a hellish torture chamber run by Elijah Wood's stunt double).

Greyjoy now is a broken shell of a man. If I were any nerdier, I'd be tempted to start calling Goodell by his new name - Reek. Goodell isn't who he used to be, he's broken and castrated. The old Roger would have hammered the Pats here, but the new one feels too conflicted and maybe even a bit ambivalent. He will seek the path of least resistance.

They won all three SBs by three effin points. Just one first down can win a game. Brady wouldn't be cheating if it didn't help him grip the ball better. People are underestimating the impact of this. Would the Pats even have won one SB if they'd been playing by the same rules everyone else is? These scummy cheaters are going down in history as a great NFL dynasty and that makes me sick. God, I would love to see them get curb-stomped on Sunday. GO HAWKS!

 

[brimsalabim]

So BR is now reporting that the NFL has reversed itself and now says it was only one football. I guess having Roger over for dinner paid off for Mr Krafty.

 

[ScottWade]

Here's the latest from the NFL and it basically matches the leak reported by NBC's PFT, "seven days ago", a leak so many in the media decided to ignore:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... -footballs

For those who aware of the Colts/Pats rivalry, it does look a tad suspicious that the only football that was down by 2 was the very football that was in possession of the Colts before being given to the officials. Something to think about. And in light of the new Atlanta investigation, remember, the Colts were under suspicion of amplifying their crowd noise during the Manning years.

 

[Rambitious]

I know that it won't happen. But if the league had concluded that it was highly likely that the Patriots had been doing this since 2007 what do you feel would be a fair punishment?

In my eyes, it isn't just the fumbles. It's that a lot of catches wouldn't have happened, a lot of third downs may not have been converted, it would have had an increase in drops. More turnovers, and all of that resulting in more losses every season. It means they played in games they shouldn't have in the playoffs, they got bye's they didn't deserve.

I would feel that none of Tom Brady's accomplishments should be officially recognized, or have an asterisk next to them, including Bills. No HOF possibilities for either. I also would want them both Suspended for a season, with severe fines, and loss of draft picks from the organization. It makes it worse that Tom is the guy who petitioned to have the rule changed in the first place. I'm curious to see peoples feelings on punishment...

Dude, they've been doing stuff like this since 2000-2001.

 

[Marvin49]

I know that it won't happen. But if the league had concluded that it was highly likely that the Patriots had been doing this since 2007 what do you feel would be a fair punishment?

In my eyes, it isn't just the fumbles. It's that a lot of catches wouldn't have happened, a lot of third downs may not have been converted, it would have had an increase in drops. More turnovers, and all of that resulting in more losses every season. It means they played in games they shouldn't have in the playoffs, they got bye's they didn't deserve.

I would feel that none of Tom Brady's accomplishments should be officially recognized, or have an asterisk next to them, including Bills. No HOF possibilities for either. I also would want them both Suspended for a season, with severe fines, and loss of draft picks from the organization. It makes it worse that Tom is the guy who petitioned to have the rule changed in the first place. I'm curious to see peoples feelings on punishment...

Dude, they've been doing stuff like this since 2000-2001.

By the name, I'm assuming Rams fan?

Uh, yeah...you are absolutely correct. Rams have a real beef with New England after their SB loss.