Deflategate is Back!

[KNSD]

The best defense for the Patriots for yesterday is that only a moron would jam signals less than a week after deflategate ended.

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

Looks like it will be a fun season!

Hang in high Goodel!

[6025]

The best defense for the Patriots for yesterday is that only a moron would jam signals less than a week after deflategate ended.

The arrogance of the Patriots organization. They know they'll get away with it.

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

2007 Spygate investigation included signal jamming accusation

Posted by Michael David Smith on September 11, 2015, 11:05 AM EDT

Getty Images
In 2007, when the NFL docked the Patriots a first-round draft pick for taping opposing teams’ signals, there were also accusations that the Patriots were jamming opposing teams’ audio communications. But at the time, those accusations went nowhere.

Now the Patriots are accused of interfering with the Steelers’ headset communications on Thursday night in New England, and those 2007 Spygate allegations will come back into focus.

While the Spygate investigation was ongoing during the second week of the 2007 season, Chris Mortensen of ESPN reported that “The league also was reviewing a possible violation into the number of radio frequencies the Patriots were using during Sunday’s game, sources said. The team did not have a satisfactory explanation when asked about possible irregularities in its communication setup during the game.”

Shortly after Mortensen’s report, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced that he was penalizing the Patriots for taping opposing teams’ signals. But Goodell said nothing about the Patriots violating any rules with respect to headset communications.

However, Mortensen then reported that taping opposing teams’ signals “could be the tip of the iceberg, and that the Patriots’ practices could include jamming the radio frequency in opponents’ head-sets, and miking the Pats’ defensive linemen to hear the offense’s audibles and the cadence between the center and the quarterback.”

No NFL discipline came from those allegations. And the fact that Mortensen was the reporter who broke the news of those allegations will lead many in New England to dismiss it. After all, Mortensen was also the reporter who incorrectly reported that 11 of 12 footballs the Patriots used in the AFC Championship Game were two PSI below the NFL’s 12.5 PSI minimum. If a false Mortensen report hurt the Patriots during Deflategate, then a Mortensen report about the Patriots in Spygate and Headsetgate won’t be received well in New England.

But the mere fact that the allegations existed — and that multiple teams have suspected the Patriots of headset tampering — means the NFL has a problem on its hands. There’s a perception that the Patriots cheat, and a perception that the NFL either isn’t willing or isn’t able to stop it.

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

2007 Spygate investigation included signal jamming accusation

Posted by Michael David Smith on September 11, 2015, 11:05 AM EDT

Getty Images
In 2007, when the NFL docked the Patriots a first-round draft pick for taping opposing teams’ signals, there were also accusations that the Patriots were jamming opposing teams’ audio communications. But at the time, those accusations went nowhere.

Now the Patriots are accused of interfering with the Steelers’ headset communications on Thursday night in New England, and those 2007 Spygate allegations will come back into focus.

While the Spygate investigation was ongoing during the second week of the 2007 season, Chris Mortensen of ESPN reported that “The league also was reviewing a possible violation into the number of radio frequencies the Patriots were using during Sunday’s game, sources said. The team did not have a satisfactory explanation when asked about possible irregularities in its communication setup during the game.”

Shortly after Mortensen’s report, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced that he was penalizing the Patriots for taping opposing teams’ signals. But Goodell said nothing about the Patriots violating any rules with respect to headset communications.

However, Mortensen then reported that taping opposing teams’ signals “could be the tip of the iceberg, and that the Patriots’ practices could include jamming the radio frequency in opponents’ head-sets, and miking the Pats’ defensive linemen to hear the offense’s audibles and the cadence between the center and the quarterback.”

No NFL discipline came from those allegations. And the fact that Mortensen was the reporter who broke the news of those allegations will lead many in New England to dismiss it. After all, Mortensen was also the reporter who incorrectly reported that 11 of 12 footballs the Patriots used in the AFC Championship Game were two PSI below the NFL’s 12.5 PSI minimum. If a false Mortensen report hurt the Patriots during Deflategate, then a Mortensen report about the Patriots in Spygate and Headsetgate won’t be received well in New England.

But the mere fact that the allegations existed — and that multiple teams have suspected the Patriots of headset tampering — means the NFL has a problem on its hands. There’s a perception that the Patriots cheat, and a perception that the NFL either isn’t willing or isn’t able to stop it.

[6025]

BREAKING NEWS!

The NFL clears the Pats of any wrongdoing in the headset issue, they are attributing it to electrical issues and inclement weather.

Well that settles that because we know the NFL is ALWAYS on the up-and-up!

http://espn.go.com/boston/nfl/story/_/id/13633179/nfl-clears-new-england-patriots-headset-suspicion-game-vs-pittsburgh-steelers

[TTK]

Tomlin pulling a Mike Martz. I guess someone had a "chat" with him.

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

Brady defends decision to not surrender phone

Posted by Mike Florio on September 11, 2015, 10:10 PM EDT

AP
Last week’s decision from Judge Berman didn’t exonerate Tom Brady. Instead, the reversal of the four-game suspension came from the legal inability of the NFL to suspend Brady for the conduct of which he was accused.

As to Brady’s failure to cooperate with the investigation, Judge Berman agreed with former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue’s assessment in the Saints bounty case that the NFL doesn’t have the power under the labor deal to suspend players for obstructing NFL investigations. So even if Brady refused to be interviewed or to provide any other information — or if he submitted to an interview and told nothing but lies — the NFL couldn’t have suspended him.

During Thursday night’s NBC broadcast of the Steelers-Patriots game, Cris Collinsworth recounted an explanation from Brady regarding his refusal to turn over his cell phone to investigator Ted Wells.

“My representatives said, ‘No way you are turning over your cell phone,'” Brady told Collinsworth. “They have no right to your cell phone whatsoever.’ Then he said, ‘I delete all my messages anyway, so even if they had gotten it, what difference would it have made?’

“They had all those texts anyway with Jastremski and Jim McNally and the guys in question. They had their phones, so it wasn’t like they didn’t have it.”

Regardless, Brady had a duty to reasonably cooperate with the investigation. To give that duty teeth, the NFL needs to have the power to suspend players who fail to cooperate with NFL investigations. In turn, the players need to have any suspensions imposed for a failure to cooperate reviewed not by Commissioner Roger Goodell but by an independent arbitrator.

NFL Players Association executive director DeMaurice Smith suggested Thursday night that such a swap would work for the players. The question is whether it would work for the league.

[Lightningwill_420]

The NFL should not have the right to take a person's cell phone. That's some personal shit.

I didn't agree with Brady's suspension. When a player cheats to win a game, the team should pay the price - not the player. When a center gets caught for holding, we don't just back up the center 10 yards; we back up the whole team.

When Brady got busted for cheating, the Patriots should have had their championships deleted from the history books. They are a bad team that gets credit for its fake dynasty - and that's some kind of bullshit.

[Mister Hoarse]

The NFL should not have the right to take a person's cell phone. That's some personal shit.

I didn't agree with Brady's suspension. When a player cheats to win a game, the team should pay the price - not the player. When a center gets caught for holding, we don't just back up the center 10 yards; we back up the whole team.

When Brady got busted for cheating, the Patriots should have had their championships deleted from the history books. They are a bad team that gets credit for its fake dynasty - and that's some kind of bullshit.

EE420 is back! So glad you didn't self-delete.

[Lightningwill_420]

EE420 is back! So glad you didn't self-delete.

Thanks.

To officially strike the Patsy Super Bowls from the record books, all their ticker-tape must now be re-done as shit parades. Piles of horse shit shall be thrown on them as they walk the streets of Boston.

[Stinky Wizzleteats+]

Former NFL official reported McNally “six or eight years ago”

Posted by Mike Florio on September 17, 2015, 3:30 PM EDT

Getty Images
For months, former NFL official Mark Baltz has had nothing to say about locker-room attendant Jim McNally, who was suspended for his role in #DeflateGate. Now that McNally has been reinstated, Baltz has gone on the record.

Baltz tells Bob Kravitz of WTHR.com that the Indy-based head linesman reported McNally to the league “six or eight years ago.”

“He always asked for the footballs way, way before he was supposed to get them,’’ Baltz said. “If he could get them 10 or 15 minutes before he was supposed to get them, instead of the usual two minutes before the game — and there were some crews that let him do that — he would do it. I wouldn’t let him take them early, and I think he eventually figured that out because he stopped asking after a while. I probably did 10 to 15 games up there [in Foxboro] and those first few times, he’d always ask. I always thought it was very suspicious. He certainly acted in a suspicious manner.’’

Baltz also noticed that McNally didn’t operate like other locker-room attendants.

“I always thought he was an unusual dude,’’ Baltz said. “Most locker room guys, they sit there and if you need something, they got it for you. When you left the locker room, you’d lock the door and they’d stay right there. The other 31 teams, that’s what they would do. That was his job.

“But McNally, he was running all around like a chicken with his head cut off. Asking for the balls early. What I specifically reported him for several years ago, and I thought this was really unusual, he’d run out on the field with the footballs before the game and the next thing you know, he’s playing pitch-and-catch with [Tom] Brady. Then, next thing, he’s on the sidelines right next to [Bill] Belichick, like he’s a [bleeping] assistant coach or something.”

Baltz said the NFL never responded to the concerns about McNally.

“He was always worried about the footalls,’’ Baltz said. “Always. It was very odd. I reported him to the league, but never got any reaction from them. I don’t think they thought it was a big deal at the time. But [McNally] did things that 31 other locker room attendants don’t do. . . . All I know is, when he got [the footballs], he would run. He would take off. Whether he was going somewhere and letting air out, I’m definitely suspicious, but I don’t know for sure.’’

I’m a little suspicious that we haven’t heard from Baltz sooner. Then again, I’ve always been suspicious of the guy who called himself “The Deflator.” And I can’t still understand why Commissioner Roger Goodell didn’t insist on testimony from McNally as part of the Tom Brady appeal hearing.