New England Patriots

[BurtReynolds]

the penalty sounds insane to me.

[@SkitchP]

In week 4 of the preseason, Tom Brady suffers an ankle sprain, resulting in 4 weeks off. Pats go 3-1 and we all laugh at Roger Goodell for his ineffective punishment.

[Green Habit]

Then, I expected much worse from all y'all leading up to and after the report came out (even my trolling produced nothing).

I think it's because anyone reasonable can conclude that this was a bullshit punishment.

Starting with the inclusion of Spygate. If Suh can have his sheet wiped clean for his priors, why not the Patriots as a team? You know, the team which was completely exonerated in the fuckin' report?!! I could understand if Brady was suspended and the two employees banned from working an NFL sanctioned game ever again, but the fine and the picks?!! Then there's the total number of games being 4. For a guy with no priors?

This is exactly how I feel. From my understanding, only Brady and the two low-level employees knew about this. Punishing the entire team, and especially to this level, makes no sense. The Patriots team isn't going to retire or be fired, so are they going to be on double secret probation for this and Spygate for eternity?

The only defensible punishment in my mind is Brady getting fined. As you astutely put it, Brady has no priors, and any suspension for this type of first-time infraction is overly harsh.

[Green Habit]

In week 4 of the preseason, Tom Brady suffers an ankle sprain, resulting in 4 weeks off. Pats go 3-1 and we all laugh at Roger Goodell for his ineffective punishment.

This happened to Wes Welker--he got concussed by the newly unemployed DJ Swearinger in the preseason (and had Peyton tell Swearinger to GFY), making his weird suspension moot.

[Coach]

There was a lot talk about how the Pats could not afford to lose Brady, Gronk or Revis during the Super Bowl run. When the season begins, 2 out of 3 are gone, with Brady returning at some point. It's not a death blow, but it's fairly close.

Agree that Brady and those two ding dongs on the text messages need to be punished, but fining the team and taking two picks is over the top, considering the report exonerated Kraft and Belichick.

[Green Habit]

[Coach]

A stunt from these guys: http://www.barstoolsports.com/

[Fuck You Jobu]

http://www.gofundme.com/NewEnglandPatriots

[verb_to_trust]

http://www.gofundme.com/NewEnglandPatriots

So dumb

[HardTI]

The Patriots' point-by-point rebuttal, which is nearly 20,000 words, was written by attorney Daniel L. Goldberg, who represented the club and was present during all interviews of team personnel conducted at Gillette Stadium.
http://wellsreportcontext.com/

[Self]

The Patriots' point-by-point rebuttal, which is nearly 20,000 words, was written by attorney Daniel L. Goldberg, who represented the club and was present during all interviews of team personnel conducted at Gillette Stadium.
http://wellsreportcontext.com/

Jesus, this makes it worse. They shoulda just stuck to the science instead of trying to explain away the incriminating texts.

[verb_to_trust]

no way im reading all that

[elliseamos]

The Patriots' point-by-point rebuttal, which is nearly 20,000 words, was written by attorney Daniel L. Goldberg, who represented the club and was present during all interviews of team personnel conducted at Gillette Stadium.
http://wellsreportcontext.com/

Jesus, this makes it worse. They shoulda just stuck to the science instead of trying to explain away the incriminating texts.

No, I think it's perfect bc it calls out the league, its officials, referees, and "rule 2" in general, which is at the heart of the texts. Nothing these mopes texted about isn't in their job descriptions. Not to mention, the false claim that the team or brady didn't cooperate.

[Electromatic]

Just come clean and be freaking done with it.

We're into the, "my wife's steroids" part of the lunatic argument.

Pardon me if I go deflate my bowels

The only thing I care about if I were a Pats fan is the draft picks.

[HardTI]

I'm slightly torn with this issue, although, ultimately I'm happy the Pats are fighting it. I 1000000% think Tom was fully aware of what was going on. The problem is that I have taken issue with quite a few of Goodell's punishments, and I think this is the worst of them all. I want the Patriots to fight this to maybe help put an end to Goodell's reign. All of the Wells report is talking points taken out of context. I'm actually shocked at the ineptitude of this NFL investigator.

[HardTI]

no way im reading all that

To paraphrase - the Pats have a legit counterargument to every point of the Wells report that seemed to be damning. Beyond that this shows how info was taken out of context and blown completely out of proportion. If you aren't aware of this already, the texts that seem to be the most damaging from the Wells report are from months before the actual AFC title game.

[E.H. Ruddock]

Goodell will be presiding over the appeal hearing. Wtf.

[elliseamos]

Goodell will be presiding over the appeal hearing. Wtf.

On the matter of the organization, I rule that their fine will be reduced to $500,000 and the picks will be returned... I like hugging large black men in tuxedos.

On the matter of the player, I rule that he should be required to immulate himself at the 50 yard line in San Francisco at Super Bowl 50, whether he's playing in the game or not. All other penalties laid down as a result of the Wells Report will be retracted.

[Self]

The Patriots' point-by-point rebuttal, which is nearly 20,000 words, was written by attorney Daniel L. Goldberg, who represented the club and was present during all interviews of team personnel conducted at Gillette Stadium.
http://wellsreportcontext.com/

Jesus, this makes it worse. They shoulda just stuck to the science instead of trying to explain away the incriminating texts.

No, I think it's perfect bc it calls out the league, its officials, referees, and "rule 2" in general, which is at the heart of the texts. Nothing these mopes texted about isn't in their job descriptions. Not to mention, the false claim that the team or brady didn't cooperate.

Yeah, he calls himself the deflator because he's kinda fat and he's trying to lose weight.

You can call out the league, its officials, referees, and "rule 2" in general without sounding like Jon Lovitz.

[elliseamos]

The Patriots' point-by-point rebuttal, which is nearly 20,000 words, was written by attorney Daniel L. Goldberg, who represented the club and was present during all interviews of team personnel conducted at Gillette Stadium.
http://wellsreportcontext.com/

Jesus, this makes it worse. They shoulda just stuck to the science instead of trying to explain away the incriminating texts.

No, I think it's perfect bc it calls out the league, its officials, referees, and "rule 2" in general, which is at the heart of the texts. Nothing these mopes texted about isn't in their job descriptions. Not to mention, the false claim that the team or brady didn't cooperate.

Yeah, he calls himself the deflator because he's kinda fat and he's trying to lose weight.

You can call out the league, its officials, referees, and "rule 2" in general without sounding like Jon Lovitz.

based on the rest of the texts that have been shared, I'm not sure "bird" isn't actually Jon Lovitz...