Deflate-Gate Roundup

There has been so much new information/opinions surrounding Deflate-Gate and you may be coming down with Deflate-Gate Fatigue Syndrome as diagnosed by Dan Shaughnessy, but here are some of the highlights over the last week-plus.

Seahawks star corner Richard Sherman is popular around New England for giving us this glorious reaction to the Malcolm Butler interception, but he gets even more credit for actually siding with Brady in the proverbial line-in-the-sand between Brady and the NFL.
Sherman believes Kraft got off easy, and Brady "shouldn't be punished so severely" for an incident in which "it wasn't just him" that was implicated. "Owners can only be fined so much. There's a cap," Sherman told USA Today Sports. "And Brady gets fined [roughly $2 million]. Whether the crimes are the same or not, a suspension is a suspension, a fine is a fine. Game checks."

Sherman is smart because he sees the bigger picture. Even if he believes Brady did something, it's irrelevant at this point.

With Tom Brady being a player in the NFL and therefore being in the NFLPA, Sherman does not want Brady's case to set a precedent where the player now gets over punished for something where there is no "direct evidence."

Former Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss was taking in Thursday's joint practice with the Saints and also weighed in on Tom Brady's recent dilemma.
"One thing you have to realize is Tom is human," Moss said. "I’m not going to sit up here and tell you it doesn’t affect him. Not only does it affect him, it affects everybody in his circle. That’s just something that as a professional, you just have to just live with it, just move on from it. We talk every month, but that’s something we don’t talk about. I told Tom, first and foremost, that I’m going to stand by him regardless of what happens, and I don’t call him to talk about anything negative. Friends are supposed to stay positive and move you in the right direction. That’s what I’m there for."

Brady's new favorite receiver Julian Edelman reiterated similar sentiments about dealing with Deflate-Gate with his QB.
"We don’t really talk about it at all, we’re just focused on trying to get better and take advantage of this training camp to to make our unit a cohesive unit.”

Now obviously Moss and Edelman are a tad biased being on the same team as Brady and so is former Pat Heath Evans, but he now works for the network owned by the NFL and still is not holding back from his opinions.
“I think people that are willing to read now and really start tracking everything that’s been released – everything that the Patriots released, everything that the NFLPA has released – you’re starting to see a completely different side of more or less a witch hunt, and maybe a few guys in the league office that had some ill will directed toward the Patriots and leaked out false reports and started a landslide that was just lies and propaganda,” Evans told DA. “If people really want to sit there and look through all the evidence … and look at the facts – not bullet-point broadcasting that the NFL Network and ESPN and FOX and other sources have done, but look at the facts – I’ve stood by the fact that Tom Brady is going to eventually walk away with no suspension.”

It isn't all sunshine with rainbows with Belichick alumni and sometimes you get the ex-player with an axe to grind and finds the right platform with The Dan Patrick Show.

Clearly, Jim McMahon's gripe is with Bill Belichick and not Tom Brady. It all stems from Bill not resigning and paying McMahon back in '95 after being waived by the Browns and eventually going to Green Bay to play only one game that season.

We know that Giants owner John Mara is sick of Deflate-Gate and he seems to be the only one on record by name actually saying something about it. However, other owners do seem to be eager to let this whole saga deflate into the sunset.

Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report talked to one owner on Friday and says Robert Kraft made the bed his team and quarterback is currently lying in, but does agree it needs to end soon.
"This entire episode is embarrassing our sport. It makes us look horrible. Think about how long this has gone on. This shouldn't happen." What should be done? "I don't know," the owner said. "But I think there needs to be a discussion."

The Colts have been in the news recently for basically calling the Patriots cheaters again. Former Colts head coach Tony Dungy said on Dan Patrick that he and Peyton Manning would not discuss any strategy for the game in the Gillette Stadium locker-room because they felt that the Patriots were bugging the room.

Bob Kravitz of WTHR revealed that this is a practice that the defending AFC Finalist's still go with.

Patriot fans have pointed out, and rightly so, that even on top of of this most recent claim, the Colts are not the most independent voice out there. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk points out a relationship in the Colts organization that is out there in plain view.
"There’s a connection between the team who made the complaint regarding deflated balls and the league office hiding in plain site at the team’s website. It’s a connection that is gratuitously touted in the biography of Colts Vice President of Football Operations Jimmy Raye III. Here’s the last line of the bio: “Raye’s father, Jimmy Raye II, played for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1969 and is currently a senior advisor to Troy Vincent who is the executive vice president of football operations for the NFL.”

Now Florio points that there is a lot of "cross-pollination in the league, but it clearly brings up a conflict of interest.

So that's it some of the headlines and recent developments with Deflate-Gate.

Tom Brady and Roger Goodell along with their lawyers will be in Richard Berman's courtroom on August 31st to try and put a bow on this whole mess, but don't hold your breath. It doesn't seem like Deflate-Gate will go away anytime soon, especially if either side appeals Berman's decision.

Photo Credit: CBS New York

Follow Tyler on Twitter: @TylerSully

Post a Comment
Share