Opinion of #DeflateGate?

[© tweed]

Pats will be underdogs in 3 of the 4 games Brady misses,  maybe a push home vs. Pittsburgh.  quite an opportunity for Garoppolo to get on people's radar.

adds a fun little wrinkle to the 2015 AFC East, which was set up to be entertaining to begin with.  I wouldn't be surprised by a 2002-like situation, everybody hanging around 9-7, 8-8, 7-9.

[© tweed]

the NFL came down on Tom Brady for a practice that was relatively accepted by most of the league until he did it harder than:

*Rape (suspended for the same amount)
*Animal cruelty (2 games)
*Assaulting your bodyguard (same amount of games)
*Repeatedly shoving another player's head into the ground and stomping on his arm
And most famously of all:
*Knocking out your wife and dragging her out of an elevator (also worth noting that this player's employer wasn't docked any draft picks for trying to cover it up)

the NFL is a football league.  this is not a church board.  it's not the NFL's job to make sure every employee behaves in their private life.

being a football league, offenses against the integrity of competition should be taken very seriously.  integrity of competition is at the center of gravity of the NFL's product.  (I'm not a fan of suspending players for off-the-field behavior - if they do something bad enough, they'll be incarcerated and won't be able to play, ie Aaron Hernandez, Plaxico Burress -- but, hey, the NFLPA is a weak-ass union.)

[© tweed]

And what Ndamukong Suh did to Evan Dietrich-Smith doesn't violate the integrity of competition? Or Aaron Rodgers and Eli Manning preparing balls the way they liked it?

1. a dirty play doesn't violate the integrity of competition in the same sense that conspiring with team staff to play with illegal footballs during an AFC Title Game, no.

I'm not familiar with what you're referring to on the second bit.

[© tweed]

And what Ndamukong Suh did to Evan Dietrich-Smith doesn't violate the integrity of competition? Or Aaron Rodgers and Eli Manning preparing balls the way they liked it?

1. a dirty play doesn't violate the integrity of competition in the same sense that conspiring with team staff to play with illegal footballs during an AFC Title Game, no.

I'm not familiar with what you're referring to on the second bit.

http://vid809.photobucket.com/albums/zz11/mascho030916/Football%20Central/ScreenCaptureProject295.mp4

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/sports/football/eli-mannings-footballs-are-months-in-making.html

I've no problem with giving the NFL control over game balls, like every other sport.  Eli's routine there is weird and OCDish, but there's no hint that he's not meeting specifications.  Brady deliberately broke specifications in a conspiracy with his team's personnel.