The Patriots Accept “L” Like G’s

on 05/22/2015 at 1:30 pm

Robert Kraft, the owner of the Patriots will accept the punishments issued by the NFL over this whole deflategate situation. The punishment was that Tom Brady will be suspended for four weeks and not return until they go up against the Colts. The Patriots will be fined 1 million dollars and lose two draft picks. The first round pick in 2016 and 4thround pick in 2017. This punishment is an overreaction — based on circumstantial evidence — by Commissioner Goodell.

The game in question was when the New England Patriots played the Indianapolis Colts January 18, 2015 in the AFC Championship game. The winner of that game, the Patriots, went on to the Super Bowl and had beaten the Seattle Seahawks. Several days after the Colts game Tom Brady and the Patriots were accused of using a deflated football.

Roger Goodell has not been known for good judgment in the past when issuing punishments to players decision making.

In the Wells report, the investigation over the deflated footballs, Brady was not as helpful as he should have been. Also there was evidence that points to Brady probably knowing about the deflated ball, yes the report said probably. This is all circumstantial evidence. There were two locker room workers that were at fault and they were both suspended indefinitely, by the Patriots. It was most likely that Brady asked these two men to deflate the balls. There is no definite proof of Brady’s guilt. Why would two staffers do this to the balls, this could have hurt the Patriots; unless a quarterback assured them that this would be helpful.

Brady does represent the Patriots and the million dollar fine is reasonable. The Patriots losing a first round pick is to harsh. The only guilty parties involved are two staffers and maybe one player. The Patriots should only lose one pick, like a 4th round pick.

Roger Goodell has not been known for good judgment in the past when issuing punishments to players decision making. What I mean by this is how he treated Ray Rice’s domestic incident, where Goodell suspended him for two games. Once video was leaked highlighting how brutal Rice attacked his wife, Rice was then suspended indefinitely. Later it was acknowledged that Goodell had this footage when he issued the two week suspension, thus becoming an embarrassment for himself as well as the NFL.

It wasn’t until Adrian Peterson’s situation of domestic abuse with his son, that Goodell saw it fit to suspend him the entire 2014–2015 season.

Kraft was going to challenge the ruling, but later believed that his decision will make the NFL stronger. He did not take any questions and asked the Patriots fans to trust his decision.

No longer will the NFL underestimate it’s punishment towards players from now on. I cant believe I am saying this but I was hoping that the Patriots will challenge the ruling. It is unclear how this will affect Brady, but I assume he will follow suit. Kraft might have been under pressure from the other 31 NFL teams to accept the commissioner’s ruling or he was just embarrassed and wanted it to go away. What ever you believe, it is over now and we can move on.

Should Robert Kraft continue to challenge the ruling? Was Roger Goodell reasonable in his actions? Is there something missing in this whole deflategate debacle? Please comment below and you can also follow me on twitter.