Brady Appeal Thread

NoDak

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If I was Brady I would not trust the NFL with my cell phone, if they didn't get what they wanted they would probably just leak anything embarrassing they found to further smear his reputation.
If they didn't find any thing pertaining to the case, why in the hell would they want to smear the reputation of their golden child with something unrelated?
 

Genghis Khan

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The little temper tantrum Kraft is throwing is amusing.

Go cry some more.
imagine if Jerry or Dan Snyder pitched this kind of fit when they were docked significant cap space for a bogus reason. Kraft's behavior is a bit of an embarrassment.
 

boozeman

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imagine if Jerry or Dan Snyder pitched this kind of fit when they were docked significant cap space for a bogus reason. Kraft's behavior is a bit of an embarrassment.
All it is doing is exposing his relationship to Goodell and how he feels that he should have got preference.

Eff that guy.
 

Cowboysrock55

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All it is doing is exposing his relationship to Goodell and how he feels that he should have got preference.

Eff that guy.
That is exactly right. It's actually why I was concerned that Goodell was doing the appeal. I thought it was probably just a way out to reduce the suspension and help his buddy out. I'm actually very surprised those two didn't work out a back room deal.
 

Simpleton

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All it is doing is exposing his relationship to Goodell and how he feels that he should have got preference.

Eff that guy.
I totally agree.

On one hand I feel like the NFL is completely arbitrary and full of shit when it comes to how they discipline players, as well as how they generally operate. With that said, everybody knows Kraft and Goodell have been giving each other handies beneath the negotiating table for years now and I'm glad to see that the NFL is sticking to their guns and not giving this asshole preferential treatment.
 

Texas Ace

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All it is doing is exposing his relationship to Goodell and how he feels that he should have got preference.

Eff that guy.
Yup.

I think that is exactly the reason why Goodell is being so tough in this instance. He doesn't want to give the other owners nor the other players the impression that Kraft and Brady have a different set of rules applied to them.

Fuck those arrogant, cheating ass bastards. They're getting what they deserve.
 

1bigfan13

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I don't know if this is an old joke but I just heard it today for the first time.

What's the benefit to marrying a Patriots fan?

They don't care if you cheat.

:drums
 

Cotton

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Jerry Jones backs Roger Goodell in standoff with Robert Kraft, Pats

Todd Archer, ESPN Staff Writer

OXNARD, Calif. -- If New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was looking for a sympathetic ear in the Tom Brady saga, he is not getting one from Dallas Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones.

Kraft on Wednesday was critical of Roger Goodell's decision to uphold Brady's four-game suspension for his role in the Deflategate scandal, saying he was wrong to put his faith in the league during the appeal process.

When asked about those comments at the opening news conference of Cowboys training camp later Wednesday, Jones backed Goodell.

"He's got obviously a very tough job," Jones said. "Now I see some people doing that, that's that old violin that's not feeling too sorry for him because that's why you pay the big bucks is to deal with the big problems. But he's doing an outstanding job. I can tell you firsthand that in his spot you have to with people that you are counting on to help build and to help excel as far as the National Football League, I'm talking about the owners, you have to know that you're going to make some decisions that are very unpopular with that particular group. This is the case.

"I can speak to that because on a personal basis as well as for my franchise and our Dallas Cowboys franchise, we've had that happen to us. I'm sitting there living with the result of the commissioner's decision still today that I didn't agree with when it happened. And so some of the very people sometimes that have the biggest complaints, they're the ones who give you a phone call and say, 'Hey let's be a team player now and let's all get in here and realize that this happens to everybody and let's go on and compete. We've got a great league and a great game.'"

In 2012, the NFL stripped the Cowboys of $10 million in salary-cap space in part for how they structured the contract of receiver Miles Austin in an uncapped year. Even without a hard cap in place, the league felt the Cowboys circumvented league rules. The Cowboys and Washington Redskins, who were docked $36 million in cap space, lost their appeals and chose not to fight the cases through the legal system.

"He has to make hard calls," Jones said of Goodell, "and more often than not, you're going to have a season or you're going to have a period of time where those go against you as an owner in the NFL."

The NFLPA filed motions Wednesday on Brady's behalf challenging the decision to uphold the suspension. The case was filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota and assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kyle. The union had hoped for Judge David Doty, who historically has ruled in favor of players in labor cases against the NFL.

If Brady is not able to reduce the suspension via federal court, he would miss the Patriots' Oct. 11 meeting against the Cowboys at AT&T Stadium.

"I think Tom Brady is arguably as great a quarterback as we've ever competed against since I've been in pro football," Jones said. "And so the fact that he may not be there is substantive. I don't want to in any way say that the teams Bill Belichick puts together up there and Bob Kraft owns can't figure out a way to beat us without Tom Brady. If anybody can do it, they can do it."
 

Cotton

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Robert Kraft calls Tom Brady's ban 'unfathomable,' apologizes to Pats fans

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft blasted the NFL on Wednesday for upholding quarterback Tom Brady's four-game suspension, calling it "unfathomable," while apologizing to the team's fans for agreeing to accept the league's penalties.

"I was wrong to put my faith in the league," Kraft said, noting that in doing so he felt it would help exonerate Brady.

"Six months removed from the AFC Championship Game, the league still has no hard evidence of anybody doing anything to tamper with the psi levels of footballs. I continue to believe and unequivocally support Tom Brady."

Kraft then explained why he agreed to accept the league's penalties of a $1 million fine, 2016 first-round draft choice and 2017 fourth-round draft choice.

"I, first and foremost, need to apologize to our fans because I truly believe what I did in May -- given the actual evidence of the situation, and the league's history on discipline matters -- would make it much easier for the league to exonerate Tom Brady. Unfortunately I was wrong," he said.

"I've come to the conclusion that this was never about doing what was fair and just. Back in May, I had to make a difficult decision that I now regret."

Kraft then ripped the league's investigation, calling it "extremely frustrating and disconcerting." Kraft referenced an ESPN report that stated 11 of the 12 Patriots footballs measured at halftime were significantly under the required range of 12.5 psi to 13.5 psi.

"I will never understand why an initial erroneous report regarding the psi level of footballs was leaked by a source from the NFL a few days after the AFC Championship Game, and was never corrected by those who had the correct information. For four months, that report cast aspersions and shaped public opinion," he said.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft blasted the NFL for Roger Goodell's decision to uphold Tom Brady's four-game suspension. AP Photo/Stephan Savoia
Kraft also took issue Wednesday with the way the NFL communicated the news that commissioner Roger Goodell decided to uphold Brady's four-game suspension on appeal. The NFL's case in New York has been assigned to Judge Richard M. Berman, who's directed the NFLPA to respond to the initial filing by Aug. 13. At the time the union responds, Berman said he would schedule a conference with the sides.

In particular, Kraft was upset by the league's emphasis on the idea that Brady destroyed his cellphone.

"Yesterday's decision by commissioner Goodell was released in a similar manner, under an erroneous headline that read, 'Tom Brady destroyed his cellphone.' This headline was designed to capture headlines across the country and obscure evidence regarding the tampering of air pressure in footballs.

"It intentionally implied nefarious behavior and minimized the acknowledgement that Tom provided the history of every number he texted during that relevant time frame. We had already provided the league with every cellphone of every non-NFLPA employee that they requested, including head coach Bill Belichick."

Kraft did not answer questions, and said he will not talk about the matter until after the legal process plays out, while advising everyone in the organization to do the same.

Brady, who released a statement on his personal Facebook page Wednesday, is not scheduled to hold a news conference.

"Tom Brady is a person of great integrity and is a great ambassador of the game, both on and off the field," Kraft said. "Yet for reasons that I cannot comprehend, there are those in the league office who are more determined to prove that they are right rather than admit any culpability of their own or take any responsibility for the initiation of a process and ensuing investigation that was flawed."

Kraft also appeared to fire a direct salvo at NFL general counsel Jeff Pash, who was a league-based reference for investigator Ted Wells in producing the multimillion-dollar report that was used as the foundation to penalize the Patriots.

"I have often said, 'If you want to get a deal done, sometimes you have to get the lawyers out of the room.' I had hopes that Tom Brady's appeal to the league would provide Roger Goodell the necessary explanation to overturn his suspension. Now the league has taken the matter to court, which is a tactic that only a lawyer would recommend," Kraft said.

Brady's agent, Don Yee, told ESPN's Ed Werder on Wednesday that he believes the timing of Brady's meeting with the Wells investigators and the destruction of his cellphone was coincidental. The league never asked for the phone itself, only the information it contained, Yee said.

Yee also said that Brady cycles through cellphones often, something a close friend of Brady also asserted in an interview with ESPN.

"The period they're looking for [information on the phone] is Sept. 1, 2014 to Feb. 28, 2015. By that time, Tom had cycled through phones," Yee told ESPN. "I don't think he can even recall how many. We happened to find one phone, one old phone and we conducted a forensic search of that phone that covered the September to November time period. That phone was actually only in use for four weeks, which kind of demonstrates how often he cycles through phones. One reason he cycles through phones frequently is given his notoriety, we have always been fearful of him losing his phone in an airport or restaurant, etc. So he has made a regular habit of deleting all emails and texts as well as cycling through phones. He, however, keeps one phone billing account tied to a single number."

The upholding of Brady's punishment is an outcome Kraft said he didn't think was possible when he accepted the league's penalties in May. He said Wednesday that it is routine for discipline in the NFL to be reduced on appeal, even when there is evidence of an infraction.

"I tried to do what I thought was right. I chose not to take legal action. I wanted to return the focus to football," he said.

"I have been negotiating agreements on a global basis my entire life, and I know there are times when you have to give up important points of principle to achieve a greater good. I acted in good faith and was optimistic that by taking the actions I took, the league would have what they wanted.

"I was willing to accept the harshest penalty in the history of the NFL for an alleged ball violation, because I believed it would help exonerate Tom.

"Given the facts, evidence and laws of science that underscore this entire situation, it is completely incomprehensible to me that the league continues to take steps to disparage one of its all-time great players and a man for whom I have the utmost respect.

"Personally, this is very sad and disappointing to me."

Belichick took the podium after Kraft, but the coach refused to discuss Brady's situation, answering repeated questions on the matter by saying, "It's already been addressed."

The NFLPA filed motions Wednesday on Brady's behalf challenging the decision to uphold the suspension. The case was filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota and assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kyle. The union had hoped for Judge David Doty, who historically has ruled in favor of players in labor cases against the NFL.

"We as a union are going to fight it," said Steelers guard Ramon Foster, the team's player rep. "That's what we're supposed to do as a union is fight those types of things so he's given every opportunity as a player."

The NFL told Brady that if he acknowledged that Patriots ball attendants Jim McNally and John Jastremski were doing something illegal, and if he acknowledged that he didn't cooperate with the league, the NFL would be willing to reduce his suspension to two or maybe even one game, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter. Brady declined to agree to the offer, which as one source said, "tells you how Tom feels about this case."

Attorney John M. Dowd, the investigator and author of the report that led Major League Baseball to ban Pete Rose, weighed in Wednesday and said Brady was "ambushed" by Goodell and that the "entire NFL disciplinary process lacks integrity and fairness."

"The record of the Wells investigation shows that this cellphone was not an issue or charge below. Tom and his counsel made it clear the cellphone would not be produced. He was not cited by Wells for failure to cooperate -- a separate charge never made -- because he did cooperate," Dowd said. "Thereafter, [Goodell] punished him for the tampering and made no reference to the absence of the phone or lack of cooperation.

"Meanwhile, the flawed Wells report was demolished publicly which put Goodell between a rock and a hard place given his dismal record with disciplinary decisions. As a result, Wells and the commissioner ambushed Brady on appeal with the phone and a new charge, to wit: failure to cooperate. But they knew and had no quarrel with the non-production of the phone before they learned it had been destroyed. By adding it to the reason for the suspension, the NFL commissioner has denied Tom Brady the fundamental right to notice of a charge and the right to defend against it."

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, meanwhile, commended the job Goodell has done.

"He's got obviously a very tough job," Jones said. "Now I see some people doing that, that's that old violin that's not feeling too sorry for him because that's why you pay the big bucks is to deal with the big problems. But he's doing an outstanding job."

Elsewhere, police in Scarborough, Maine, are patrolling the area around Goodell's home after the NFL reached out to them Tuesday.

"They did reach out and let us know about the decision and that it might not be popular," Scarborough Police Chief Robbie Moulton said, according to the Portland Press Herald.

Brady, who turns 38 on Aug. 3, will miss the first four games this season unless the case goes to court. Jimmy Garoppolo, a second-round draft pick in 2014, would replace Brady.

New England hosts Pittsburgh on Sept. 10, a Thursday night game that kicks off the regular season. The Patriots then go to Buffalo, host Jacksonville, have a bye, and are at Dallas in the last game of Brady's suspension. Oddsmakers at William Hill US, though, continue to keep the Patriots at 7-2 to win the AFC title and 8-1 to win Super Bowl 50.
 

dallen

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NFLPA sues NFL and Management Council in Minnesota

Posted by Mike Florio on July 29, 2015, 8:10 PM EDT

On Tuesday, the NFL filed a four-page lawsuit against the NFLPA in Manhattan. On Wednesday, the NFLPA filed a much longer lawsuit against the NFL and the NFL Management Council in Minnesota.

The 54-page petition requests that the the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota vacate the arbitration award in the Tom Brady case, arguing that the four-game suspension “defies” the Court’s decision in the recent Adrian Peterson case, “ignores” the “law of the shop” and essence of the labor deal, and “gives the back of the hand” to fundamental principles of “procedural fairness and arbitrator bias.”

The Peterson case is relevant because, according to the NFLPA, Judge David Doty concluded that the NFL is required to give players advance notice of potential discipline.

“Brady had no notice of the disciplinary standards that would be applied,” the petition says at page 3, “and no notice of the potential penalties.”

The petition also points out that the league and the NFLPA collectively bargained the punishment for “alleged equipment tampering by players,” and that the NFL was not permitted to disregard those provisions without advance notice.

The petition likewise explains that the “Competitive Integrity Policy” was “never given” to players, and that it specifically applies only to teams, not to players.

As to the allegation that Brady failed to cooperate with the investigation, the NFLPA argues that “a fine is the only penalty that has ever been upheld in such circumstances.” (In 2010, Brett Favre was fined $50,000 for failing to cooperate with an investigation regarding allegations that he texted inappropriate photos to a Jets employee.)

More generally, the petition claims that the discipline violates the “law of the shop” that requires fair and consistent treatment of players by basing Brady’s discipline on air-pressure tests that “did not generate reliable information,” and that the arbitrator (Commissioner Roger Goodell) was “evidently partial.”

As to the discipline based on air pressure, the NFLPA notes that the NFL first issued procedures for ball pressure testing only three days ago — “a stark concession that it had no procedures in place when the data on which Brady’s punishment was based was collected.”

At page 8, the petition calls the 20-page ruling from Commissioner Roger Goodell “little more than an exercise in rehashing the [Ted] Wells Report,” and accuses Goodell of making “unfounded, provocative and mystifying attacks on Brady’s integrity.”

As to that point, the NFLPA dusts off the ruling of former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue in the bounty case of 2012, who found that the NFL has never suspended players solely for obstructing an NFL investigation: “In my forty years of association with the NFL, I am aware of many instances of denials in disciplinary proceedings that proved to be false, but I cannot recall any suspension for such fabrication. This is no evidence of a record of past suspensions based purely on obstructing a League investigation.”

Right or wrong, the fact that the NFL doesn’t, and hasn’t, suspended players for such behavior arguably means that the NFL can’t suddenly start doing it, without collective bargaining. Which means that the NFL technically cannot suspend Brady for failing to cooperate — and that no players can be suspended for failing to cooperate until the NFL secures the ability to do so at the bargaining table.

The document also contains a lengthy quote from the statement provided on Wednesday by Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Which really isn’t surprising. Kraft’s verbal challenge to the league office sounds a lot like the kind of rhetoric for which NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith often draws criticism.

This time around, the union Smith runs and the team Kraft owns have one big thing in common: They agree in their mutual strong criticism of the NFL.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/29/nflpa-sues-nfl-and-management-council-in-minnesota/
 

Texas Ace

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Minnesota courts have already shot it down.

NY courts will hear this out.

:laff
 

dallen

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Minnesota court hands off Brady case to New York

Posted by Mike Florio on July 30, 2015, 9:49 AM EDT

NFL 1, NFLPA 0.

On Tuesday, the NFL immediately filed in federal court in Manhattan a lawsuit seeking confirmation of the arbitration award that suspended Patriots quarterback Tom Brady for four games. On Wednesday, the NFLPA filed a competing lawsuit in Minnesota.

On Thursday, the Minnesota court stepped aside.

As NFLPA spokesman George Atallah said during an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, the Minnesota case has been transferred to New York, where the NFL first filed the case.

While the NFL managed to avoid Minnesota, they still have to deal with Judge Richard M. Berman, who was appointed to the bench by a Democratic president — which means that Judge Berman’s overall philosophies and precedents will more likely favor labor, not management.

On Wednesday, Judge Berman directed the NFLPA to respond to the NFL’s lawsuit by August 13. The transferred case from Minnesota possibly constitutes that response.

Regardless, look for the NFLPA to swiftly ask Judge Berman to rule on the case by September 4 or, alternatively, to issue an injunction allowing Brady to play pending the outcome of the case.
 

peplaw06

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Smart of the league to file suit first given Doty's past rulings in NFL v. NFLPA cases.
 

jsmith6919

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:lol
 

dallen

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Umm, Tom Brady destroyed a Samsung and replaced it with an iPhone. Not the other way around. Totally unrealistic
 

Cotton

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Oh, c'mon.
 

Cotton

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ravidubey

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I don't understand any of this.

Ray Rice punches a woman unconscious and gets 2 games then an indefinite suspension.

Greg Hardy beats a woman and gets 4 games.

Ray McDonald beats a woman in exactly the same fashion and gets 0 games.

Tom Brady does maybe nothing at all and gets 4 games.

Adrian Peterson whips a child red and welted and gets 0 games.

WTF?
 
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