With Framegate, the NFL Reaches A New Low
 Tom Brady's reputation is forever tarnished by the findings of the Wells Report released by the NFL. (USA TODAY Images) |
Now you know what took 103 days to cook up…
In what has become a complete fiasco, the NFL released the Wells Report on Wednesday and engaged in a total “CYA” (military jargon for cover your ass), operation that produced zero evidence of wrongdoing but uses double-speak and innuendo to forever tarnish the reputation of one of the greatest quarterbacks of its own history.
The league has pronounced Tom Brady guilty with nothing to show for it but accusations and now he’s facing fines and/or suspension. Now Mark Brunell can resume his tearful tirade on ESPN with vigor.
The NFL report finds that two Patriots part-time employees Jim McNally and John Jastremski “more probable than not” tampered with the footballs in the AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts.
More probable than not? This is what the league spent over 100 days to find? That is lawyer double speak for zero evidence. ZERO. Where is the smoking gun Mr. Commissioner?
Worse, was the wording of Brady’s supposed involvement; the league’s report states that “Tom Brady (the quarterback for the Patriots) was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities of McNally and Jastremski involving the release of air from Patriots game balls."
“More probable than not”….”at least generally aware.” Those are crushing indictments, if you live in Iran or Afghanistan. But here in the good old USA, not so much. Al Pacino says it best at the 13 second mark here:
If you are going to suspend the Super Bowl winning quarterback of the NFL for wrongdoing, you better come with more ammo, than “more probable than not” and “at least generally aware.”
The league was looking to sting the Patriots since they visited Indy in November, and once the accusations were made, the national press jumped right on board and declared them guilty and were already ready to pronounce sentencing.
So the league hired the “independent” investigation of Ted Wells and instead of looking to get to the truth, they looked for evidence to convict….which is an entirely different thing. It wouldn’t be the first time Wells and Exponent would have conducted this type of operation.
We’re waiting for Tom Brady to speak and he’s scheduled to be the guest speaker at Salem State on Thursday night. He may decide to speak earlier today but we’ll have to wait and see how the team wants to handle this. One person who already spoke is the quarterback’s father, Tom Brady Sr. who minced little words on how he feels about this latest farce. You are not supposed to be able to gate a “Gate”, but Brady Sr. did just that aptly calling this “Framegate” in an interview with USA Today
"I don't have any doubt about my son's integrity — not one bit," Brady Sr. told USA Today on Wednesday.
"In this country, you're innocent until proven guilty. It just seems Tommy is now guilty until proven innocent.
"This thing is so convoluted. ... They say that possibly — possibly — he was aware of this. The reality is if you can't prove he did it, then he's innocent, and lay off him. That's the bottom line."
"They had to protect their asses, and that's what they're doing," Brady Sr. said. "I just read that four Colts balls were underinflated. Amazing.”
Lost in the national outrage over the Patriots being pronounced guilty is that small troubling fact that at halftime, three of the four Colts footballs were found to be under the prescribed legal limit. But that small detail was glossed over in an “apparent” afterthought.
Since no pressure readings were done prior to the game, the fact that so many footballs were under the prescribed PSI should at least leave reasonable room for doubt. But that wouldn’t suffice in this case, not when it comes to the Patriots and Brady.
What’s even more incredible is the Wells report that exonerates the league and itself in a charge that the Patriots leveled at them for being unfairly biased against the team. But after pronouncing them guilty with a ambiguous, inferred report that is long on innuendo and short on actual evidence, it is “more than probable” that the league stinks to high heavens on this one.
Tom Brady’s reputation in this matter is forever marred by this fiasco. That IS a fact. And now the league will waste little time in pronouncing his fine and/or suspension which means that in September when the league kicks off the league season, Jimmy Garappolo will be under center for the Patriots.
The league went full-bore on trying to and “more probable than not” failing to prove that the Patriots and Brady cheated. But that won’t stop this train from rolling.
This is a quintessential moment in the train wreck that has been the Roger Goodell administration for the NFL. It is “more than probable” that Mr. Pacino has it completely right on this one.
Follow me on Twitter @SteveB7SFG or email me at [email protected]
Listen to our Patriots 4th and 2 podcast on blog talk radio as the writers Russ Goldman, Derek Havens and I from PatsFans.com discuss the latest Patriots news Wednesdays at 12 noon.
