New England Patriots News 6-21 and Notes Around the AFC East
 The Patriots wrapped up their mini-camp a day early and are off until training camp begins at the end of July. (SBalestrieri Images) |
Good morning, here are Sunday’s Patriots news notes and what’s happening around the division:
Kraft’s Israel Visit Deepening in Tradition: On Tuesday, Robert Kraft jetted off for Jerusalem and with him were Pro Football Hall of Fame President David Baker and 19 Hall of Famers including former Patriots John Hannah, Michael Haynes, Andre Tippett and Curtis Martin.
Kraft is spearheading this trip, “Touchdown in Israel” as well as paying for all travel arrangements and accommodations for all of the guests on this trip to act as ambassadors for the NFL. The guests will watch a scrimmage of the Israeli national team and host an event at the stadium that bears Kraft’s name that he built in 2000.
This kind of trip with so many Hall of Famers from all over the league is a first of its kind, bringing the NFL shield and many of its greatest ambassadors to a country that is building their own legacy. Kraft has made many philanthropic visits to the Holy Land with his late wife Myra and he also funded the Kraft Family Israel Football League.
We did a story on the league and had an interview with League President Steve Leibowitz back in 2011 and the league is remarkable as one of the few places where young Jews and Palestinians not only work together but cheer for one another. When Myra Kraft passed away the people of Jerusalem held a memorial service in the Kraft stadium attended by the former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, a close friend of the Kraft family as well as other dignitaries and Kraft’s son Dan. Robert Kraft spoke via video to the crowd in Hebrew.
For Curtis Martin, he says witnessing how the game is growing outside the U.S. will be educational for him. The Hall of Famers will also have the chance to visit various historic and religious landmarks, many for the first time and meet with Israeli government officials. “We all need a different understanding of Israel,” Martin said to the press. “And to see it in this way, it could be the most significant trip any of us has ever been on.”
After a tumultuous winter and spring where the Patriots not only won a Super Bowl but had its 2016 first round draft pick stripped away in the Deflate-gate mess, Kraft is back to doing what he does best. Bringing people together and promoting the NFL and its product.
Brady Appeal Set for Tuesday: All eyes will be looking to Park Ave. on Tuesday morning at 9:30. Tom Brady’s four-game suspension appeal will be heard by Commissioner Roger Goodell….(you really didn’t think he’d let anyone else hear this did you?)
Standing behind Goodell and the league is the Ted Wells report with the “independent investigative” firm of Exponent. Brady will have his team of lawyers headed by Jeffery Kessler and the NFLPA. Recent reports by AEI and published by the NY Times “deflate” most of Wells claims as flawed.
There is also history to be heard…in investigating former Jets and Packers QB Brett Favre who was accused of texting pictures of his private parts to a Jets staffer, Favre refused to turn over his cell phone to the league. His punishment was a $50,000 fine. Brady’s refusal to turn over his phone was cited as a failure to cooperate and was a major factor in his four-game suspension.
Then there is the league itself, VP in charge of Officiating Dean Blandino in answering the Patriots charges of a sting operation stated that he heard about Deflate-gate for the first time at half-time of the AFC Championship Game. But the facts state otherwise.
After Colts GM Ryan Grigson made his suspicions to the league about the Patriots and their footballs air pressure, he emailed the league about them. Senior VP of Football Operations David Gardi and Director of Football Operations Mike Kensil forwarded the email of the Colts to Blandino, and Alberto Riveron as an “FYI” to see the Colts suspicions.
Blandino on the day BEFORE the Championship game instructed referee Walt Anderson to ensure that the proper protocols were followed for the footballs.
The New York Post grilled Blandino on the idea of a Patriots sting operation on January 29 and he had this to say. “I don’t know where (a sting) came from,” Blandino said. “This was a problem that came up in the first half.” This is more probable than not…an outright lie. And that is from the head of officiating….the guy who protects the integrity of the game.
Michael Hurley from CBS Boston wrote an interesting piece on the entire episode that can be read here: Also why was Goodell kept in the dark…or was he?
Goodell spent $5 million for the biased and misleading Wells Report….he’s forced to either admit the league lied or stand his ground and uphold the suspension. Of course he may reduce it to a game or two, but if he does either of those, I believe this one is heading for court as Brady is unlikely to accept any penalty. If the appeal needs more time it will be held on Thursday....stay tuned.
Mini-camp Ends Early, Belichick Pleased…so far: The Patriots wrapped up their mandatory mini-camp a day early and Bill Belichick as he’s done in the past, cut the final day of camp out and got the players off for an early vacation.
The team won’t be back until training camp begins in late July, and Belichick for one was looking forward to getting some fishing in on Nantucket. But as to mini-camp he stated, "We've got a lot of stuff in," he said. "We've done a lot of things. We've gotten into more situational football each day. We'll just keep building on that. It's good to expose it to them once and then the next time around hopefully it will come a little bit quicker.”
Early standouts included CBs Logan Ryan and Malcolm Butler, TEs Rob Gronkowski and Scott Chandler who worked on the side often with Tom Brady building up some chemistry in the red zone and Jimmy Garappolo. Garappolo was getting almost 50 percent of the reps in preparing for the possibility that Brady will be suspended for the first four games of 2015.
"We're not going to conquer the world this week,” Belichick added. “But we can just keep pushing forward on all the basic situations and then as many of those extra ones as we can get to just puts us that much further ahead down the road," he said.
Brady Donates All Money From Speaking Engagement: In May Salem State University a non-profit school paid Patriots QB Tom Brady, $170,000 to speak at the school. Brady was chastised by some in the press for accepting any money at all.
The well-attended event was paid for by school’s Foundation and thru ticket sales and corporate sponsors netted the school a reported $40,000. It was the only time since the Wells Report came out that Brady has spoken publicly…..but Brady didn’t keep a cent of the money.
It was later reported that Brady donated $50,000 of the money to his favorite charity “Best Buddies” that he actively supports thru a touch football game at Harvard Stadium each year and a bike ride from Boston to Cape Cod. The remaining $120,000 was donated to other charities supported by Brady and his wife Giselle Bundchen.
So all in all it was a win-win. The school netted $40,000 and although Brady was paid a tremendous amount of money for an hour’s appearance, every dime of it went to deserving charities. There is no negative spin there even for the die-hard Brady or Patriots bashers.
Eastbound and Down…..News from around the AFC East:
Bills QB Carousel Shows No Sign of Slowing Down: The Buffalo Bills will have a tremendous defense in 2015, that is a given and they’ve upgraded their offense with a number of well known free agents including Shady McCoy and Charles Clay.
But for the most important position on offense, at quarterback there are still more questions than answers. All three candidates for the starting job, Matt Cassel, Tyrod Taylor or E.J. Manuel looked good when facing the Bills defense in 11-on-11 drills. Part of that could be attributed to the Bills pass rush, except there wasn’t one in mini-camp.
With training camp starting in about six weeks the Bills are still in limbo as to who is going to lead this offense once the season starts. Training camp will be an interesting one to watch for the Bills offense.
Dolphins – Panthers Agree to Joint Practices: The Miami Dolphins announced that they’ve agreed to conduct joint practices with the Carolina Panthers. The teams will meet on August 19-20 at the Wofford College campus in Spartanburg, South Carolina where the Panthers conduct training camp prior to the August 22 pre-season game between the two teams.
This will be the first joint practice venture for the Dolphins under Joe Phillbin. The Panthers haven’t held a joint practice since holding one with Detroit in 2000.
The Dolphins begin training camp on July 28, while the Panthers start on July 30.
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