Deflategate - The Appeal

[fyo]

With Goodell having chosen to hear the appeal himself, as opposed to giving it to some neutral third party, there seems to be a general belief that the punishment will stay as-is. What do you guys think will happen?

Personally, I think Goodell will keep the punishment on Brady, but lessen the institutional sanctions. The Wells' Report provides a solid argument for doing so in its explicit exoneration of the Patriots franchise and coaches. The question to me is how far Goodell can go without appearing weak. The NFL has portrayed the existing punishment as the work of NFL Vice President Troy Vincent, but to most people, Goodell will look like he's backtracking on punishment he decided on himself.

[MikeO]

The last owner to sue the league was Al Davis and it wasn't pretty. If Kraft wants to go from being the most powerful owner in the league to taking the league to court and being on the outs with the Commissioner, league office, and 31 other owners go for it. Goodell should call his bluff and dare Kraft to sue the league as I don't think Kraft will. He has too much power to throw it away over this issue in which is QB and organization is clearly in the wrong.

Goodell should uphold the entire thing, but if he gave back the 4th round draft pick, whatever I would be fine with some small gesture like that.

[Dave Gray]

I think it will be cut in half to two games for Brady.

[MikeO]

I think it will be cut in half to two games for Brady.

Not saying that won't happen, but I am thinking that cutting it to 2 games still won't make Kraft happy. If it's cut in half, Kraft could still sue the league and be pissed off. So if that's the case why cut it in half? Keep it the same.

[Phishfan]

I will be very upset if they cut Brady's suspension. You don't hand down punishments on the idea that it is the start of a negotiation.

[mecadonzilla]

Brady is clearly guilty, so I don't understand why any mitigation of the suspension would be warranted.  Add the lying and obfuscation on top of that, and it's a wonder Brady is only getting 4 games off to begin with.

The organization should also be punished because of the involvement of its employees, but I can see (though not condone) lowering the financial penalty and/or the draft pick penalty.

[Spider-Dan]

I'm all in favor of reducing the meaningless fine from a meaningless $1M to a meaningless $500K.

As for Goodell ruling on the appeal: if he had given it to someone else, I would strongly suspect that 4 games was a negotiation ploy.

- Goodell gives Brady 4 games
- Brady appeals
- Tagliabue (or whoever) reduces it to one preseason game
- Goodell says "I tried, guys!" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- Goodell escapes criticism for being soft on Diamond Tom Brady and the Untouchable Patriots

However, since Goodell is ruling on the appeal himself, reducing it would make his negotiation ploy obvious, and he would take all the criticism.  (Remember, Goodell's primary goal is to take the action that results in the least amount of criticism towards himself.)  So he can't reduce the suspension.

[masterfins]

I believe the fine should be reduced to $250,000.00; so that my original prediction of 4 games and $250K fine is proven correct. 

[Fau Teixeira]

he should "review all facts" during the appeal and increase the suspension to 8 games

[MikeO]

Technically only Brady has appealed his 4 game suspension.

The Pats have yet to file an appeal to the loss of draft picks and the fine. They might in the end they just haven't yet.

[dolphins4life]

That'll be interesting to see what becomes of this

[EDGECRUSHER]

The Pats are just embarrassing themselves now. They have come out and said that the worker who called himself "The Deflator" did so because he was trying to lose weight.

A fucking Clinton wouldn't even lie like this.

[dolphins4life]

SI had a funny article on this issue.

They joked that the Patriots cheated because Mesko wore his socks the wrong way. 

[fyo]

The NFL owners' spring meeting starts today in San Fran. The rumor is that Goodell and Kraft will try to work out a backroom deal to avoid any further bad PR and lawsuit (incredibly unlikely in any event, IMHO). The Patriots haven't actually appealed their part of the punishment. The deadline for that is Friday, so they have some time to get things settled.

Goodell needs to cut a deal with Kraft on this. It's just too much of a mess right now and a lengthy appeal is only going to make it worse. The big question is how a deal with Kraft on the institutional punishment will affect Brady's punishment.

[MikeO]

Goodell needs to cut a deal with Kraft on this.

No he doesn't! Kraft and his team isn't above the rules.