NFL Postseason Megathread: Playoffs in the Post-Orton Era

[jimmy olsen]

Time for a lawsuit

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/nfl-commissioner-roger-goodell-upholds-tom-bradys-deflate-gate-suspension-n399821

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell Upholds Tom Brady's Deflate-Gate Suspension

by Erin McClam

The NFL on Tuesday upheld its four-game suspension of Tom Brady, the star quarterback of the New England Patriots — and said he had his phone destroyed just before he met with Deflate-Gate investigators.

The players union said it would appeal what they called an "outrageous decision." Unless Brady wins in court, he will sit out a quarter of the Patriots' season as they defend their Super Bowl title.

"Brady's deliberate destruction of potentially relevant evidence went beyond a mere failure to cooperate in the investigation and supported a finding that he had sought to hide evidence of his own participation in the underlying scheme to alter the footballs," the NFL said in announcing the ruling.





Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote that Brady, one of the most marketable athletes in the sport, "engaged in conduct detrimental to the integrity of, and public confidence in, the game of professional football."

An investigator hired by the league concluded earlier this year that there was "substantial and credible evidence" that Patriots personnel deflated footballs before the AFC championship game, and that Brady knew about it. Brady has denied wrongdoing.

The NFL on Tuesday filed suit in federal court to confirm the suspension. Brady has authorized the player's union, the National Football League Players Association, to appeal the suspension.

The NFLPA said it would appeal. The union said the league had no policy that applied to players, and the NFL violated the collective bargaining agreement.

The Patriots also defended their quarterback, and called the penalty excessive. "We continue to unequivocally believe in and support Tom Brady," the team said.

"We also believe that the laws of science continue to underscore the folly of this entire ordeal," the Patriots said in a statement. "Given all this, it is incomprehensible as to why the league is attempting to destroy the reputation of one of its greatest players and representatives."

A football inflated under the minimum pressure can be easier to grip, especially in bad weather, as the Patriots and Indianapolis Colts faced in the championship game.

Besides the four-game suspension of Brady, the team was fined $1 million and stripped of two draft picks.

Brady's agent and attorney, Don Yee, said "the appeal process was a sham, resulting in the Commissioner rubber-stamping his own decision."





"The commissioner's decision is deeply disappointing, but not surprising because the appeal process was thoroughly lacking in procedural fairness," Yee said. "Most importantly, neither Tom nor the Patriots did anything wrong. And the NFL has no evidence that anything inappropriate occurred."

The NFL said that Brady had the phone destroyed just before he met with Ted Wells, the NFL investigator, on March 6. The destruction was not disclosed until June 18, the league said.

Brady told the league that he routinely has his old phone destroyed when he gets a new one. But he offered no explanation for why he had his phone destroyed just before the meeting after using it for four months, the commissioner said.

Yee said Brady and his representatives turned over "an unprecedented amount of electronic data" during the investigation. "Tom was completely transparent. All of the electronic information was ignored; we don't know why," Yee said.

The investigator's report also faulted a Patriots locker room attendant and an equipment manager and included incriminating texts between the two. One of them referred to himself as "the deflator."

John Jastremski, the equipment manager, texted Brady on Jan. 19, the day after the championship game: "Dave will be picking your brain later about it. He's not accusing me or anyone. Trying to get to the bottom of it. He knows it's unrealistic you did it yourself."

[grumbler]

Maybe the lawyers here can clear something up for me:  how does the NFL file suit in court to "confirm its decision?"  I can understand how the NFLPA can file suit to dispute the decision as a violation of contract, but on what basis does the NFL file suit to confirm its decision?  Against whom are they filing? Can anyone file a suit to have the court confirm a decision?  What impact would such "confirmation" have?

I think that the whole scenario laid out by Wells is laughable (though I have no love for the Patriots) and can't imagine a judge upholding it, but I have to admit that I've never encountered this idea of having a judge confirm a private organizational decision before it is even challenged.  That's the weirdest part of the case for me so far.  Weirder even than Sam Nye making an ass out of himself for no reason at all.

[grumbler]

Oh, and destruction of the phone was dumb on Brady's part.  He was deliberately being mulish (probably because the NFL was being a bunch of assholes with their lying "leaks" about the footballs) but he should have kept the phone locked away for use in the court case.  Clearly, turning the phone over to the NFL (or even giving them access to whatever they thought "pertinent") would have been a mistake, but he knew this would all lead to a lawsuit and an impartial arbitrator, so he should have kept the phone for the arbitrator to see.

Unless, of course, there was something there (other than what he offered the NFL, which was to allow them to get all his messages from the recipients) that would hurt his case, in which case looking bad is better than being shown to be bad.

[ulmont]

Maybe the lawyers here can clear something up for me:  how does the NFL file suit in court to "confirm its decision?"  I can understand how the NFLPA can file suit to dispute the decision as a violation of contract, but on what basis does the NFL file suit to confirm its decision?  Against whom are they filing? Can anyone file a suit to have the court confirm a decision?  What impact would such "confirmation" have?

I think that the whole scenario laid out by Wells is laughable (though I have no love for the Patriots) and can't imagine a judge upholding it, but I have to admit that I've never encountered this idea of having a judge confirm a private organizational decision before it is even challenged.  That's the weirdest part of the case for me so far.  Weirder even than Sam Nye making an ass out of himself for no reason at all.

Declaratory judgment.  Anyone can file a suit (subject to occasional exceptions) to have the court declare rights if there's a real controversy; you don't have to wait to be sued first.  This is the federal act:

(a)In a case of actual controversy within its jurisdiction, except with respect to Federal taxes other than actions brought under section 7428 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, a proceeding under section 505 or 1146 of title 11, or in any civil action involving an antidumping or countervailing duty proceeding regarding a class or kind of merchandise of a free trade area country (as defined in section 516A(f)(10) of the Tariff Act of 1930), as determined by the administering authority, any court of the United States, upon the filing of an appropriate pleading, may declare the rights and other legal relations of any interested party seeking such declaration, whether or not further relief is or could be sought. Any such declaration shall have the force and effect of a final judgment or decree and shall be reviewable as such.

Brady and the NFLPA had said they were going to sue if the suspension was upheld, so the NFL doesn't have to wait for that.

[crazy canuck]

But wouldn't that be limited to seeking a declaration that the NFL had the right to impose punishment on Brady and not a declaration as to the correctness of the punishment which was imposed?

[The Minsky Moment]

Sadly NBC news does not provide a clear enough explanation to evaluate the basis for the legal action.

[The Minsky Moment]

Oh, and destruction of the phone was dumb on Brady's part.

If a court review does extend to the substance, that move will probably sink Brady's chances.

[ulmont]

Sadly NBC news does not provide a clear enough explanation to evaluate the basis for the legal action.

Here's the complaint - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0tSHrLsd6OyOVBOMEJSZU1VVjg/view?usp=sharing

It's actually "an action to confirm an arbitration award pursuant to Section 301 of the Labor
Management Relations Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 185 et seq."

[katmai]

Adios Aldon, oy vey Niners.

[derspiess]

I'm glad ESPN told me Arian Foster is an atheist in a big feature article.  That's definitely info I needed.

[Valmy]

I knew Arianism was the road to godlessness.

[dps]

I'm glad ESPN told me Arian Foster is an atheist in a big feature article.  That's definitely info I needed.

They say he wants to be the anti-Tebow.  Since Tebow, when given the chance to start, compiles poor personal statistics but wins a lot, I guess Foster wants to lose a lot while putting up good personal numbers.

[derspiess]

They say he wants to be the anti-Tebow.  Since Tebow, when given the chance to start, compiles poor personal statistics but wins a lot, I guess Foster wants to lose a lot while putting up good personal numbers.

Eric Dickerson already did that.

[MadBurgerMaker]

Eh?  Tebow didn't win a lot of games.  He's right around .500 in his starts, and he doesn't have many of those.  His stats aren't actually THAT bad either, which is kind of funny.  He just looked absolutely horrific.

E:  Here we go:  http://www.nfl.com/player/timtebow/497135/profile

The way some of those passes looked, I'm pretty shocked that he threw more TDs than INTs.  The explanation could be that some of his passes were just so poorly thrown that no one had a shot at them, O or D. The completion percentage is impressive in it's own way too.

[Sophie Scholl]

Adios Aldon, oy vey Niners.

The Raiders' time is now, sir.  There can be only one good team in the Bay Area!  All hail our new Silver and Black overlords!