Recently the NFL Commissioner handed Super Bowl winning New England Patriot quarterback Tom Brady a suspension for the first four games of the 2016 season for “conduct detrimental to the integrity of the league” as his punishment for his involvement in the “DeflateGate” scandal. Brady was suspended without pay meaning he will forfeit over two million dollars in salary. The Patriots were fined a record setting one million dollars and two future draft choices “for violating the playing rules and failing to cooperate with the investigation”. This story has been well publicized as was the fact that these punishments resulted from the findings of an investigation by the league into charges that the Patriots used under inflated footballs during their AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts.
There are two elements of this story that I find particularly disturbing. The first is a failure by Brady and the Patriots to assume responsibility for an event which undeniably occurred. According to the investigation report, the Patriots did not cooperate with the investigators despite their public statements that they would do so and Tom Brady on several occasions stated that he wasn’t involved in the incident. There was however every indication that Brady and the Patriots were involved in a clumsy cover-up.
A Patriots’ equipment manager and an assistant equipment manager were both fired, never to be allowed to work in the NFL again. The two shared texts which indicated that they had deflated footballs throughout the season and which implied that they were doing so at Brady directions. Everyone in the league knows that it is always the quarterbacks who want the balls they use prepared to their specifications. Until 2006 the home team supplied all of the footballs used in a game, but that year the rules were changed such that now both teams supply the balls they use on offense. It was Tom Brady and Payton Manning who argued for the rules change 2006 which would allow quarterbacks to use footballs which best suited them. Under inflating a football is believed to make it easier to grip and throw especially in cold rainy conditions like those during the American League Championship game.
The investigation pinned the blame squarely on Tom Brady, but until now he has refused to admit that he was involved. There is a strong indication that one of the reasons that the Commissioner came down so hard on Brady and the Patriots was more about the attempted cover up and lack of cooperation with the investigators then the actual offense. After all, while “cheating” was involved, it’s not like anyone believes that the Colts could have won the game regardless. At the half the Patriots lead 17 to 7. Then after the footballs were properly inflated during halftime, New England scored 28 straight points in the second half to win the game 45 to 7. Surely Brady and the Patriots should have learned from Nixon during the Watergate episode and the Catholic Church during sex scandals involving priests, the truth is eventually going to surface and attempting to cover up misdeeds is only going to make matters worse.
However, even more troubling is the culture of “win at all costs” apparently instilled in the New England football team by their head coach Bill Belichick. This is the same team which took a chance on Aaron Hernandez because of his talent despite his shady reputation and we all know how that turned out.
Also back in 2007 the Patriots were heavily sanctioned for their role in the “SpyGate” incident. Belichick was fined a record half million dollars and the New England lost their first round draft choice for the 2008 draft after Patriots’ staff was caught videotaping New York Jets’ defensive coaches’ signals during a September 9, 2007 game in defiance of league rules. It appears that Belichick’s “anything to win” philosophy includes breaking the rules when necessity to secure a winning edge.
Heavens knows how many other times Belichick’s Patriots broke rules in order to get a winning edge and didn’t get caught. The combination of the Patriots propensity to cheat and then attempting to cover incidents when they are about to get caught is a receipt for future disaster.
Cajun 5/15/15