[News] Late For Work 5/8: Ravens Already Sign Maxx Williams, Over Half Of Draft Class

[rmcjacket23]

Because they sign a contract agreeing to the League's Code of Conduct, and giving them access to that sort of thing. No subpoena necessary.

 

I (and most hospital workers in this country) can be asked to turn over BLOOD for a drug test at any time by my employer, because I agreed to that upfront as a condition of my employment. I can refuse, but I'd also be fired.

 

Same thing with Br*dy. He refused. He should be fired. Not so hard to understand.

LOL, uh no. You are way, way, way, way, way, way off.

 

1. Tom Brady's employer never once asked for his cellphone or his email. A third party, who has zero power or authority over Brady in any way shape or form, asked for it. He declined. He has every right on the planet to decline. Frankly, even if he has nothing to hide, he gains precisely ZERO by turning it over to them.

 

2. In his business, he also has something called a Union. So in the event his employer requests that he does something that he questions the legality of, he can speak with his Union, who are paid absurd amounts of money to protect his interests. So in reality, without due process (via Union appeals, lawsuits, etc.), he CAN'T be fired in that instance. He may ultimately get to that point, but after several, several months of litigation. AND, that's ignoring the fact that no legal system on the planet would rule in the NFL's favor in that instance.

 

This is the danger the public gets into when they start comparing their place of employment to the NFL. Two vastly different worlds.

 

I actually feel sorry for people who willfully just do whatever they're told all the time without even a vague understanding of what the purpose of it is. And the most amusing part to me... they didn't even need his phone. They already had his texts anyway.

[rmcjacket23]

Here is a thought, suspend Brady from playing against the teams he cheated against, colts, ravens, any others they know about. I like it, or suspend Brady from playing in the play offs in 2016, man that would be awesome.

So basically, one game against the Colts, since that's all they know about.

 

Also, they wouldn't even play the Ravens until at least the playoffs, so if the scheduling had fallen a different way, he could be looking at a zero game suspension.

[reed20fence]

While I gave you a like, the only issue is if you put Reed out there, you gotta put Ogden too. How many statues can we fit?

I agree, that is a concern. I'm thinking the organization has had this debate internally as well.

If the criteria is simply any guy that's in the HOF then where do you draw the line on guys that only played a few years for us that are in the Hall (i.e. Rod Woodson, Shannon Sharpe, Deion Sanders)? 

If it's guys that played their entire careers here then why Reed over Ogden?

If it's only "iconic" players that definite the story of Baltimore Football then Unitas and Lewis make sense, but why not Reed? He was a big part of establishing Baltimore as a defensive juggernaut along with Lewis. But by this criteria it's impossible for an offensive lineman like Ogden to get a statued, since they aren't playmakers, but definitely game changers.

Ultimately it's a nebulous definition.

[stixfix69]

Would be very surprised if he got anything more than a fine....The Pats do what they do, it's worth any fine to get a Lombardi in their view....If a Colts linebacker can notice a ball felt mushy, their is no way Brady didn't since he handles the ball more than any other player....but...it's in the past, lets move on and win another Lombardi by playing by the rules....

[Joey Flac]

brady should get the hammer considering he didn't comply with the investigation.. conduct detrimental to the league.

[rmcjacket23]

I agree, that is a concern. I'm thinking the organization has had this debate internally as well.

If the criteria is simply any guy that's in the HOF then where do you draw the line on guys that only played a few years for us that are in the Hall (i.e. Rod Woodson, Shannon Sharpe, Deion Sanders)? 

If it's guys that played their entire careers here then why Reed over Ogden?

If it's only "iconic" players that definite the story of Baltimore Football then Unitas and Lewis make sense, but why not Reed? He was a big part of establishing Baltimore as a defensive juggernaut along with Lewis. But by this criteria it's impossible for an offensive lineman like Ogden to get a statued, since they aren't playmakers, but definitely game changers.

Ultimately it's a nebulous definition.

From a national perspective, I think Ray is significantly more of an "iconic figure" than Ed Reed was. Certainly in Baltimore Reed would qualify as such, but Ray had much more of national intrigue I believe, which probably has influence over whether he gets a statue.

 

I personally was never a fan of the statue concept to begin with, because it only leads to debates like this. The Ring of Honor is designed for just this situation, and Reed will be going into that this year.

[windew007]

I would like to see them continue to do Iconic player Statues like Lewis and Unitas (I do not put Reed in this category). What I would like to see is maybe a Hall of Fame wall with just the Player Busts of Ravens Players in the H.O.F.

[4everraven]

I'm one of the few Ravens fans who doesn't loathe Brady or the Patriots. However, it is abundantly clear to the most ardent Patriots fan that a culture exists in NE that promotes or fosters cheating. This is what the NFL must change in that organization. They only way to do so is with penalties, fines, and suspensions that will not only make the Patriots think twice about cheating but other organizations as well. Something similar to the sanctions levied against the Saints for Bounty-gate. Suspend Kraft and Belichick for the year. They are responsible for the culture of cheating permeating throughout the organization. Suspend Brady the LAST 6-8 games of the season and for the entire post season the next time the Patriots qualify.

[AsianRice]

I just hope we get to cover more clips on opening day of rookie minicamp....I am just too anxious to see any kind of clips about our training camps: rookie, veteran, or even just them walking around. I mean I'm just that pump too see Ravens football on the practice field, even they just stretching....

[rmcjacket23]

I'm one of the few Ravens fans who doesn't loathe Brady or the Patriots. However, it is abundantly clear to the most ardent Patriots fan that a culture exists in NE that promotes or fosters cheating. This is what the NFL must change in that organization. They only way to do so is with penalties, fines, and suspensions that will not only make the Patriots think twice about cheating but other organizations as well. Something similar to the sanctions levied against the Saints for Bounty-gate. Suspend Kraft and Belichick for the year. They are responsible for the culture of cheating permeating throughout the organization. Suspend Brady the LAST 6-8 games of the season and for the entire post season the next time the Patriots qualify.

The problem I have with this is that I think too many people are taking the Deflategate case and blaming it on the Patriots organization. Frankly, I've seen zero evidence (and apparently, neither did the report) that indicates that's the case.

 

Its certainly ludicrous to think that Robert Kraft has even vague knowledge of this, and frankly, I don't understand why Belichick would care about this either. To me, this is a pretty simple case of a QB working with his team of equipment men to obtain a competitive advantage.

 

I can't make the leap from Spygate to now assuming that the culture of the organization is shattered because Brady wanted to deflate some footballs. I think they are two completely separate incidents, perpretated by two completely separate people/group of people.

 

I've seen this growing trend in society where the primary goal of any sort of scandal is to burn at the stake anybody who knew, could have known, should have known, or might have known but we don't really know so we will burn them too. Never really made much sense to me. How about we actually hold the people who are responsible for the actual infraction that we are talking about accountable. I don't know how anybody could even perceive that Kraft or probably even Belichick are responsible for Brady wanting his footballs deflated.

 

So all we are really doing by punishing Kraft or Belichick, is just punishing them again for Spygate. That's all it really is.

 

Frankly, I hold the HC/owner of a franchise as responsible for this incident as I hold a franchise HC/owner for their players using PEDs, which as you know, never happens.

 

Either way, at some point society has to shift towards actually punishing people that commit infractions, vs attempting to punish every person who may have known that person.

[sami]

Brady cheats against US and the Steelers benefit? How hard would THAT be to swallow. They ought to give us a draft pick and Indianapolis too for knocking us out of the playoffs by cheating,and not give the Steelers (cheaters themselves) a handout on their first game.

[RRRRRavens]

I think the greatest punishment for Brady, assuming he really is guilty, is for the rival fans at all the Patriot's away games to bring in flattened footballs to the game and hold them prominently for the media to see.

[Popeye the sailor man]

The Commissioner if he had any balls should suspend Brady, Belichick for the season ,why should the Patriots be any different than all the other NFL teams that have cheated and were suspended

[rmcjacket23]

The Commissioner if he had any balls should suspend Brady, Belichick for the season ,why should the Patriots be any different than all the other NFL teams that have cheated and were suspended

Like who?

 

Cleveland Browns cheated last season... how many of their players/coaches were suspended.

Atlanta Falcons cheated last season (and multiple seasons before that)... how many of their players/coaches were suspended.

 

There's the Saints, and there's basically nobody else in quite a few years. We've got two examples in the last twelve months of organizations who were found to have cheated.

 

One had their GM suspended for 4 games (I'm not even sure what this accomplishes quite frankly) and was fined. They didn't even suspend the GM during the crucial times of the year, such as draft and FA. If anybody suspended Ozzie Newsome for the entire month of September... would anybody here even care? Might be the single most irrelevant time of the year for his position in the organization.

 

The other was fined and forfeited a 5th round draft pick in the 2016 draft (not even the current year draft). And that was for repeated instances.

[Claire]

LOL, uh no. You are way, way, way, way, way, way off.

 

1. Tom Brady's employer never once asked for his cellphone or his email. A third party, who has zero power or authority over Brady in any way shape or form, asked for it. He declined. He has every right on the planet to decline. Frankly, even if he has nothing to hide, he gains precisely ZERO by turning it over to them.

 

2. In his business, he also has something called a Union. So in the event his employer requests that he does something that he questions the legality of, he can speak with his Union, who are paid absurd amounts of money to protect his interests. So in reality, without due process (via Union appeals, lawsuits, etc.), he CAN'T be fired in that instance. He may ultimately get to that point, but after several, several months of litigation. AND, that's ignoring the fact that no legal system on the planet would rule in the NFL's favor in that instance.

 

This is the danger the public gets into when they start comparing their place of employment to the NFL. Two vastly different worlds.

 

I actually feel sorry for people who willfully just do whatever they're told all the time without even a vague understanding of what the purpose of it is. And the most amusing part to me... they didn't even need his phone. They already had his texts anyway.

The reason that Brady's agent didn't give the text and email messages that Wells wanted so that they could get as much information as possible for the investigation was, "...any information we would have provided, and the Wells investigative team did ask us to go through Tom's phone ON OUR OWN and provide them with information if we chose to go that route. But as you might surmise if we would have chosen to go that route, any information we would have given them, they probably would have had skepticism about anyway."

 

So rather than there be some skepticism, they chose to give nothing.  I guess that would eliminate any skepticisim. 

 

Not sharing that information is Brady's choice.  Of course what people don't understand is that when your employer is the NFL, that is a deterimental move.  Not cooperating with the investigation is considered conduct detrimental to the league and that could exacerbate any punishments for Brady. Also, as PFT's Mike Florio writes, while the NFL doesn't have subpoena power, it does have "absolute employment power over all players. Whatever it requests as part of its investigation, the NFL gets. If the NFL doesn't get it, a separate basis for discipline arises."

[Claire]

Like who?

 

Cleveland Browns cheated last season... how many of their players/coaches were suspended.

Atlanta Falcons cheated last season (and multiple seasons before that)... how many of their players/coaches were suspended.

 

There's the Saints, and there's basically nobody else in quite a few years. We've got two examples in the last twelve months of organizations who were found to have cheated.

 

One had their GM suspended for 4 games (I'm not even sure what this accomplishes quite frankly) and was fined. They didn't even suspend the GM during the crucial times of the year, such as draft and FA. If anybody suspended Ozzie Newsome for the entire month of September... would anybody here even care? Might be the single most irrelevant time of the year for his position in the organization.

 

The other was fined and forfeited a 5th round draft pick in the 2016 draft (not even the current year draft). And that was for repeated instances.

Are any of the organizations you mentioned repeat offenders?  Is there any historical pattern of cheating in any of the franshises listed?

 

I think that may impact the Commissioner's decision.  To me the Pats seem to not care about punishments.  Fines and drafts pics are meaningless to them.  Their response seems to be, "we'll just find another way to skirt the rules, because the league rules don't matter to us."  Brady was on the team the last time they were involved in a cheating scandal.  The last punishment didn't have any impact at all. 

[Space11jams]

This time go around, Kraft and Bill is spared but I would like to see them be a little more proactive about it if they aren't already. This is simply the result of Brady doing any and everything he can to keep his name and team on top. For the longest that org has been pampered and him being the golden child of the league has been spoiled. Name another player that can scream and curse in a refs face without getting thrown out the game. That's ridiculos, but let another play do it their getting tossed. It's time Rodger once and for all put a end to this mess and have equal rights around the league. Make a example out of him just like he tried to do with Ray. Brady should be gone for the entire season because as far as im concern, he could've had this thing going for a while. Have you guys see their fumble rate? Suspend him for the entire year and put the backup in. He might lose his job afterwards which will show that he's nothing but a system QB. That would be awesome! lol

[rmcjacket23]

The reason that Brady's agent didn't give the text and email messages that Wells wanted so that they could get as much information as possible for the investigation was, "...any information we would have provided, and the Wells investigative team did ask us to go through Tom's phone ON OUR OWN and provide them with information if we chose to go that route. But as you might surmise if we would have chosen to go that route, any information we would have given them, they probably would have had skepticism about anyway."

 

So rather than there be some skepticism, they chose to give nothing.  I guess that would eliminate any skepticisim. 

 

Not sharing that information is Brady's choice.  Of course what people don't understand is that when your employer is the NFL, that is a deterimental move.  Not cooperating with the investigation is considered conduct detrimental to the league and that could exacerbate any punishments for Brady. Also, as PFT's Mike Florio writes, while the NFL doesn't have subpoena power, it does have "absolute employment power over all players. Whatever it requests as part of its investigation, the NFL gets. If the NFL doesn't get it, a separate basis for discipline arises."

That's all well and good, but I doubt not providing the NFL with private information (such as text messages and emails) is sufficient enough to classify him as "not cooperating". There were numerous other instances that the report focuses on where the investigator felt Brady didn't cooperate, which we already knew about.

 

And like most cases, Mike Florio is wrong (shocking there). Mike Florio knows there's a gigantic wall in between the player and the NFL that is called the NFL Players Association. We've seen dozens of cases where the NFL issues a punishment and it is either reduced or eliminated all together via the NFLPA. I believe, by definition, that's the exact opposite of the NFL "getting what it wants". Heck, if the NFL got what it wanted, Adrian Peterson would have never been reinstated. Yet, he is.

 

If I were Brady, and I were actually presented with the option of turning over personal items that I don't want others to see, or face punishment from not doing so, I'd choose the punishment. There's arguably far less risk involved in that.

[rmcjacket23]

Are any of the organizations you mentioned repeat offenders?  Is there any historical pattern of cheating in any of the franshises listed?

 

I think that may impact the Commissioner's decision.  To me the Pats seem to not care about punishments.  Fines and drafts pics are meaningless to them.  Their response seems to be, "we'll just find another way to skirt the rules, because the league rules don't matter to us."  Brady was on the team the last time they were involved in a cheating scandal.  The last punishment didn't have any impact at all. 

Nope, there isn't.

 

But then again, there really isn't for the Patriots either, because that implies that you somehow blame the Patriots as an organization for Tom Brady deflating footballs. If the NFL is basing a large amount of its decision and punishment on the Wells Report, then don't expect much, if any, punishment for the organizatin as a whole, because the Wells report largely exonerates those parties. Specifically, parties like Belichick and Kraft (the two "big dogs" within the organization) come out of the report basically scott free.

 

Again, the only real organizational failure I see is Spygate. I don't even understand why people think this incident is an organizational failure. Botching the Ray Rice investigation and punishment... that's an organizational failure. What the Saints did... organizational failure.

 

If this is viewed as an organizational failure, then I'd have to view Haloti Ngata getting busted for Adderall as an organizational failure.

[rmcjacket23]

This time go around, Kraft and Bill is spared but I would like to see them be a little more proactive about it if they aren't already. This is simply the result of Brady doing any and everything he can to keep his name and team on top. For the longest that org has been pampered and him being the golden child of the league has been spoiled. Name another player that can scream and curse in a refs face without getting thrown out the game. That's ridiculos, but let another play do it their getting tossed. It's time Rodger once and for all put a end to this mess and have equal rights around the league. Make a example out of him just like he tried to do with Ray. Brady should be gone for the entire season because as far as im concern, he could've had this thing going for a while. Have you guys see their fumble rate? Suspend him for the entire year and put the backup in. He might lose his job afterwards which will show that he's nothing but a system QB. That would be awesome! lol

There is a video that can be found easily on the internet that shows a QB who wears the #5 jersey for the Ravens yelling and screaming at referees during a professional football game.

 

He was NOT ejected from the game.

[The Greek]

brady and the patriots organization should be punished even if it gives the steelers the edge in week 1. time for greedy goodell to grow a pair and lay the sledgehammer down on them for years of suspect actions

[RavensBaltimore]

Like who?

 

Cleveland Browns cheated last season... how many of their players/coaches were suspended.

Atlanta Falcons cheated last season (and multiple seasons before that)... how many of their players/coaches were suspended.

 

Pretty important detail you're leaving out....... None of the players/coaches cheated on those teams.

 

 

There is a video that can be found easily on the internet that shows a QB who wears the #5 jersey for the Ravens yelling and screaming at referees during a professional football game.

 

He was NOT ejected from the game.

Seriously? Players scream at officials from a distance, as Flacco did, all the time, but Brady was right up in his face, violently screaming at him, and was so close you couldn't even tell if he made contact or not. That makes a huge difference, and I'm pretty sure you already knew that.

[rmcjacket23]

Pretty important detail you're leaving out....... None of the players/coaches cheated on those teams.

 

 

Seriously? Players scream at officials from a distance, as Flacco did, all the time, but Brady was right up in his face, violently screaming at him, and was so close you couldn't even tell if he made contact or not. That makes a huge difference, and I'm pretty sure you already knew that.

1. The recipient of the text messages from the GM was, in fact, a coach. Therefore, by definition, he was involved in cheating.

 

2. Actually, it makes no difference at all, and you already knew that. You know this, because on a weekly basis, you see players other than Tom Brady screaming at refs from an extremely close distance. And yet, you'd likely have to do quite a bit of searching to provide even ONE name of a player who's been tossed from a game for screaming at refs, unless they made contact with them.

 

The next time the Ravens play a game (probably even a preseason game), I'll be more than happy to point out multiple times where a player on the field is screaming at a referee from a very close distance, and 0 of them will be ejected from the game. Same thing applies to coaches.

 

But again, you already knew this.

[Ravens Raver]

Brady better hope he's suspended when he plays the Steelers. On the first play their entire defense will blitz and flatten that crybaby prettyboy cheater.

[Grapple Raven]

Nice idea - but first, Brady might not even be arount the next time the patriots play the Ravens (next season that is), and also, the report does not indicate there's any kind of evidence aboput them using illegall balls against us. They might have - but there's no evidence. The only game where it is proven that there were fishy balls was the Colts game.

 

(Not as if that alone wasn't bad enough...)

 

Given the pattern of exchanging gear from Brady to Jastremski and McNally, the Well Report even alludes that they did that in our game with them, as it appears they were paid off in gear to tamper with the footballs.

 

"Jastremski believes that he gave McNally the requested gear—a hooded sweatshirt and

a pair of sneakers—sometime around January 7, 2015, shortly before the divisional playoff game

between the Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens." ~ Page 83 of Wells Report

[riseNConquer81]

The problem I have with this is that I think too many people are taking the Deflategate case and blaming it on the Patriots organization. Frankly, I've seen zero evidence (and apparently, neither did the report) that indicates that's the case.

 

Its certainly ludicrous to think that Robert Kraft has even vague knowledge of this, and frankly, I don't understand why Belichick would care about this either. To me, this is a pretty simple case of a QB working with his team of equipment men to obtain a competitive advantage.

just because they arent players or front office personnel doesnt mean they arent part of the Patriots' organization.

[RavensBaltimore]

1. The recipient of the text messages from the GM was, in fact, a coach. Therefore, by definition, he was involved in cheating.

 

2. Actually, it makes no difference at all, and you already knew that. You know this, because on a weekly basis, you see players other than Tom Brady screaming at refs from an extremely close distance. And yet, you'd likely have to do quite a bit of searching to provide even ONE name of a player who's been tossed from a game for screaming at refs, unless they made contact with them.

 

The next time the Ravens play a game (probably even a preseason game), I'll be more than happy to point out multiple times where a player on the field is screaming at a referee from a very close distance, and 0 of them will be ejected from the game. Same thing applies to coaches.

 

But again, you already knew this.

Anyone using common sense knows that yelling at someone, while at least giving them some space to move, is not the same thing as getting right up in someone's face, and either touching them or getting literally within an inch. Flacco never did the latter. If you think it's the same thing, next time you're having an argument with someone who's right in front of or next to you, try standing directly in front of them and put your face within an inch of theirs. See if it doesn't escalate the situation and make them extremely uncomfortable. Try it with a cop, a customer service agent, anyone. Let me know how it goes. And I guarantee you can't find any videos of Flacco doing that.

 

In the Browns situation, the GM was the catalyst, and it didn't have anything to do with the field of play, which was why their GM was suspended and not the coach. The Falcons had no players or coaches involved. With the Patriots, it was their qb who was directly responsible for the cheating, so it's different from the other 2 situations you cited.

[Claire]

That's all well and good, but I doubt not providing the NFL with private information (such as text messages and emails) is sufficient enough to classify him as "not cooperating". There were numerous other instances that the report focuses on where the investigator felt Brady didn't cooperate, which we already knew about.

 

And like most cases, Mike Florio is wrong (shocking there). Mike Florio knows there's a gigantic wall in between the player and the NFL that is called the NFL Players Association. We've seen dozens of cases where the NFL issues a punishment and it is either reduced or eliminated all together via the NFLPA. I believe, by definition, that's the exact opposite of the NFL "getting what it wants". Heck, if the NFL got what it wanted, Adrian Peterson would have never been reinstated. Yet, he is.

 

If I were Brady, and I were actually presented with the option of turning over personal items that I don't want others to see, or face punishment from not doing so, I'd choose the punishment. There's arguably far less risk involved in that.

"That's all well and good, but I doubt not providing the NFL with private information (such as text messages and emails) is sufficient enough to classify him as "not cooperating".

 

Yes, it is, there no certain measurement for the amount or "quanitity of information/data" that needs to be withheld to be construed as conduct detrimental to the league.  Just the simple fact that he will not cooperate with the investigation is enough.  They don't want players to be able to say,"Well Brady never turned over information," in future investigations.

 

What are the other instances where Brady did not coperate that we already knew about?

 

Mike Florio has not been wrong in MOST cases.  I think you are over overgeneralizing. 

 

I'm not sure what you are responding to, as I didn't write anything about what the punishment would be nor did Florio.  His point was how the NFL interprets not providing them with information during investigations.  Nothing has been written about the player's assoication. 

[rmcjacket23]

Anyone using common sense knows that yelling at someone, while at least giving them some space to move, is not the same thing as getting right up in someone's face, and either touching them or getting literally within an inch. Flacco never did the latter. If you think it's the same thing, next time you're having an argument with someone who's right in front of or next to you, try standing directly in front of them and put your face within an inch of theirs. See if it doesn't escalate the situation and make them extremely uncomfortable. Try it with a cop, a customer service agent, anyone. Let me know how it goes. And I guarantee you can't find any videos of Flacco doing that.

 

In the Browns situation, the GM was the catalyst, and it didn't have anything to do with the field of play, which was why their GM was suspended and not the coach. The Falcons had no players or coaches involved. With the Patriots, it was their qb who was directly responsible for the cheating, so it's different from the other 2 situations you cited.

It doesn't matter if its Flacco specifically. I said on a weekly basis, and likely from this very organization, you will find players and/or coaches that get as "in their face" as Brady has gotten with refs, and to my recollection, zero of them have been thrown out of a game. Many have been fined/penalized, but then again, so has Brady.

 

That's the point. If this idea is to establish that Brady gets "preferential treatment" based on the idea that he and only he can get in a refs face and scream at them, then its simply false, because many players have done the same thing and faced the same fate Brady did.

 

This notion that Brady gets preferential treatment is largely unfounded. The only real argument is based on the rules established to prevent players from diving at a QBs lower body, which I agree Brady was a catalyst for, although I also don't blame the league, since its incredibly bad for business to have your star QBs out for the season with leg injuries caused by reckless players who aren't nearly as relevant. Its unavoidable in the sport naturally, but it can be deterred, which ironically is what we are talking about now.

 

There's people that literally think that Brady got preferential treatment from the "tuck rule", yet it had literally nothing to do with him, the rule was established long before that play made it famous, and Brady was arguably the biggest catalyst that caused the rule to be removed.

 

He whines on the field, he complains on the field, he begs for calls. I get it, and I don't like it either. But this idea he gets every call he wants all the time is laughable and baseless.

[Claire]

Nope, there isn't.

 

But then again, there really isn't for the Patriots either, because that implies that you somehow blame the Patriots as an organization for Tom Brady deflating footballs. If the NFL is basing a large amount of its decision and punishment on the Wells Report, then don't expect much, if any, punishment for the organizatin as a whole, because the Wells report largely exonerates those parties. Specifically, parties like Belichick and Kraft (the two "big dogs" within the organization) come out of the report basically scott free.

 

Again, the only real organizational failure I see is Spygate. I don't even understand why people think this incident is an organizational failure. Botching the Ray Rice investigation and punishment... that's an organizational failure. What the Saints did... organizational failure.

 

If this is viewed as an organizational failure, then I'd have to view Haloti Ngata getting busted for Adderall as an organizational failure.

I do blame the Patriots for Brady's cheating. 

 

Obviously the organization didn't make clear to him the last time they got caught cheating that integrity matters.  They didn't make clear to him that the rules apply to Patriots players.  He doesn't understand that winning is meaningless if you don't play by the same rules as all of the other professionals.  He doesn't understand that if all of the other QBs don't get to inflate the footballs to their desired psi rates, then he knowingly has an advantage. 

 

That is unethical and the Patriots have not instilled in him in over 10 years that unenthical play is not accpetable to their organization.  They have failed to instill the values of fair play and professionalism into their longest playing team member.  A team captain - a leader on the team too.  Really, really poor reflection of the organization.