There is an article up on ESPN today (Don Von Natta Jr.) that purports to answer our questions. Those of us who have questions, of course, as opposed to those of us playing the role of advocate on one side or the other. 

espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/13533995/split-nfl-new-england-patriots-apart 

Exec Sum:  

(1) The NFL owners were aghast at Belichick's videotape files on other team's signals and

(1a) Bill Belichick's response, to a room full of owners, annoyed them. 

(2) Roger Goodell helped cover for the Patriots, including a very quick punishment and a fast destroying of the Pat's files, because Kraft had been an ally for Goodell in getting his job. 

(3) In order to keep his job, Goodell had to assure the 31 NFL owners that if the Patriots were caught again, he would be tough. 

(4) So, DeflateGate is an extension of SpyGate, a "makeup call" in NBA ref parlance. 

Not saying it's right, or isn't right. But that's the kind of thing that is very, very typical in Fortune 500 boardrooms. 

.......

Where does Dr. D come down here?  For one thing, I would hope that if you can empathize with Roger Goodell's seat in any way at all, you can see that he didn't have a lot of choice here.  He is the voice of the owners.  If you believe the decision was unfair to Brady -- and maybe it was -- your ire should probably be redirected away from Goodell and toward the body that is the NFL Owners Twenty-First Century.

For another thing:  personally I would see Tom Brady as a scapegoat here IFF (if and only if) he were not an enthusiastic participant in Belichick's system.  In other words, with Belichick as the Godfather, is Brady a happy hit man or a reluctant shop owner getting shaken down with little choice.  For me, on the moral side, that's where we're at on Brady.

From the 30,000-foot view ... I believe that you've got to have SOME way to deal with a renegade franchise that's spitting in the water hole.  If you've got 25-30 other owners who agree on something, well, those billionaires come from a variety of backgrounds.  Some are amoral, no doubt, but others are reasonable and another portion of them are "Doves" rather than Hawks.

I've got nothing to grind against the Patriots, but when they are successful in generating this kind of a consensus against them, I *doubt* that they are victims of sheer jealousy.  That's my opinion I could be wrong.

.........

Regardless, Brady is back in there and he is 4-2 vs Ben Roethlisberger, both of whom have played very well in their direct faceoffs.  There was a stat last night:  those two QB's have played in 9 of the last 15 Super Bowls for the AFC.  Wowza.  Another one for Roethlisberger (2-1 in Owls) would set him apart in terms of historical impact and might set up the Steelers-Patriots as the matchup that transcended the Colts-Patriots.

MtGrizzly pointed out that if the NFL's ears get too red against the Patriots, there will be the on-field ref'ing to take care of them.  Brilliant observation.  However, here there are additional moving parts in the machine - Goodell has to be pushed that way by the owners, and it's hard to get explicit in that setting.  Usually a David Stern sends out a code message, "Make sure the Kings don't get away with grabbing against the Lakers" and the "company men" refs know what that means.  Push the Lakers through.  There's nothing traceable in there.  If somebody does try to prosecute, you wind up with the PUBLIC screaming "you can't prove anything" even if it's on the guilty party's behalf.

But how that text-code-message works when Goodell is unenthusiastic, and the 31 owners are, I dunno.  Would LIKE to know.  Suggestions?

Now I've got a new thing I'm wondering about.  :- )

Cheers,

Jeff

Best, 
Jeff