AFC Championship - Pats/Colts

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Mon May 11, 2015 8:08 pm

One of the local Radio Stations was playing a live feed from WEEI for a bit this afternoon. It was everything you'd expect, and more. Talk of boycotts and class action lawsuits....

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Mon May 11, 2015 8:57 pm

Gunpowder wrote:So only 33% of the true elite overcame such long odds

I think a fair reading of what I wrote is that of the 10+ truly elite QBs over the past 60 years, Brady is the only once since Unitas (who came up in the mid 50s) who had to overcome considerable adversity, as represented by not being the full-time QB in his senior year and being drafted in the 6th round. I think there's a pretty strong distinction between him and the post-Unitas great QBs in terms of both college experience and draft evaluation. And none of this had to do with having had injury problems or character issues. Brady's college coach and then draft evaluators simply weren't wowed by the guy. Brady had to work uphill to make it to where he is now.

And please recall, I have never been a Brady fan in any way, during his time at Michigan or New England. But I recognize greatness in results, and in athletic perseverance.

My original point was that those who believe that the deflation scandal will tarnish his legacy are incorrect. The scandal tarnishes only the beliefs of Brady devotees who can't seem to reconcile Brady seeking a minor illegal edge, and then lying about it, with the perfect being that they have created in their minds.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Mon May 11, 2015 9:04 pm

Gunpowder wrote:Hell, wasn't Montana a very Brady-ish prospect out of Notre Dame? And he had to be born in shitty Ringgold.

Montana was less annointed than most of the other elite QBs, but had it easier than Brady. Notre Dame didn't let freshman play. Then the coach who recruited him quit. In his second year he played some. Then he had a separated shoulder. He worked his way back to starter in his junior year and started from then on. He was a star in his senior year (Brady shared time with another QB). He was drafted in the third round (Brady in the sixth).

howard · Post by **howard** » Mon May 11, 2015 9:08 pm

Let me note, Kenny Stabler didn't start immediately at Alabama. Some guy named Joe Willie something.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Mon May 11, 2015 9:15 pm

Nonlinear FC wrote:
brian wrote:
DC47 wrote:As a Lions fan, Tom Brady means very little to me. I'm impressed that he made such a great career for himself after not being the U-M starter in college.
This is absolutely, unequivocally and easily demonstrated as false and you should know better. This is the part of the Brady hagiography I hate the most. He started something like 20 of his final 24 games in college. If that's not a starter I don't know what the fuck is.

I am always baffled by this. At that point, NO ONE was coming in and starting as a freshmen at MI. Off the top of my head, I think it went something like Griese-Brady/Henson-Brady-Henson-Henne.

They were going 5-6 deep and red-shirting top talent regularly in that era.

And, I know I'm a fan boy, but some of Brady's games are part of UM lore... particularly beating OSU with a bowl bid to play Alabama on the line, and then beating said Crimson Tide.

Navarre. Navarre is in there after Henson.

Brian Griese preceded Brady, and was a walk on. He started earlier in his career than Brady.

John Navarre started his very first game as a red-shirt freshman.

Chad Henne started his very first game as a true freshman. I recall Leach doing this in the 70s as well.

In contrast to the cases above, those who read the Sports Illustrated article I linked to may note that Brady didn't play at all in his first three years at U-M and was so distraught that he seriously considering transferring. Coach Lloyd Carr was never a big supporter, hence the odd arrangement of having Brady and Henson split the first two quarters of games to start Brady's senior year. This did not mean that Brady did not have big games at the end of his senior year. He certainly did. But not so big that he was drafted earlier than the sixth round despite having the ideal QB body and perfect health.

Brady had to travel a long, steep path to get to the point were he is considered in the top 2 or 3 of the great QBs of all-time. Elway, Manning, Montana, Marino, Young, et al. had nothing like this experience.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Mon May 11, 2015 9:19 pm

howard wrote:Let me note, Kenny Stabler didn't start immediately at Alabama. Some guy named Joe Willie something.

One can only assume that Stabler learned quite a bit from his elder at Alabama. Also, some about football. Namath got more press, playing pro ball in NYC and with the small matter of guaranteeing a Super Bowl win. But I think Stabler may have pulled off the more reprobate life style. Though perhaps this is just a matter or urban (Namath) versus rural (Stabler) style. And Stabler was the better quarterback.

Both Stabler and Namath were clearly in the elite of reprobate QBs in the modern post-Layne era. Early on Tom Brady did at least one thing that put him in the running, but he was unable to keep up with the real pros.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Mon May 11, 2015 9:23 pm

brian wrote:Next time the Pats get busted cheating hope they make Kraft sell the team.

By then Tom and Giselle will have the money to pay cash.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Mon May 11, 2015 9:29 pm

DC47 wrote:
Nonlinear FC wrote:
brian wrote:
DC47 wrote:As a Lions fan, Tom Brady means very little to me. I'm impressed that he made such a great career for himself after not being the U-M starter in college.
This is absolutely, unequivocally and easily demonstrated as false and you should know better. This is the part of the Brady hagiography I hate the most. He started something like 20 of his final 24 games in college. If that's not a starter I don't know what the fuck is.

I am always baffled by this. At that point, NO ONE was coming in and starting as a freshmen at MI. Off the top of my head, I think it went something like Griese-Brady/Henson-Brady-Henson-Henne.

They were going 5-6 deep and red-shirting top talent regularly in that era.

And, I know I'm a fan boy, but some of Brady's games are part of UM lore... particularly beating OSU with a bowl bid to play Alabama on the line, and then beating said Crimson Tide.

Navarre. Navarre is in there after Henson.
Brian Griese preceded Brady, and was a walk on. He started earlier in his career than Brady.

John Navarre started his very first game as a red-shirt freshman.

Chad Henne started his very first game as a true freshman. I recall Leach doing this in the 70s as well.

In contrast to the cases above, those who read the Sports Illustrated article I linked to may note that Brady didn't play at all in his first three years at U-M and was so distraught that he seriously considering transferring. Coach Lloyd Carr was never a big supporter, hence the odd arrangement of having Brady and Henson split the first two quarters of games to start Brady's senior year. This did not mean that Brady did not have big games at the end of his senior year. He certainly did. But not so big that he was drafted earlier than the sixth round despite having the ideal QB body and perfect health.

Tom Brady appeared in six games in 1996 and 1997 (He also passed for 2,217 yards in 1999, good for fourth in the Big Ten).

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Mon May 11, 2015 9:38 pm

Brontoburglar wrote:
DC47 wrote:
Nonlinear FC wrote:
brian wrote:
DC47 wrote:As a Lions fan, Tom Brady means very little to me. I'm impressed that he made such a great career for himself after not being the U-M starter in college.
This is absolutely, unequivocally and easily demonstrated as false and you should know better. This is the part of the Brady hagiography I hate the most. He started something like 20 of his final 24 games in college. If that's not a starter I don't know what the fuck is.

I am always baffled by this. At that point, NO ONE was coming in and starting as a freshmen at MI. Off the top of my head, I think it went something like Griese-Brady/Henson-Brady-Henson-Henne.

They were going 5-6 deep and red-shirting top talent regularly in that era.

And, I know I'm a fan boy, but some of Brady's games are part of UM lore... particularly beating OSU with a bowl bid to play Alabama on the line, and then beating said Crimson Tide.

Navarre. Navarre is in there after Henson.
Brian Griese preceded Brady, and was a walk on. He started earlier in his career than Brady.

John Navarre started his very first game as a red-shirt freshman.

Chad Henne started his very first game as a true freshman. I recall Leach doing this in the 70s as well.

In contrast to the cases above, those who read the Sports Illustrated article I linked to may note that Brady didn't play at all in his first three years at U-M and was so distraught that he seriously considering transferring. Coach Lloyd Carr was never a big supporter, hence the odd arrangement of having Brady and Henson split the first two quarters of games to start Brady's senior year. This did not mean that Brady did not have big games at the end of his senior year. He certainly did. But not so big that he was drafted earlier than the sixth round despite having the ideal QB body and perfect health.
Tom Brady appeared in six games in 1996 and 1997 (He also passed for 2,217 yards in 1999, good for fourth in the Big Ten).

Nice Big Ten joke, Bronts. We'll make an SEC guy out of you yet.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Mon May 11, 2015 9:41 pm

My bad. I didn't look up Brady's stats in his first two years. Now I have. He threw all of 20 passes over two seasons, after a red-shirt year. Compare that with the experience of all of the QBs I noted in the posting above. Perhaps I should have said that in his first three years at U-M he didn't play a single full game. I think it's kind of reasonable to round 20 passes in mop-up duty to 'not playing,' given that the point is the extent to which Tom Brady had an easy path in his college years. After three years on campus, throwing zero passes or throwing 20 passes (even 30!) are the same thing -- hell for a young college QB.

Your comment about Brady's '99 stats do not detract from the point that his coach decided to alternate him with a younger QB in Brady's fifth year at U-M. This is nothing at all like the experiences of the other QBs who ended up in the pro elite. It's nothing like what the top few QBs in every draft, every year, go through as seniors. Even most of the NFL subs who never become starting QBs are more highly regarded by their coach in their senior year.

Tom Brady has had a pretty smooth run in the NFL. Hate him or not, people seem to forget what he had to overcome to get there.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Mon May 11, 2015 11:46 pm

If Brady comes clean before the Super Bowl there's no way he plays in it. No way in fuck.

So basically, it was either play it out how it did or risk missing out on a 4th ring. If I'm Brady I'm choosing the way it played out 10 times out of 10.

All this tells me is that Roger Goodell is afraid of public opinion after the Ray Rice thing. If he gets that right there's no way a punishment like this is handed out.

Also, what's the statute of limitations on when your past doesn't affect your future? If in three years the Falcons get in trouble again, does their baseline punishment start at what they got for the piped in crowd noise and then expand to multiple picks and more money? And what if the infraction afterward is arguably less an infraction than crowd noise?

There's also something quite unsettling about Kraft and the organization getting exonerated yet they lose draft picks and get fined. Is the "ignorance is not a defense" reasoning really that broad that even when you're completely unaware, you should have been more aware anyway? Where's the logic in that?

DaveInSeattle · Post by **DaveInSeattle** » Mon May 11, 2015 11:55 pm

Johnnie wrote: There's also something quite unsettling about Kraft and the organization getting exonerated yet they lose draft picks and get fined. Is the "ignorance is not a defense" reasoning really that broad that even when you're completely unaware, you should have been more aware anyway? Where's the logic in that?

That's what they hit Sean Payton with...the "you should have known" argument.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Mon May 11, 2015 11:58 pm

And it's preposterous.

Here's Drew Magary's take.

Roger Goodell is every worst military commander ever rolled into one. It isn't about punishing the Airman who gets the DUI. It's about punishing the squadron along with him because "you should have been there for your wingman and you failed him." The logic is toxic.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Tue May 12, 2015 12:15 am

I have the opposite take. While I agree that ball-tampering is not a major crime, I'm puzzled how the NFL commissioner can allow Brady to ever play in a game again if he is not willing to turn over something that could reasonably considered evidence in an NFL investigation. This isn't a governmental entity, so the NFL can't legally compel anything to be turned over. But they run the league. If players or teams can simply say no to a demand for evidence, isn't this a dangerous precedent in terms of being able to enforce NFL rules?

Yes the Patriots and Brady took a major penalty. And some part of it was for obstructing the investigation through lying and being unwilling to hand over evidence. But could it be that the Patriots and Brady made their own determination that this would yield the better outcome for them than doing what the NFL required? Is it a good thing for future investigations to allow the parties that have likely violated league rules to determine what works best for them regarding cooperation with the league? That doesn't sound like the best path to a relatively level playing field in terms of every team playing by the same rules.

I realize that the NFL commissioner is not really interested in fairness, per se. He's interested in corporate marketing and thus the perceptions of the targets of this marketing -- fans. But that makes fairness important. It's worth a lot of money to be able to present a plausible picture of fairness, which includes complete investigations of wrongdoing, as this is pretty important in a sport where an important value to fans is that teams compete under the same rules.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Tue May 12, 2015 7:34 am

I'm curious how Belichick skated using the Payton / Bountygate example. Maybe that was how Kraft chose to use his influence?

Gunpowder · Post by **Gunpowder** » Tue May 12, 2015 7:43 am

If I see another post comparing the suspensions given for cheating at the actual game (or perceived cheating) to those of off-field domestic violence situations, I'm going to beat the shit out of a woman.

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Tue May 12, 2015 8:08 am

Gunpowder wrote:If I see another post comparing the suspensions given for cheating at the actual game (or perceived cheating) to those of off-field domestic violence situations, I'm going to beat the shit out of a woman.

Can it be Brady?

zing!

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Tue May 12, 2015 8:09 am

It's my go to shutter downer for every argument now. Oh you think Putin should be sanctioned for his role in Ukraine? When beating a woman only gets you a two game suspension?

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Tue May 12, 2015 8:27 am

Pete Rose is banned from the Hall of Fame for life while Paul Molitor, a cocaine user, gets in on the first ballot???????

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Tue May 12, 2015 9:00 am

DSafetyGuy wrote:
Jerloma wrote:
brian wrote:I am often envious of DSafe but especially since he gets to be around for the first game of the Garopololollol era.
DSG is moving to New England?
I have worked on the NFL Kickoff for the last ten or so years, save for the two years following the Giants' Super Bowl wins. So, I will be somewhere in the greater Boston area for the opener.

More than likely Providence. It's closer to Foxboro than Boston and that's where visiting teams stay.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Tue May 12, 2015 9:11 am

If the game is even played, you mean. I've seen New England fans on the internet who believe the Patriots should forfeit this games as a big "fuck you" to the commish and to screw over the league that is allowing them to be punished so unfairly. Really makes you think.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue May 12, 2015 9:17 am

DC47 wrote:My bad. I didn't look up Brady's stats in his first two years. Now I have. He threw all of 20 passes over two seasons, after a red-shirt year. Compare that with the experience of all of the QBs I noted in the posting above. Perhaps I should have said that in his first three years at U-M he didn't play a single full game. I think it's kind of reasonable to round 20 passes in mop-up duty to 'not playing,' given that the point is the extent to which Tom Brady had an easy path in his college years. After three years on campus, throwing zero passes or throwing 20 passes (even 30!) are the same thing -- hell for a young college QB.

Your comment about Brady's '99 stats do not detract from the point that his coach decided to alternate him with a younger QB in Brady's fifth year at U-M. This is nothing at all like the experiences of the other QBs who ended up in the pro elite. It's nothing like what the top few QBs in every draft, every year, go through as seniors. Even most of the NFL subs who never become starting QBs are more highly regarded by their coach in their senior year.

Tom Brady has had a pretty smooth run in the NFL. Hate him or not, people seem to forget what he had to overcome to get there.

I think you've absolutely rounded out a good case for a more nuanced position on this. What brian and I were reacting to is the rather lazy narrative used by a lot of Pats fans to support the case that he was a rather mediocre QB that the geniuses in New England discovered because genius. They took a shot on a guy that was coming out of a program with a reputation for developing NFL-caliber players, and particularly NFL QBs. They absolutely deserve credit for that, but it has been overblown to the point of absurdity by many.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Tue May 12, 2015 9:28 am

mister d wrote:If the game is even played, you mean. I've seen New England fans on the internet who believe the Patriots should forfeit this games as a big "fuck you" to the commish and to screw over the league that is allowing them to be punished so unfairly. Really makes you think.

That's the super-insane part of this whole thing. The idea that the NFL wants this. You'd think they'd just be happy he got to play in the Super Bowl.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Tue May 12, 2015 9:53 am

mister d wrote:If anyone finds an article that hinges, explicitly or implicitly, on "Brady is now more A-Rod than Jeter", please link to it here. That would be excellent.

This one mentioned both Jeter and A-Rod, so it might be the best I'm going to do. Its an excellent piece, albeit maybe one that doesn't quite take the scandal as seriously as it should.

Brontoburglar · Post by **Brontoburglar** » Tue May 12, 2015 10:56 am

Jerloma wrote:
mister d wrote:If the game is even played, you mean. I've seen New England fans on the internet who believe the Patriots should forfeit this games as a big "fuck you" to the commish and to screw over the league that is allowing them to be punished so unfairly. Really makes you think.
That's the super-insane part of this whole thing. The idea that the NFL wants this. You'd think they'd just be happy he got to play in the Super Bowl.

The NFL is so pumped that the AFC Championship Game thread on the Sportsfrog has been revived. My sources say Rog has been reading this whole thread gleeful that denizens of the swamp are paying attention to his league.

P.D.X. · Post by **P.D.X.** » Tue May 12, 2015 11:01 am

They do need to drum up some noise in the off-season so no one forgets to watch in the fall.

DSafetyGuy · Post by **DSafetyGuy** » Tue May 12, 2015 11:09 am

Jerloma wrote:
DSafetyGuy wrote:
Jerloma wrote:
brian wrote:I am often envious of DSafe but especially since he gets to be around for the first game of the Garopololollol era.
DSG is moving to New England?
I have worked on the NFL Kickoff for the last ten or so years, save for the two years following the Giants' Super Bowl wins. So, I will be somewhere in the greater Boston area for the opener.
More than likely Providence. It's closer to Foxboro than Boston and that's where visiting teams stay.

Last time we were there, the show was in the stadium and we stayed at some hotel in the middle of nowhere about 15-20 minutes away. The only place to eat or grab a drink was at the hotel itself. We usually stay close to the show and, while I have heard nothing about its location, I suspect it may be in Boston instead of at Foxboro because they would lose a ton of parking for the game in building the stage and all the support elements that go with it, which is not good for a stadium in the middle of nowhere.

Post by **brian** » Tue May 12, 2015 11:39 am

It's probably not going to happen anyway though since the Pats are going to forfeit the game and/or all of the Pats fans are going to boycott the game. Hope you paid for refundable tickets.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Tue May 12, 2015 11:43 am

We have to divide up the jokes a little better.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Tue May 12, 2015 11:52 am

Nonlinear FC wrote:I think you've absolutely rounded out a good case for a more nuanced position on this. What brian and I were reacting to is the rather lazy narrative used by a lot of Pats fans to support the case that he was a rather mediocre QB that the geniuses in New England discovered because genius. They took a shot on a guy that was coming out of a program with a reputation for developing NFL-caliber players, and particularly NFL QBs. They absolutely deserve credit for that, but it has been overblown to the point of absurdity by many.

I'm not a Patriots fan (Lions lifer), a U-M football fan (damages university), or a Brady fan (1%er). As expressed previously, I think the NFL penalties are astonishingly light. I would ban Brady from playing until he turned over every bit of requested evidence. I thought the penalties to the Patriots and Belichick for their previous transgressions were light as well.

So I was unaware of the 'lazy narrative' you refer to, and I'm absolutely not coming to this as a fan. My commentary didn't mention the genius of Belichick in creating Brady from poor material. While I do think he's a brilliant coach, I attribute Brady's rise from a tough beginning to 1) a bad situation at Michigan due to preferences of the coach and his competition at QB; 2) Brady being a late-bloomer; 3) Brady being a manic self-improver (perhaps partly due to #1); 4) Brady playing on a great team.

These are not in order. I'd pick #3 as the primary causes of Brady's success. Yes, he might have been mediocre if he had been drafted by the Lions, as they destroyed many a fine college QB in the past 20 years. But I am confident he would have been great if he had landed on many teams besides the Patriots.

My point about Brady had to do with the 'tarnish his legacy' argument re: the current cheating case. I simply don't think it does. He's got a legacy that is not subject to easy tarnishing over something like this, as it's unlikely that he got much of an edge due to deflated footballs, or that this was occurring during most of his illustrious career. Part of the legacy, for me, is that he (and Unitas) had to overcome more than the other great QBs. Though I am not a Brady fan, I respect this about him. And I think that many don't get this part of his story, because it was so long ago and so much of his life since he joined the Patriots has been a road paved with gold and supermodels.

The only tarnishing that's going on right now is in the mind of those who worship Brady for more than his success on the field. There are some who see him as a superior human being as well as a superior QB. This superiority includes not just his boyish good looks and cool footwear, but also the ethical domain. I've always dismissed this as simple fanboy-ism. If those who had this view are now saddened by finding Brady to be a cheater and deceiver, then, I suppose it's a good life lesson for them.

The deflation of Brady's image may put some of his fans on the path to realizing that other aspects of life are far more corrupt than they realize. They may someday understand that their president has trashed the constitution and, among other things, has been running a torture ring in secret off-shore locations. So Deflate-gate can serve a useful social purpose after all. Perhaps Brady is such a genius and man of high ethical values that this was his intention all along. He has sacrificed his image to advance social change. I bow before his brilliance. He is a top 10 post-Robespierre revolutionary, right up there with Lincoln, Castro, Che, and King and just a few rungs behind Lenin and Mao.

Post by **Sabo** » Tue May 12, 2015 1:00 pm

Pats' fans start a GoFundMe campaign to raise $1 million to pay the Patriots' fine.

If they raise the money, I hope Kraft has the balls to take that money and donate it to a charity. A battered women's shelter would be nice since NFL players can't stop beating women.

DC47 · Post by **DC47** » Tue May 12, 2015 1:06 pm

If Kraft matches this with his own million dollar contribution, and Brady and Belichick match as well, then the Patriots greatness will finally fully eclipse the NFL. Perhaps the sun as well. Goodell may as well get a job running one of the parking lots outside their stadium.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Tue May 12, 2015 1:10 pm

My point about Brady had to do with the 'tarnish his legacy' argument re: the current cheating case. I simply don't think it does.

Doesn't tarnish it for me either. I already thought it was shit before.

Post by **Sabo** » Tue May 12, 2015 1:11 pm

DC47 wrote:If Kraft matches this with his own million dollar contribution, and Brady and Belichick match as well, then the Patriots greatness will finally fully eclipse the NFL. Perhaps the sun as well. Goodell may as well get a job running one of the parking lots outside their stadium.

Shit, if that would happen I'd contribute a few bucks myself.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Tue May 12, 2015 1:39 pm

Sooo... I'm trying to be dispassionate here, now... What does it all mean in the end? Will it be like when Bowie Kuhn suspended Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays for working at a casino? Nobody remembers that now and it didn't affect their legacy. I figure, upon appeal, they will cut the Brady/New England penalties in half and I really think that people won't put this issue in the same category as the steroid users or the Pete Rose thing. If he would have admitted something, Brady might even have skated away like Jason Giambi did with little to no damage to his reputation. I disagree with those who think the public will shame him for long. If anybody's legacy is tarnished in the public eye for a longer period, I think it is Belichick. Rightly or wrongly, I think that many "Joe Sportsfan" lay people now view him as the guy who will cut corners and do anything to win. But, so what? He will still go to the Hall of Fame and be viewed as one of the all-time great coaches. So, over time, I don't think this will be viewed as much of an event.

Post by **brian** » Tue May 12, 2015 2:02 pm

The irony of him and his agent and handlers conspiring to cover this up actually makes him worse than if he cooperated with the investigation, basically came out and admitted it and said he thought it was a misdemeanor and not a felony and accepted whatever the punishment was. As always (and noted previously) the cover-up is almost always worse than the crime.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue May 12, 2015 2:11 pm

It will tarnish his reputation, but the scale is vast on that front. I mean, it's not even close to the poster children for juicing in baseball, or Lance Armstrong-level of misdeeds.

But the fact that it is now woven into the narrative that the Patriots are cheaters (I don't buy into that, I'm just stating what we all know to be a commonly held belief by many), Brady has now been added as a bullet point when people make this case.

Jerloma · Post by **Jerloma** » Tue May 12, 2015 2:13 pm

I was just reading about the Falcons thing because I was trying to find out who ratted them out (for some reason I think it was the Steelers and Pats). Any, I came across this...

The league's investigation into the crowd noise issue began last November, and revealed that team's former event marketing director, Roddy White, used an audio file with fake crowd noise to make it louder inside the Georgia Dome, which is a direct violation of a rule that prohibits artificial crowd noise. White is no longer with the Falcons.

"Our review also determined that Falcons ownership and senior executives, including team President Rich McKay, were unaware of Mr. White's use of an audio file with artificial crowd noise. However, Mr. McKay, as the senior club executive overseeing game operations, bears some responsibility for ensuring that team employees comply with league rules," NFL executive vice president Troy Vincent said in a statement Monday.

???

Post by **Sabo** » Tue May 12, 2015 2:20 pm

Jesus F'n Christ. A group of Patriots fans have handcuffed themselves together in the NFL's offices.

" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

ETA: Never mind. It's just a bunch of idiots from Barstool Sports, probably trying to drive up page views.

Rex · Post by **Rex** » Tue May 12, 2015 2:27 pm

Jerloma wrote:I was just reading about the Falcons thing because I was trying to find out who ratted them out (for some reason I think it was the Steelers and Pats). Any, I came across this...

The league's investigation into the crowd noise issue began last November, and revealed that team's former event marketing director, Roddy White, used an audio file with fake crowd noise to make it louder inside the Georgia Dome, which is a direct violation of a rule that prohibits artificial crowd noise. White is no longer with the Falcons.

"Our review also determined that Falcons ownership and senior executives, including team President Rich McKay, were unaware of Mr. White's use of an audio file with artificial crowd noise. However, Mr. McKay, as the senior club executive overseeing game operations, bears some responsibility for ensuring that team employees comply with league rules," NFL executive vice president Troy Vincent said in a statement Monday.
???

I think I've met that dude. I think he's a friend of a friend or something like that. He's a middle aged Caucasian (if my first two sentences didn't make that obvs)