2015 NFL Season Thread

[Sylvanfan]

One thing about AFC Wild Card teams...the schedule is everything g. Last year the AFC North played the NC South and AFC South..3 NFC North teams went to the playoffs. Previous year the AFC West drew the AFC South and NFC East....Sent 3 teams to the playoffs.

[ResAlien]

Montee Ball joins the not so distinguished club of bust RBs from Wisconsin and is released today. I hope you have better luck with Melvin Gordon, SD.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Deflategate is over so...back to Spygate!

Now, the owner of the defending Super Bowl champions was publicly ripping the league. To anyone casually watching Deflategate, the civil war pitting Goodell against the Patriots and their star quarterback made no sense. Why were the league's premier franchise, led by a cherished team owner, and Brady, one of the NFL's greatest ambassadors, being smeared because a little air might have been let out of some footballs?

But league insiders knew that Deflategate didn't begin on the eve of the AFC Championship Game.

It began in 2007, with Spygate.

Interviews by ESPN The Magazine and Outside the Lines with more than 90 league officials, owners, team executives and coaches, current and former Patriots coaches, staffers and players, and reviews of previously undisclosed private notes from key meetings, show that Spygate is the centerpiece of a long, secret history between Goodell's NFL, which declined comment for this story, and Kraft's Patriots. The diametrically opposed way the inquiries were managed by Goodell -- and, more importantly, perceived by his bosses -- reveals much about how and why NFL punishment is often dispensed. The widespread perception that Goodell gave the Patriots a break on Spygate, followed by the NFL's stonewalling of a potential congressional investigation into the matter, shaped owners' expectations of what needed to be done by 345 Park Ave. on Deflategate.

It was, one owner says, time for "a makeup call."

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/...patriots-apart

It's a very long report, the but tl;dr version

- Goodell's job is actually safer now than it was before Deflategate, so the notion he's getting fired is absurd

- The Patriots videotaping of signals was over 5 years and about 40 games

- The taping allowed the Patriots to have diagrams of opponents signals before the games

- Allegations they straight up stole other teams play sheets

[CofR]

Great piece of journalism there from ESPN

[Erick Estrada]

Wow. I recommend anyone with NFL interest read that article as it goes into great detail the amount of cheating the Patriots were doing and how Goodell helped cover things up for Kraft. Belichick is a great coach and it's kind of sad how far they were willing to go to get advantages over their opponents. Kind of tarnishes everything they have accomplished. Breaking into locker rooms and steeling play sheets? Yikes!

[Papi34]

Goodell is the crazy ex-girlfriend. Go away

[Papi34]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Wow. I recommend anyone with NFL interest read that article as it goes into great detail the amount of cheating the Patriots were doing and how Goodell helped cover things up for Kraft. Belichick is a great coach and it's kind of sad how far they were willing to go to get advantages over their opponents. Kind of tarnishes everything they have accomplished. Breaking into locker rooms and steeling play sheets? Yikes!

Lol. Yes, and that explains why theyve been dominant since 2007 too right?

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Papi34

Lol. Yes, and that explains why theyve been dominant since 2007 too right?

Did you read the entire article and I mean the entire article? It kind of provides the reasoning that the league was so hard on the Patriots about deflate gate as other teams are getting real tired of the constant cheating by the Patriots. It certainly does explain why they were ready for some sparingly used plays and formations teams used as per the article. We will never know just how much the cheating helped them but if it wasn't helping they wouldn't have put that much resources into it. When good teams face off the game usually comes down to one or two plays and every little bit helps.

I feel bad for you as a fan as that's your team and it's not your fault the team you cheer for make Pete Rose look like a straight arrow. No point in blaming Goodell as he's simply following the orders of the other 31 of his bosses.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Papi34

Lol. Yes, and that explains why theyve been dominant since 2007 too right?

Well the cheating wasn't just limited to spying on other teams. Did you read the article?

[Da_Chief]

AFC North

http://ostalk.podbean.com/e/ostalk-e...ies-afc-north/

Can Steelers overcome their suspensions?
Will Johnny get to guide the Browns this year?
Are the Ravens still a playoff team?
Can the Bengals transfer regular season success to the playoffs?

Thanks

[Erick Estrada]

Sports Illustrated now piling on the Patriots with a similar article to ESPN;

http://www.si.com/nfl/2015/09/08/pat...hick-tom-brady

Whether you are a fan or not these are really interesting reads as it gives insight into just how far teams are willing to go to gain a competitive advantage.

[Pagal4321]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Whether you are a fan or not these are really interesting reads as it gives insight into just how far teams are willing to go to gain a competitive advantage.

Agreed, interesting reads about the lengths some people in the league will go to gain any kind of advantage. I don't blame them one bit, do anything to win, that's the mindset in any sport.

[habernac]

Anyone who doesn't think the rest of the league is/was guilty of doing this is fooling themselves.

[lifetime_flamesfan]

I wonder if ESPN and Sports Illustrated are also looking to see if other teams are doing some of this stuff as well? Or are they only looking at the Patriots right now?

[Sylvanfan]

Originally Posted by lifetime_flamesfan

I wonder if ESPN and Sports Illustrated are also looking to see if other teams are doing some of this stuff as well? Or are they only looking at the Patriots right now?

It's just not as compelling of a story when you catch the Browns and Raiders cheating.

[habernac]

Brandon Marshall thinks Brady's suspension was overturned because he's white. Larf.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by habernac

Anyone who doesn't think the rest of the league is/was guilty of doing this is fooling themselves.

Well except we don't have proof of other teams doing it to the extent the Pats did. Until we do, they get to wear it.

[habernac]

Dude, come on. People have been in disguise taking pictures of other teams play calls for decades.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Well except we don't have proof of other teams doing it to the extent the Pats did. Until we do, they get to wear it.

Great Article that really sheds light into Spygate, which IMO probably should have been a bigger deal then it was.

I also hate the "everyone was doing it" defense.

IMO if everyone was doing it they probably wouldn't have had the cover up that they had, and you would probably have heard about other teams having these secret rooms as well.

Personally if the information in that article is true it then leads me to question Brady's place as a great QB. It's a lot easier to play quarterback, and read the defense (one of his greatest strengths supposedly) when you know what set the defense is running.

Although he has been even more productive since 2007 so who knows if it really mattered, or if they just found another way to cheat.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Well except we don't have proof of other teams doing it to the extent the Pats did. Until we do, they get to wear it.

Here's Spygate broken down for you:

1. Every single thing they did was completely legal
2. The location of where they filmed from was against the rules starting in 2007.
3. If they had moved their cameraman from the sidelines to the press box, absolutely nothing they did would have been against any rule
4. They got caught, and were punished.

That's it.