The Patriots made 2 huge concessions to help their Deflategate case, and it completely backfired
(Jeff Haynes/Reuters)
As the Deflategate case drags on into its ninth month, it is becoming clearer and clearer that the Patriots made two tactical mistakes that hurt the team and its case.
1. The self-imposed suspensions looked like an admission of guilt.
The first move was to indefinitely suspend locker-room attendant Jim McNally and equipment assistant John Jastremski the day the Wells Report came out. While this does not directly implicate quarterback Tom Brady, it was seen by many as an admission by the Patriots that something happened and that the team was indeed guilty of deflating footballs to be used in this year's AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts.
This notion was supported by the team's statement that the decision to suspended the pair was made by the team and that if either were reinstated, he would not be allowed to handle or prepare gameday footballs:
Patriots owner Robert Kraft advised Commissioner Roger Goodell last week that Patriots employees John Jastremski and James McNally have been indefinitely suspended without pay by the club, effective on May 6th. Neither of these individuals may be reinstated without the prior approval of NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent. If they are reinstated by the Patriots, Jastremski is prohibited from having any role in the preparation, supervision, or handling of footballs to be used in NFL games during the 2015 season. McNally is barred from serving as a locker room attendant for the game officials, or having any involvement with the preparation, supervision, or handling of footballs or any other equipment on game day.
Tom Curran of CSN New England, however, who was a guest on "The Dan Patrick Show," says the suspensions were less about admitting guilt and more about making a sacrificial offering to the NFL in hopes that the league would be more lenient in the case. When asked why Jastremski was suspended even though there was some "hope" he would eventually be reinstated, Curran said commissioner Roger Goodell effectively forced Kraft's hand.
"The NFL said, during that period in time in which the Krafts were trying to do as much as they could to ingratiate themselves for [Goodell], 'Are you going to suspend them, or are we?'" Curran told Dan Patrick. "The Patriots said, 'Well, we're trying to do things they want us to do, we'll suspend them.'"
As for why Jastremski remains suspended despite all the denials by the team, Curran speculated that the team was just waiting until a point at which it would not be viewed as "kicking the hornets' nest."
2. Not fighting the penalties against the team was costly and did nothing to help Brady.
The second move that backfired was the decision by Kraft to accept the penalties levied against the team by the NFL, including a $1 million fine and the loss of first- and fourth-round draft picks.
Kraft later said he accepted those penalties only because he thought it would help Brady's case.
"I was willing to accept the harshest penalty in the history of the NFL for an alleged ball violation because I believed it would help exonerate Tom," he said. "I was wrong to put my faith in the league."
Despite the concessions, the league still suspended Brady for four games and has shown little willingness to back down from that penalty despite a lack of any smoking gun.
This isn't to say Kraft and the Patriots were wrong to suspend the equipment guys and to accept the penalties. The NFL could have easily accepted those concessions as a peace offering, gone light on Brady with a slap of the wrist (stiff fine?), and this entire mess would have ended months ago. But that never happened.
Now many still view those two moves by the Patriots as some form of admission of at least some guilt. On top of that, the Patriots are still out $1 million and two draft picks, and the loss of a 2016 first-round pick is really more damaging than the suspension of Brady, because it is like losing a starter for four years.
That is a lot of damage that was in some respect self-imposed, and the Patriots have received nothing in return.
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