Considering Patriot Reign

For most of my life the New England Patriots just weren’t very good. They somehow managed to get to two Superbowls but I never expected them to win either of those games.  They showed promise in the late 70’s but Oakland and a few horrible calls took care of that.

For the last fifteen years they have been most successful team, making the playoffs every year but two, six Superbowl appearances and 4 Superbowl victories.

Some people want to “blame” it all on cheating, but that is too easy. In the book Patriot Reign, Michael Holley looks at how this franchise that only frustrated its fans became one that frustrated the rest of the league. He wanted to do a book on Bill Belichick, but at his request it also became about the other coaches, players and the owners who built a champion.

After their first Superbowl victory, Holley decided to write the book and took a year shadowing the team. He sat in meetings and was given pretty much unlimited access (they also did not edit the material). He was disappointed when they failed to defend their title, but the returned to championship form the next year. This was a great “plot” twist and added more material as he could examine how Belichick “rebuilt” the Patriots.

Holley begins his account with Belichick. He offers you the side you don’t see. He doesn’t make him out to be a saint, but simply another side. He does have a sense of humor. He considers press conferences as part of the game plan and prepares for them- what he will and will not say.

“Let’s put it this way: when you’re the head coach, you’re the head coach twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. No matter what happens, it’s on your watch and, to a degree, it’s your problem.”

Belichick’s development as a coach took time. In 1989 when he interviewed for the position as Arizona’s head coach he didn’t quite understand all that it took. He learned from his mistakes in Cleveland, and what kind of owner he wanted to work for if he got the chance again. That is why he picked New England over the Jets (and to get out from Parcells shadow). During his time there under Parcells he would talk with Kraft about any number of subjects (something Parcells didn’t do with Kraft). He knew the man he was, and Kraft knew the man he was. He almost offered the job to Bill instead of Carroll when Parcells left. He faxed the request to talk with Belichick to Parcells before Carroll even had his press conference after his last game as head coach. They have successfully collaborated ever since.

Holley then moved into the reconstruction of the Patriots, including the drafting of Tom Brady. The Patriots were a mess: over the cap, filled with fiefdoms in the locker room and offices. They were like the Red Sox under prior owners. The players were spoiled and didn’t know it.

“Rehbein described him as a winner, a leader with a good attitude. The quarterbacks coach told Belichick that if a decision had to be made between the two, he would give the edge to Brady. Belichick had studied the tapes and felt the same way.”

That first draft was key. But since Holley wasn’t hanging out with them then, he focuses on one player. They were looking for a back up for Drew Bledsoe. Bill and Ernie Adams had listed the characteristics of what they considered the perfect quarterback. They had narrowed the search down to two prospects; Tim Rattay and Tom Brady. So Belichick dispatched his QB coach to work them both out. During the 6th round the draft they saw that Brady’s name was still there. “Brady shouldn’t be there. He’s too good.” They didn’t think Brady would be a starter, much less a superstar when they pulled the trigger on pick number 199. Brady fit the characteristics they listed months earlier.

Soon it was a repeat of his years in Cleveland. The established and (sort of) loved starter was being surpassed by the understudy. In Cleveland it was part of  Belichick’s undoing. In New England circumstances forced his hand so that people weren’t enraged. Bledsoe had the big arm, and big contract, but he was making costly errors- something Bill can’t stand.

“Under Belichick, all Patriot jobs could be classified as temporary. They were earned and held by performance, not status or longevity. Belichick didn’t go out of his way to antagonize stars, nor did he do anything special to accommodate them.”

While externally it was an “easy” transition. The fans were not clamoring for Bledsoe because the team just kept winning. Internally it was a different story as Bledsoe was not a happy camper. Since Rehbein had died the previous summer, Bill was serving as the QB coach. Those were often tense meetings.

“I never want to be on that crawl at the bottom of the screen: ‘Patriots quarterback Tom Brady arrested…’ I never want to look like an ass who let down my family, my teammates, and my organization.”

As an aside, the above quote is part of why I don’t believe Brady would cheat, or ask anyone else to cheat. A fierce, driven competitor to be sure, but one who is also driven by honor. Cheating would make him look like an ass, and that just isn’t an acceptable outcome for him.

Holley takes us to the Superbowl against the Rams. He discusses how the coaching staff dissected their offense. They saw how deception functioned in the offense. Belichick identified their 5 passing concepts, and that Faulk was the most important player out there- no Warner. He boiled it down to applicable concepts for the players. In the midst of this Holley briefly discusses the mysterious Ernie Adams, with whom Belichick went to college.

After the victory against the Rams, Holley became a frequent sight in the complex. As a result, he begins to write about how they evaluate the team, players, free agents and draft picks. This is the real strength of the book. Particularly after the 2002-3 season. In some ways they were drunk on success, thinking they could just turn it on again but they couldn’t because they were too old and too slow. They needed to reload one year after winning it all.

“The essence of Belichick is that he is a problem solver.”

In all of this there are small sections on players like Vinatieri and Fauria, and key figures like Pioli. He talks about the Lawyer Milloy situation which led to the silent feud with Tom Jackson.

All in all this is a very interesting read. You can learn, not only about the Patriots, but football through the anecdotes. You find overall commitments to process that work more often than they don’t. I enjoy learning how people approach their work. That is what make the recent Parcells biography so interesting. I am eager to read Holley’s 2012 follow up, War Room, as a result.

This isn’t a book for children. Unless you are Tony Dungy, football culture is quite colorful and crass. As a result there are more than a few curse words, and slang for sexual acts. This is unfortunate. While it adds to the realism, I wouldn’t want to give it to my son for quite some time.

Read Full Post »

Considering the Brady Appeal

Yes, we’ve been inundated with information and reports about Deflategate since the day after the AFC Championship game. Many or most people jumped to rapid conclusions, often in accordance with their team loyalties. Patriots’ fans have by and large defended Tom Brady. The rest of the universe seemed to pile on because obviously every Patriot is a cheater. And only Patriots it would seem.

¹⁷ The one who states his case first seems right,
    until the other comes and examines him. Proverbs 18

I’ve talked with some people and what is clear is that people’s presuppositions control how they view the evidence.

What is also clear to me is that the NFL has largely controlled the PR/media war on this issue. This is because they had and controlled information (thankfully there is a growing number of sports and legal writers around the country beginning to question the NFL and its narrative). Sadly this has included leaking false information, and knowingly giving the Patriots false information that prejudiced the public and was intended to intimidate the Patriots and Tom Brady. The Commish seems to have forgotten that the Code of Conduct applies to all NFL personnel, including his office. As the recently released e-mails reveal, the General Counsel of the NFL refused to correct information that unduly tarnished the reputation of a member club. As a result this has the feel of Kafka’s existential novel The Trial with Brady cast as the clueless accused man who dies but never knows the charges against him.

This “scandal” never should have gotten to this point. It should have been treated as an equipment violation and a fine in keeping with the rules. Done. It also should have prompted the NFL to improve their procedures (or more truthfully to actually have policies and procedures).  One thing the released testimony reveals is that they, like Brady, really didn’t care much about PSI, and they only selectively care about it now (they didn’t ask any questions of Adrian Rogers).

¹⁰ Unequal weights and unequal measures
    are both alike an abomination to the Lord. Proverbs 20

Let’s looks at the testimony.

Brady

I think generally Brady comes off well. He is consistent in denying any knowledge or intent. The one thing that really doesn’t look good is the phone. Not so much that he had it “destroyed” (which is never really defined). The timing looks bad. The fact that he was able to produce an earlier phone looks bad. BUT, they have the logs of texts and emails from that phone. We don’t have the content, but we would have the corresponding side of the pertinent conversations from Jasremski (a fact seemingly overlooked by just about everyone wanting to string Brady up). Brady was genuinely surprised when he learned of the matter during his weekly interview with WEEI. Yes, he subsequently was in contact with Jastremski. This is for two reasons, as Brady related, which are not as nefarious as the haters want to make them. First, they were going to the Super Bowl! This was the first time that Jastremski had this position when the Patriots have gone to the Super Bowl (he has worked for them for about 12 years in other positions). The Super Bowl is a whole different enchilada. You have to prepare about 100 new balls (because the league wants to auction them off). Additionally, Brady wants to see if he is distracted by the news as they head into the biggest game in years. There is no need to import evil intentions here, unless you are already biased.

Brady did not seem to care about PSI until the Jets game when they were over-inflated by the refs (this is not the scandal you are looking for…). The NFL simply refuses to accept his repeated assertion that after that game he insisted they be at 12.5 in accordance with the rules. They aren’t the only ones as I’ve interacted with people who ignore this in the Wells’ Report as assume this means he REALLY wants them lower (biased much?).

By the way, now some of what Brady feared by giving them the phone and/or records has happened, as it did in the case of Jastremski and McNally. Irrelevant emails have been released that make him look bad. That is the kind of stuff ordinary people have to hide on their phones- snarky comments about others. In this case some comments about Peyton Manning.

Edward Snyder

He is a statistician, not a scientist. He purpose was not to question the science of Exponent, but the process of Exponent. They did have a flawed process in their experiments to attempt to replicate the events to see if the ideal gas law fully explains the deflation of the ball. They did not include time, particularly time back in the officials room. The longer they would be there, the less deflation would be registered (which explains why the Colts’ balls lost less). Since their process was flawed, their findings are not reliable. I think he’s right. This case assumes tampering with the balls, but the deflation seems to be within expectations (depending on the gauge used- more on that in a moment). The NFL has disregarded the truly independent reports that state this and seems to double down on Exponent unwisely and unfairly.

Troy Vincent

Troy’s testimony makes him, and the league office, look utterly incompetent and corrupt. What becomes clear is there was no process in place, period. No pregame recordings and notice of the the gauge used. There was not process for recording the results at halftime, and confusion about gauges. Vincent has NO explanation for why Gardi used incorrect information when contacting the Patriots about the investigation. Not one ball registered at the exceedingly low level mentioned. Kessler had him but didn’t press about whether he saw it and sought to correct it. However, it would seem like such a notice would be given to superiors and Vincent should have gotten a copy. If not, how incompetent are these people? This could explain the Ray Rice tape fiasco (cover-up? Goodell handed in his league owned phone, but not his personal phone in that investigation. Hmmmm.)

In discussing the information conveyed to the Patriots about the Colts’ balls, it is clear that the NFL is quite comfortable with using the results of one gauge to put the Colts in a good light, and the other to put the Patriots in a bad light. That is corruption, people. That is using two different standards. Additionally, they did not take weather conditions into consideration (to be fair the rules as stated make no mention of this reality either).

¹⁶ “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Exodus 20

Vincent also looks bad for basing his recommendations on the Wells’ Report which had been edited by Pash. It was not based on the full testimony of all parties involved. Once again, an improper process on the part of the league officials.

Kessler also brought to light that in the past “integrity of the game” issues were not concerning players but team employees. This would be a change in policy without notice to players. Once again, unfair procedure.

I will give Vincent the benefit of the doubt, that he misunderstood the question about when he became aware of the situation. What many people are thinking about is the memo from the Colts. The Ravens denied any responsibility in warning the Colts about “deflated balls”. Technically they are right. However, their kicking consultant Randy Brown did contact Colts coach Pagano (who used to work for the Ravens) about kicking balls being rotated in properly. They did contact them and about balls. But the Colts’ memo alleges that the Patriots have been known to deflate balls. There is question about how they realized the ball was allegedly deflated. The player who intercepted the pass denies noticing or saying anything. Which means the Colts equipment guy had a gauge and tested it. All questionable, but not addressed. Unfortunately.

The Allegedly Independent Ted Wells

Nash invoked client-attorney privilege when Wells was asked about Pash’s role in the final product. So, was he independent or an attorney hired by the league? Wells then testified he was hired as an attorney with the NFL as his client. Reisner, who represented the league in cross examining Brady, wrote the first draft of the Wells’ Report. Wells and the NFL have therefore consistently misrepresented this.

Kessler gets him to admit that he interprets comments regarding the Jets game and over-inflated balls to refer to deflating. Just how does that work? This is the whole problem- Wells (and those biased people) take these comments in the worst light which is actually contrary to what they actually mean. How can we have reasonable discussions when we do this?

⁵ A faithful witness does not lie,
    but a false witness breathes out lies. Proverbs 14

He also takes an email from McNally to Panda where McNally says the balls should have been 13 psi instead of 16 (referring to the Jets game) and then Jastremski and gets Wells to admit they were being truthful. So, where is the scheme? He admits they wanted them within the league-mandated range.

He also admitted there was no data regarding time and temperature. How then, can there be any actual evidence that someone deflated the balls. It is a supposition based on total conjecture that cost the Patriots $1 million and a 1st round pick, and may cost Brady 4 games but certainly cost him his reputation. Nice….

He presents Anderson as utterly trustworthy and reliable. Anderson says he used the logo gauge, but could be mistaken. Okay. That means we can’t be sure which gauge was used. But Wells decides Anderson was mistaken, and goes with the gauge that produced the lower readings. Reasonable, right? No, it isn’t. Perhaps I’m an idiot but I can’t understand the rationale he, and Exponent, used to claim with certainty that the non-Logo gauge was used.

He also admitted that he didn’t find Brady credible because of the phone, a phone he legally didn’t have to provide. (Reminder, Goodell never provided HIS personal phone in the Ray Rice investigation but didn’t consider that refusal to cooperate and actions detrimental to the league.) A phone his counsel advised him not to provide. A phone his union advised him not to provide. A phone which if provided would most likely have meant the release of lots of irrelevant and damaging information. Failing to exercise rights means a lack of credibility. So much for the presumption of innocence. Wells basically rejected everyone’s testimony, even the security guard who said that McNally brought the balls to the field, alone, about half the time (contrary to Mr. Anderson’s claim).

Despite there being leaks, and statements made by league officials that may indicate prejudice, Wells did not investigate anyone but Brady and Patriots’ personnel. No one else’s texts or emails. This despite the request of the Patriots’ organization. A truly independent investigator would have investigated league involvement and missteps in this process. Nothing about what happened after the league received the pre-game report from the Colts complaining about balls.

⁹ For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Romans 13

Wells admits that the league didn’t measure the Patriots’ balls after the game to see if there were any changes. This may have shown the deflation was naturally occurring and not “man-made.”

He admits that Gostkowski refused to provide his phone. But that was no big deal since they decided he wasn’t central to the investigation. No accusation of lack of cooperation.

The NFL called 3 different people from Exponent for some highly technical testimony in which they basically say they are the only ones that got the testing right, and it proves natural causes alone are not responsible. They did admit that there were too many variables to replicate in tests. Therefore the results are questionable and there is sufficient doubt, or should be . Goodell focuses, in his judgment on the phone.and suddenly seems to ignore the “science.” The bottom line is that just like global warming or any other scientific question, there are legitimate differences of opinion instead of rock solid veracity.

Jastremski & McNally

Didn’t testify. Not sure why, meaning I can’t recall who didn’t want them testifying. Since their testimony was not present in the Wells’ Report it probably is the league, not the NFLPA.

Mr. Anderson

The full-time dentist and part-time official didn’t testify. As a result there was no opportunity to discover more about normal policies and practices. For instance, do they listen to the ball guy about QB requests within the legal boundaries or not. If I’m the NFLPA I’m calling them. Did the league block this too?

Roger “the Dodger” Goodell

He didn’t testify. But he asked some questions. Some of them sound like he wasn’t really paying attention. The reality is that this makes the Commish look BAD. We get to see how he statements (and other NFL statements) have manipulated and withheld testimony to support judgments. In other words- they lied. Repeatedly. These transcripts reveal that. And they manipulated testimony to make Brady look bad, to look guilty.

If you look at the transcripts you will see that after break Kessler wants transparency. He wants them released. The NFL did NOT want them released in any way, shape or form. Why? Because they can no longer control the flow of information and therefore manipulate the outcome and cover up the pattern of deceit and corruption.

¹⁶ There are six things that the Lord hates,
    seven that are an abomination to him:
¹⁷ haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
    and hands that shed innocent blood,
¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked plans,
    feet that make haste to run to evil,
¹⁹ a false witness who breathes out lies,
    and one who sows discord among brothers. Proverbs 6

It may not matter. Many people’s minds were won by the fallacious and malicious PR campaign by the NFL. No one looks good in this mess: Brady, the league, Goodell, the Colts and Ravens, Chris Mortensen … Nobody.

I’m not saying this proves Brady didn’t do anything, or that McNally did nothing (he may have acted on the demand of Brady to circumvent officials who ignore the request). But the supposedly “circumstantial” evidence begins to evaporate. There is evidence of wrong-doing on the part of the NFL. Will people ignore that? Will they shift their outrage to the people who we know who did wrong? Probably not. And the sad part is this destroyed a man’s reputation over what may have simply just an act of nature.

Read Full Post »