Beyond Deflategate: The NFL Season Begins

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Hi there! How ya doing! Because I have been oppressed with this Tom Brady porn bullshit from blog partner and sister, that Wheel person. Very ugly and unnecessary. But I am going to let it stand for all of posterity, not to mention both of our posteriors. Still, you have to wonder when enough is enough (like when she hijacked my last post).

I used to love her, but….

So, enough about yer local riff raff, and about #Deflategate (which was bullshit from the inception) let’s get on to the game at hand. That would be the Patriots versus the Steelers.

Yes, Brady has a giant chip on his shoulder. Yes the Pats are defending Superbowl champs and Big Ben and the Steelers are not. Nevertheless, this is one hell of a season opening game. In fact, it is pretty hard to imagine a better one under the circumstances. Say what you will about how any got there, there are only a precious few at the top of all time winners in the Super Bowl era. They include the Steelers and Pats. And, yes, the Steelers, for all the Pats glory in the last 15 years, are still winning that overall matchup. The 49ers, Packers, Cowboys and Gents are totally in there, but the more recent elite are pretty clear.

So, here we are. Steelers have Big Ben and….what? Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown are as good a duo as you can get. But without Bell, who is suspended, in the backfield, that is going to place some extra pressure on the Steelers offense. A face Bill Belichick undoubtedly knows. By the same token, the Pats pass defense rests on a backfield without either Darrell Revis of Brandon Browner. Pretty easy to see Malcomb Butler continuing to become a stud above and beyond his one play Super Bowl XLIX heroics, but similarly hard to see there not being some early hiccups in that road. Would not want to be Butler on Antonio Brown tonight.

But will DeAngelo Williams, who will sub for Bell and Cody Wallace, who is subbing for center Maurkice Pouncey, be able to pick up the slack? Yes, I think so, but not nearly enough.

That said, the Patriots are without LeGarrette Blount, due to a one game suspension. I think that Dion Lewis (who is potentially breakout star) and Travaris Cadet will come out of nowhere to semi-carry the load. So, both sides have some issue at running back, but, hopefully, capable backups. I’d give a slight edge to the Pats, but by a VERY slight margin.

We all know the QB’s on these two respective teams. They are both great. Hard to see an edge here other than the psychological harden that Brady may have. But I am not putting that much in that, Ben will come to play too.

Comes down to defense. Call me crazy, and probably you should for this, but I think the Pats have the edge on the new, dick LeBeau-less, and untested, Steeler’s defense. Troy Polamalu and Ryan Clark ain’t walking through that tunnel. Especially so with the questions in the Pittsburgh offensive line. If there is a win here, that, and a pissed off Brady, are where I see it. And that is where I see it, the Steelers are good, but the Brady’s come out roaring and winning tonight. don’t make me regret this Deflators!

So, there you have it. #Deflategate is still a legal pile of dubious garbage manufactured, as is now even more clear, by an arbitrary and capricious, if not arrogantly craven, Roger Goddell and the NFL. We shall deal with that more later. For now, trash it up and let loose the dogs of football war.

And that is that. On top is an incredible Taiwanese animation on the latest ESPN slanted bunk trying to give cover to the NFL for #Deflategate. It’s really awesome. Lower is one of my newest favorite bands, this one from down under, specifically Perth, Boom! Bap! Pow! Yeah, that is their name, and they are killer.

The real football season is upon us folks, rip this joint.

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91 replies
  1. bmaz says:

    I refuse to respond to Scribe on that last, freaking heinous, Brady porn thread. but, let me say this about that, at this point, Stillers waving “Terrible Towels”, at least against Brady and my new kind of team, the Pats, might as well be waving Depends diapers.

    • scribe says:

      Pitiable Johnny-come-lately pink hat fan, you are.
      .
      What I hear, there’s a downpour in progress at Foxborough. I dunno whether that is preventing flaming Goodell effigies from playing a prominent part in the tailgate. (If there were any, I’d stand alongside James Harrison and refrain from pissing on him to extinguish the flames.) What’s more, I hear that if Biebs (actually, the NFLPA) hadn’t won the court case, the Patsies would have raised a Brady 12 jersey instead of a Super Bowl Champions banner. In either instance, King Roger the Clown would not have been present. His absence likely has been welcomed by the Patsies management, seeing as how they don’t have to curtail concessionaires’ sales of things which can be thrown at fuckstick Commissioners trying to act like medieval kings and getting gutted for their efforts.
      .
      On a more serious note, there are some interesting between the sidelines things going on. Both the Stillers and Cheatin’ Bill’s Cheating Cheaters are down their main RB, the consequence of both of them being in the same car with some dope this time last year. Blunt … excuse me, Blount … wound up clubhouse-cancering his way out of Pittsburgh when he walked off the field before the end of a game for which he was inactive. Of course, Cheatin’ Bill recognized a kindred spirit and brought him back to Noo England. They were down a quart on “criminality” after Hernandez got his ass busted and his neck jailhouse-tattooed “Lifetime” and bringing Blount back topped off their tank in that department.
      .
      So, call the RB suspensions a wash.
      .
      Going back to the Hernandez issue, the Patsies appear to have recreated their 2 TE threat with a new addition at that position to play alongside Gronk the Fragile. This will prove interesting because the Patsies are a bit thin on the WR position. This guy is not quite as good at yards after catch as Hernandez nor big as Gronk. The latter just means he needs to hang out with that oversized doofus and eat some of the gigantic thousand-calorie sammiches Gronk is pitching for Dunkin Donuts. That, after a summer in which we’re told he starred in a series of bad commercials featuring his singing and dancing talent.
      .
      There’s an old saying to the effect of “do what you’re good at”. Gronk should heed that.
      .
      The O-lines of both teams are a bit suspect. Both are down their centers. Pouncey is arguably the best center in the league and his absence will be felt. OTOH, Stork is a good, solid center – AFAIK his replacement is a rookie. I’d expect some touch-and-go moments on Patsies snaps tonight. One of the points the commentators have made is that the way to beat the Patsies’ O is to bullrush the center of their line. The offensive line’s protection is susceptible to being caved in that way.
      .
      The Stillers are down a good WR in Bryant. He’s not a 10-catch/100-yard guy, rather more of the guy who might catch 2 for 100 and a TD or two. In other words, a deep threat. It would have been interesting to see him matched up against Butler. It will remain to be seen whether the rest of the Stillers WRs make for an entertaining matchup with Butler. The sense I got is that his Super Bowl-saving INT gave him the idea that “I belong in this league”. Whether that’s accurate or fantasy, we have yet to find out.
      .
      All this said, I think the Patsies come out with their hair on fire and likely beat the Stillers.
      .
      Someone please explain why NBC’s pregame is set in San Francisco and the guy is singing the praises of the City By The Bay? It’s not like the suits at the network didn’t have fucking months to come up with an appropriate northeastern pregame.

      • emptywheel says:

        Just made me miss Left Shark, that SF thing.

        You didn’t address the secondaries. Dunno who will win that battle–both missing leaders. May come down to whose LBs play better.

        • scribe says:

          I think both secondaries are a wash – equally weak coverage. I agree that the LBs will probably determine the defensive battle though, as I mentioned, bull-rushing the center of the Patsies’ O-line is more likely to help the Stillers than vice-versa.
          .
          If James Harrison plays like James Harrison, Biebs could be in for a long night. I’m more worried about his age slowing him down than his heart.

  2. Jim White says:

    .
    Meh. The Pats are still the team that does the most to go over the line of what is fair, right and by the rules. You will never convince me otherwise (yes, in my youth it was the Raiders, but they are simply pathetic these days).
    .
    And AHEM. The No Fun League is NOT the only game in town. The college football season also is getting started. Down here in the land of the Gators, all are happy after the season opener under new coach Jim McElwain. The long dark Muschamp nightmare is officially over, and I could not be happier.
    .
    Meanwhile, my Rays are fading rapidly and look like they will miss the playoffs even though they did much better than many expected with a rookie manager and a ton of injuries to starting pitchers.

  3. emptywheel says:

    Gotta say, I’m not crazy about the rain. Rained Serena out and that may well favor Big Ben over Brady w/his regulation fat balls.

  4. orionATL says:

    i got a question, bmaz.

    you’ve probably heard about this inannely press-named “deflategate”thing (imaginative little roaches aren’t they?), right.

    so what’s your real true honest opinion ?

    • bmaz says:

      Honest opinion is that #Deflategate is a complete, and unmitigated, pile of shit without a lick of competent evidence.
      .
      It is innuendo piled on top of biased horseshit in every regard. Total crap. Enough to make me a Patriots and Brady fan when I never was before, in the least.

      • orionATL says:

        thank you, bmaz. thank you.

        i will never spray anti-bacterial on this telephone receiver again.

        thank you.

        bye bye.

      • Peterr says:

        It is innuendo piled on top of biased horseshit in every regard.

        I’m shocked — shocked, I tell you! — to discover . . .
        .
        Face it, bmaz. It’s the NFL. Change the teams, change the owners, change the commish, and you’re still left with innuendo, bias, and large quantities of equine excretions. And very very large quantities of cash. The latter makes the former tolerable to everyone involved, even as they whine and complain.
        .
        The NCAA just wishes they could have as much innuendo, bias, and horseshit as the NFL.

  6. scribe says:

    Nice how the League has gotten the pregame to avoid showing anything at all of the Patsies pre-game celebrating their Super Bowl win and raising the banner.

  9. ek hornbeck says:

    Why all the Brady love? Unless you’re picking for fantasy or some other nefarious purpose why not a team that isn’t so skeezy and reprehensible like the Pack or one that has a winning record like the Giants (2 – 0 against the Pats in the last decade)?

    • bmaz says:

      Well, for me, like was the case with Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, I just happen to care about actual credible admissible evidence that is more probative than inanely prejudicial evidence.
      .
      I have seen not one iota of that as to #Deflategate. None. You might remember what I said about the Clemens and Bonds cases. Neither of those were popular either, but my legal analysis born out, completely, in both, in the long run.

      • bloopie2 says:

        I wonder if that’s your criminal defense attorney bias kicking in: “Anyone who can’t be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt with admissible court evidence, must be a nice guy and is to be applauded.” Nota bene, most of the world doe not feel that way.

        • bmaz says:

          No, I am saying there is NO COMPETENT EVIDENCE, under ANY burden of proof, including the lowly preponderance burden, to support the pertinent allegations. Simply NONE.

        • bloopie2 says:

          “No, I am saying there is NO COMPETENT EVIDENCE, under ANY burden of proof, including the lowly preponderance burden, to support the pertinent allegations. Simply NONE.” Okay that’s different. You followed it closely, I didn’t, so I will accede to that judgment. As I am a fan of “another” AFC team, however, there’s no way in h*ll I’m going to cheer on Tom Brady. Of course, that leaves me with Big Ben on the other side, so, crap with a capital K. Maybe just go to bed; have to get up in 6 hours anyway and be productive. Be glad you’re not my client tomorrow!

        • bmaz says:

          Fair enough. Honestly, I was basically a Patriots enemy before this gig. Probably I have gone too far the other way because of what I have ascertained from paying attention to this crap. Forget who you root for. This case matters, because if it can be done, without discriminate evidence, to the All American boy Brady, and the Pats with the powerful Kraft as owner, then it can be done to your, or any other, team, without nearly the platform and resources to fight it.
          .
          That is the underlying problem. Not to mention the very real implications for fundamental, above and beyond football, labor law. We may not always agree, but if you know anything, you know I am a stickler for due process. Well, above and beyond the underlying facts (which given the Ideal Gas Law etc. are not that good for the NFL either), there are huge due process in collectively bargained for disputes.
          .
          All for what it is worth.

        • bloopie2 says:

          Absolutely that’s the takeaway; a high profile case like this one can affect small ones down the line in many ways. All the pundits who said “arbitration awards won’t be overturned in court” were a bit too glib, that’s for sure. And speaking of Ideal Gasses, there sure was a lot of un-ideal hot air being bandied about (can you do that?) in this case. I deal with technology on a daily basis, but from an outsider’s perspective, and I know how easy it is for a non-expert (or at least a person not of ordinary skill in the art) to get carried off in the wrong direction. That’s why God invented Daubert. In your experience, is it better for a fact finder to rely on technical mumbo jumbo, or on closer-to-the-heart evidence?

        • bmaz says:

          Son of a bitch. I wrote a three paragraph long answer to this….and it disappeared into the ether.
          .
          Wow.
          .
          No clue what happened. Short version, most appellate judges, and certainly SCOTUS judges, have never been in the well of a trial courtroom, and, therefore, have no clue what they are yakking about or ruling on in regards to evidentiary issues. That is how totally shitty law has been made over the years, and then bastardized by trial court judges that are elected rubes, former prosecutors, and other naifs wanting to be “tough on crime” to retain their perch in life.
          .
          On SCOTUS, only Sotomayor has ever stood in the well in anger. and I am not sure even she remembers fully what that entails, but at least she was once there. The others have less trial experience than I gained in my first year, if not first few months, as a lawyer. That is not a good thing, because the trial courts are where the law really meets the public in this country.

        • bmaz says:

          Ooof, great question. I think Daubert is a clusterfuck and is unevenly applied, and misused, in trial courts. I further think most appellate judges, and certainly the Supreme Court, have no idea in the world just how much this is so, and how crappy of results that produces, because they have never been in the well of jury trial courtrooms or, if they ever were, it was so long ago they forgot. Which propagates the idiotic application in lower trial courts that we all see.
          .
          I cannot really straight up answer your question because I do not think either option is a real option. They both are, and, at the same time, neither are. This is why I, and several others, like Scott Greenfield, constantly harp on what a sham it is that law professors and appellate judges, including very primarily, SCOTUS judges, have no freaking idea what they are talking about when they rule, from on high, about evidentiary and other trial processes.

        • scribe says:

          I have >10 civil jury trials where I was lead (or only) counsel, for both plaintiffs and defendants. That is, IIRC, more than the entire Supreme Court, combined.

        • bmaz says:

          Yup. to my knowledge, the only one that has ever been in a trial courtroom in anger with a jury is Soto, who worked for Morgenthau. Give her props for that, because the others have squat in that department. And, as I blathered at the time, Kagan is the worst prepared of all. It really is pathetic that a bunch of rubes who have never been where I go nearly every day, decide how it is done. And it tells in their work, they really do not understand jack shit about how law occurs and is dispensed to real citizens in local, state and federal trial courtrooms every day. Terribly pathetic.

        • scribe says:

          Yup. When it comes to trying cases – particularly in civil court – they’re 13 year-old boys telling us all there is to know about women.
          .
          And, in the words of someone we met when EW won the Hillman award a few years back, Kagan’s a used car salesman. I will give her credit for a bit of open-mindedness, though, in taking the time and making the effort to try the shooting sports and hunting. That’s a big stretch for a liberal woman from the UWS.

    • bloopie2 says:

      Agreed, why all the Brady love? So he was falsely accused in this case – so what? That changes nothing about him, his past. his skills, whether he’s a nice guy, etc. If Tom Little Man had his life turned upside down for a year because of a false charge against him, I might be inclined to help him recover by publicly cheering him on a bit. But I sincerely doubt that wealthy, brilliant, hard-working, good-looking, well-married Tom Brady needs your help (or anyone’s help) to “recover”. Pray tell: why were you not a fan of him before? And have any of those reasons changed?

      • Bay State Librul says:

        The Pats have requested that they reinstate the ball boys. It might take them seven months to decide. The NFL is corrupt

        • bloopie2 says:

          I agree the NFL is corrupt. My takeaway from this is that the NFL is horrid. I hate the NFL more. But I certainly don’t “love” the Patriots or Brady. What have they done to earn that from me? It’s not “standing up for yourself” – every guilty criminal does that when he goes to trial, and that doesn’t make him admirable. Honestly, what, other than fight the NFL, has Brady done?

    • rosalind says:

      out at the Grammy Museum seeing Dave & Phil Alvin talk about their childhood at the knees of Big Joe Turner, T-Bone Walker et al learning from the masters and performing cuts from their killer new LP “Lost Time”, that’s where!

  16. bloopie2 says:

    Regardless of the NFL’s horrid work here, one must admire the fact that they kept the anti-Brady fever alive for so long. Just as one would admire a PR flack who spun public opinion in her horrid client’s favor, no? Will the NFL ever like Brady? Of course not. He is the enemy, just as every worker is the enemy of every boss, and every boss is the enemy of every worker, down deep. So why should they treat him nicely? The concept of “Working together we will achieve more” doesn’t hold water for most billionaires. Betcha you come back to this shit twenty years from now and it will be the same old story: There’s comity for a few years after a labor agreement is reached, then there’s enmity after that. (BTW, Word 2010 doesn’t recognize “comity” in its Thesaurus; does that mean I’m overreaching?)

    • bmaz says:

      You know, really, that is quite true generally. But sports leagues have rarely, if ever, tried so hard to slay their biggest star for so little, if, in fact, nothing.

  17. bloopie2 says:

    From the Guardian’s MBM: “Patriots fans at Gillette Stadium have started up a “Where is Roger?!” chant.” Well, that can’t hold water to the Cleveland Browns fans’ “Jump, Art!” banners that were directed at the owner Art Modell, sitting high up in his loge overlooking the field. Truly a classic. Sports fans at their best!

  18. bloopie2 says:

    I see that Memphis fans have bullied their school into canceling a ceremony honoring former coach John Calipari, who left under dubious circumstances. Power to the people, I guess. But jeez, you’d think that college basketball was actually important, or something, from all this hullabaloo. :)

  19. Skilly says:

    As usual, I agree with BMAZ on issues of due process and evidence rulings. Sadly, since the NFL did not have the benefit of legal process, the evidence they obtained was stunted. There were allegations that the Pats disrupted the discovery/investigation. The phone issue is one that could have resulted in spoliation issues? I would suspect the firing/discharge of the employees would be admissible evidence. Certainly that apology/nonapology of Kraft would have been.

    Tom Brady is Scooter Libby? only not as good a science fiction writer.

    having said that, Gronk is on my fantasy team. Go Pats

    Skilly

  20. scribe says:

    Well, in the cold light of the morning after, let’s take a look.
    .
    Yes, my Stillers got A Gronking to Remember.
    .
    That said, they looked like shit, too. They were uncoordinated, uncommunicative, and disjointed – like how you disjoint a chicken to cook it more easily – and porous on defense. They were able to move the ball seemingly at will, which was great until they tried to score. Mr. Heyward-Bey will, at a minimum, be getting lessons on keeping his feet in bounds when wide open in the end zone catching the ball. Whether that’s in Stiller black and gold or on some other team remains an open question.
    .
    Similarly, the Steelers numbnuts kicker looks to be on the team only so long as it takes to find a guy who can convert field goals. Recall, Heinz Field is notorious for being the toughest kicking environment in the League. This guy’s performance – appalling.
    .
    Worth remembering that had numbnuts the kicker converted one or both of those missed FGs and had Mr. Heywood-Bey kept his feet under control, the result would have been quite different for Patsies and their fans.
    .
    DeAngelo Williams was a revelation, though the Patsies did seem to go Borg-like and adapt as the game went on. When Bell comes back, and assuming the Stillers O can figure out a way to divvy the running between them, it could make for a very productive running game.
    .
    Still, defense wins championships. And the Steelers have none to speak of.
    .
    As I noted upthread, the Patsies seem to have re-created the 2 TE offense which was so devastating when TE#2 was that Hernandez guy. If Gronk stays healthy, the league should watch out.
    .
    And, as to any remaining questions about the corruption inherent in the league consider the obvious work – by both teams – to get the Stillers to cover the spread (7 points). They fought tooth and nail to score that final TD and the Patsies to string it out so all they could score was enough to cover the spread. It was so obvious even Al and Chris could not avoid mentioning it.
    .
    I suspect King Roger the Clown was pleased. While Roger can afford to shit on players, owners and fans, if the Boys in Vegas don’t have a league where “on any given Sunday” and “parity” obtain, then they will have questions for the Commissioner. The kind of questions several suddenly-poorer Russian oligarchs had for Bernie Madoff’s feeder salespeople. Salespeople who suddenly were seen no more. I heard a stat yesterday or the day before which noted that the gambling revenue on No Fun League games was several times the League’s own revenue, and that was before taking into account that the vast majority of the gambling revenue was under the table and thus unreported.
    .
    On to the next game.

  21. scribe says:

    If I were King Roger the Clown and, in his way, desirous of taking revenge on the Patsies for being Patsies and winning in court and all the rest, I could have my way. I’d don my ermine robe and climb onto the throne in my Park Avenue office, wave my Commissioner’s scepter and decide that regardless of the play on the field the Patsies had lost because they were feeding their radio broadcast into the Stillers on-field radio system. A forfeit, in other words.
    .
    While that would have the salutary effect of making clear to all teams that further monkeyshines with helmet radios and intercoms would no longer be an acceptable form of cheating, it’d never happen.
    .
    There’s one town that will never have an NFL franchise although its opinion counts more than almost all the other cities in the US of A: Vegas, baby. Too many of the people in Vegas would be offended – or lose money – on King Roger revising the results and, instead of making waves, he’d be sinking beneath them.
    .
    So cheating by Cheatin’ Bill and his Cheating Cheaters goes unpunished again.

    • emptywheel says:

      Note the Stillers, after having made this claim in front of every TV (Tomlin’s first story exaggerated beyond what Stillers’ later said), have decided they’re not going to launch a formal complaint.

      That kind of Pats blaming can inspire defeatist thinking in a team.

      • scribe says:

        Like I said, cheating by Cheatin’ Bill and his cheating Cheaters goes unpunished again.
        .
        That said, I support Tomlin in declining to pursue it. The allegation, true so far as we know, has been made. And was made right alongside the statement that “this happens here all the time”. Both made by Tomlin.
        .
        But, as you noted, in declining to pursue it Tomlin is laying responsibility for the loss right where it belongs: on the kicker’s foot, on the porous (not even sievelike) defense, and on offensive emptyheadedness like Mr. Can’t control my feet Heyward-Bey.
        .
        Now I gotta go look at the “transactions” page to see who gets shitcanned.

        • emptywheel says:

          Note Stillers are ALSO bitching abt the shift Pats do on goal line D, which is legal and all over their game films. Big Ben says it must be illegal, to which NFL just sent the rules he apparently doesn’t know.

          I tell you, if teams want to blame the Pats for “cheating” when they do something legal every week and get it in their head they’ll lose as a result, I’m okay with that. Loser’s mentality.

          Stillers’ coaches bear a good deal of the blame last night. Turns out they needed Dick LeBeau more than they knew.

        • scribe says:

          PBS was showing Ken Burns’ “Civil War” last night and I was flipping back and forth during some boring parts of the game.
          .
          They were talking about Grant taking over in the East and how he cemented his command during the battle of The Wilderness. All his staff officers were running around talking about how “Bobby Lee was doing this and Bobby Lee was doing that and what would Bobby Lee do to us next” when Grant growled that he’d heard enough about what Bobby Lee was doing and wanted to hear about what they intended to do to Bobby Lee.
          .
          I am hoping Tomlin had a similar discussion with his players and coaches last night and, if not then, at least by now.
          .
          They have to STFU and get on with preparing for SF.

        • emptywheel says:

          Oh, the Stillers may right the ship–again, if LeBeau’s successor isn’t a dud. But if every team that plays the Pats does something similar, thinking loser thinking will help them, I’ll take that too.

        • scribe says:

          As to LeBeau, he may have been great – he is great – but sooner or later he was going to leave, one way or another. I’m just hoping his successor doesn’t turn out to be a Ray Handley.

  23. orionATL says:

    re: nfl nation my ass

    http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/sep/11/the-nfl-and-the-military-a-love-affair-as-strange-and-cynical-as-ever

    could this be true:

    “…Every October, it puts its athletes in pink shoes, pink towels, gives refs pink penalty flags and sells “authentic” alternate pink jerseys to promote breast cancer awareness. The proceeds from these sales do not go breast cancer research, and what little escapes the wholesaler, distributor and retailer goes toward promoting screening and awareness. The NFL doesn’t directly profit, but its friends do… ”

    with a little help from our friends….

    and then there’s the commercial patriotism ( cited in the guardian):

    http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-sn-nfl-teams-money-military-tributes-20150511-story.html

    with alittle help from our citizens ….

  24. bmaz says:

    Okay alright. Anybody know where Phred is?
    .
    We have, apparently, located our beloved Roving Reporter (See:#77 above), but where is our Phred?

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