NFL's Manipulation of the Media

Everyone hates the Patriots. We know that. Everyone thinks we spied on other teams and deflated footballs to win games because they need excuses. The NFL is jealous of what the Patriots have accomplished over the past fifteen years, so they need some way to bring us down to level the playing field. Roger Goodell and the NFL used untrue information to manipulate the media into feeding the public the same false information.

            Deflategate is one of the most idiotic cases ever developed from the NFL. The case is against Tom Brady for deflating footballs 2 PSI before a game. Wow, air, I know right? Very dumb. Here is the thing though, even though the balls were underinflated 2 PSI, there is absolutely no evidence proving Tom Brady had anything to do with it. The whole reason I am writing this article is to expose how horrible the media covered Deflategate. Don’t get me wrong, the media, news, ESPN, and everyone else constantly chimed in and gave the public non-stop coverage of Deflategate, but the information they constantly updated the public on was complete trash. Before the Deflategate accusation, the NFL released a statement saying the Patriots cheated and deflated footballs during the Playoffs last season. They released this to the media, so the public would assume that it is a fact and make up their minds that Brady and the Patriots are cheaters. They would be punished for cheating before it was even questioned.

This case is the most painful and drawn out experience that the Patriots have faced, hands down. The NFL is attempting to suspend Brady for 4 games, while the NFL only gave Ray Rice a 2 game suspension for knocking out his wife, which is incredibly ridiculous. The Patriots would be fined $1 million dollars and lose first round draft picks in 2016 and 2017. Brady alone would be punished 4 games (NFL.com). A little excessive, don’t you think? The punishment was issued in May and there was no debate about it. Up until Brady’s appeal, the public had already made its decision to badmouth the Patriots.

Roger Goodell, the joker himself, is the reason why this tragedy happened and is still happening today. Goodell and the NFL manipulated the media from the start. They manipulated Brady’s testimony and influenced “The Well’s Report” as well, according to CBS Boston when they referred to “The Well’s Report” as NFL sponsored. The article states “The Wells Report’s” conclusions are likely incorrect,” the report also states, “and a simple misunderstanding appears to have led the NFL to these incorrect conclusions”, which lead the NFL to release this false information. A sad attempt from Goodell to save the integrity of the game, “it seems like his integrity is the one that should be observed” according to Forbes, A.K.A. Goodell’s a clown.

Once the NFL released these statements and issued the punishment, the media and public developed a base to form their opinion. Of course everyone who loves the Pats were going to be in an uproar, while every other team and their fans smiled ear to ear. The media covered this story like Tom Brady had committed an unbelievable crime and he was going to jail, which also had an influence on the public’s opinion. If the media blows it out of proportion, of course people are going to blow it out of proportion as well. Let me remind you this is all over the amount of air in a ball. This entire situation could have been avoided if the Patriot’s equipment manager, Jim Mcnally, handled the balls properly. Apparently, the balls could have been a little underinflated because Mcnally was spoken to by Brady in week seven after the balls were overinflated at around 16 PSI. Brady scolded Mcnally for overinflating the footballs so that they were as hard as a rock. This was most likely the motive to underinflating the footballs. (New York Post)

Brady was never responsible for the underinflated footballs, if they ever were underinflated to begin with. The referees did not take the right steps in testing the ball pressure before the game, so no one has any clue what the balls PSI were before the game started. Goodell and the NFL released false information to the media to manipulate the public’s opinion on the already negatively viewed Patriots. Nothing the justice system couldn’t handle when Judge Berman reversed Brady’s 4 game suspension and declared him innocent. Goodell is a joke and absolutely needs to be fired. Brady is free, the Pats are a force to be reckoned with, and the every team in the NFL has a target on their back. Good luck to the rest of the NFL, if you think you have a chance. Go Pats.

When you leave the courtroom untouched.

                                 

DeGregory, Priscilla, and Chris Perez. "'Deflator' Blows up at Reporters, While Brady

               Is All Smiles at Q&A." New York Post. N.p., 7 May 2015. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.         
              <http://nypost.com/2015/05/07/tom-brady-cheered-in-first-appearance-since-deflategate- 
               report/>.

Hurley, Michael. "Hurley: AEI's Analysis Of Wells Report Should Embarrass

              Goodell, Wells, NFL." CBS Boston. N.p., 15 June 2015. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.    
             <http://boston.cbslocal.com/2015/06/15/aeis-analysis-of-wells-report-should-embarrass-  
              goodell-wells-nfl/>.

NFL. "NFL Releases Statement on Patriots' Violations." NFL.com. N.p., 11 May

              2015. Web. 25 Sept. 2015. <http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000492190/article/nfl-         
              releases-statement-on-patriots-violations>.

Reimer, Alex. "Roger Goodell Appeared To Peddle More Deflategate Lies In

             ESPN Interview." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 8 Sept. 2015. Web. 24 Sept. 2015.    
             <http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexreimer/2015/09/08/roger-goodell-deflategate-interview-is- 
             hard-to-believe/>.