Well, now that I look back, looks like it has to be pieced together, and then other spokespersons for the NFL creates a motif, really.
Goodell added more detail to the NFL’s actions against the club, noting that the league had obtained six tapes from the Patriots. Goodell said the six tapes included some games from the 2007 preseason and the rest were “primarily from late in the 2006 season.”
As part of the league's investigation, Goodell determined the filming of Jets coaches had no impact on the outcome of the game. Goodell also ruled that Robert Kraft and Patriots ownership were unaware of the filming.... Ha. He ruled that, did he? I guess he can rule whatever he damn well pleases.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello: told TMQ that
assumption the tapes contained indications of Super Bowl cheating is "wrong," then wrote, "There is no such evidence regarding the Patriots' Super Bowl victories."
Official NFL Statement:
"The Patriots have fully cooperated and complied with the requirements of the commissioner's decision," the statement said. "All tapes, documents and other records relating to this matter were turned over to the league office and destroyed, and the Patriots have certified in writing that no copies or other records exist.
And he aso said, if he found out they didn't give him everything, he'd "re-visit" the matter, and that he "absolutely" believed they'd turn over everything. That doesn't count, though, because both cases were before they turned over the materials. But nevertheless, the NFL said everything was turned over, and destroyed, and Goodell said there were 6 tapes.
And now he says they'd been taping since 2000, so either 1) the tapes actually did go back to 2000, and he previously lied, or
2) they didn't go back that far, but he found out they taped since 2000, pretty much by admission only, if we're to believe there was no evidence to support that (since the tapes supposedly only went back to late 2006). In this case, he either didn't pursue getting those tapes from him, or the Pats themselves destroyed them, or something, as if they no longer needed them and only needed the most recent 6 games (yeah right), or something, who knows, but how Goodell was to be satisfied with any sort of answer, without proof, that there were no tapes beyond those 6, while somehow knowing that taping had gone on since 2000, means he's actually, truly, incredibly stupid, which is a possibility, or he deliberately fabricated an impression (maybe it was an actual lie, maybe it wasn't, but it was misleading, and deliberate) that nothing in any superbowl season, or anything beyond the prior 6 games (4 preseason games and two 2006 games, regular or post season), was tainted by the cheating.
And, as TMQ and Specter, not to mention plenty of us, have mentioned, if the tapes he received from the Pats were the only copies, as he said, then his reasoning for destroying them is completely illegitimate, since them being locked up, in the league office or something, means there's zero danger of the Pats or anyone else getting a competitive edge off of them.
We knew the Packers had complained, the year before, but I didn't know exactly how they complained, or who to.
This article says the Packers reported it to the league (that game was not in the last 2 of the 2006 season, or even in the last 6...it was week 11). The league only sent a warning, and then somehow Robert Kraft never knew about the whole thing until the Jets incident in week 1. And Goodell found in his invesitgation that Kraft was unaware of the whole thing, strange that he would go out of his way to mention that, officially, while being so quiet about everything else. And Kraft is the one who personally cast the vote, on behalf of the Patriots, the last time the league voted whether or not to allow one defensive player to have a communication headset like the QB, and the measure was defeated, with a small minority saying no, and the Patriots were among those who said no.
I guess all of that is peripheral really, at best. That last paragraph. But still, it seems pretty clear to me, he moved quickly, and showed where his interests lay: in looking like a sheriff, making it look like the problem had been solved, closing the case as quickly as possible, and keeping the public awareness of the taint of it all quarantined within this 6 week window, most of which was insignificant pre-season time, with no regard for how reaching the taint really, truly was, or what to do to clean it up. It's not an out and out conspiracy, but he made gargantuan misteps, in handling this thing, and I truly hope it comes back to bite him.
