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http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...heating-speculation-unfortunate-for-everyone/
Kurt Warner calls Patriots cheating speculation “unfortunate” for everyone
Posted by Mike Florio on September 3, 2015
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The Patriots won their first Super Bowl against the Rams in early 2002. From time to time over the past several years, members of the Rams have discussed the question of whether the New England win resulted in any way from cheating.
Much of that talk was sparked by a Boston Herald report from 2008, which alleged that the Patriots secretly videotaped a Rams’ walk-through practice prior to Super Bowl XXXVI. The Herald later retracted it, but people continue to believe it — as evidenced by a recent ESPN apology for stating the withdrawn allegations as fact.
Quarterback Kurt Warner addressed the topic again on Thursday’s PFT Live on NBC Sports Radio, after Judge Berman’s ruling was issued on Thursday. Specifically, I asked whether Warner ever wonders whether something fishy may have occurred.
“You know what I really don’t,” Warner said. “I don’t think there was any wrongdoing I don’t have any reason to think that other than the reports and knowing that the Patriots were engaged in some of those things along the way. When, where, how much, I don’t really know.
“All I always say is that I think it’s unfortunate because there’s no question on that Super Bowl Sunday that the Patriots outplayed us and deserved to be Super Bowl champs. But I think anytime you have someone or an organization that’s caught doing something outside the rules, all it does is it gives reason for, I don’t even want to say doubt, but for speculation of what happened, when did it happen, how did it affect them and all of those things, and I think it’s unfortunate.
I think it’s unfortunate for both sides. It’s unfortunate for the Patriots if it had absolutely nothing to do with them winning that we even have to talk about that. I think it’s unfortunate for the teams that maybe they beat along the way because now it makes those teams and those players and those fans go, ‘Well I wonder if they did and that’s why they beat us.’
“So I think it’s unfortunate all the way around, but I think it’s human nature that when somebody’s caught or it looks like they may have done something outside the rules. It’s going to always lend itself to if something else happens with that person or organization them saying,
‘Well, see. Here you go. It’s a history of it.’ And I think that’s the unfortunate part to this whole thing you know, but it’s unfortunate that when you do something like that that pushes the envelope it’s always going to keep people talking and it’s always going to be in the back of people’s minds.”
What was in the front of everyone’s mind on Thursday was the scrapping of the suspension.
“I’ll say first I was very surprised,” Warner said. “Simply because I felt like the issue became more about Roger Goodell’s authority to be able to lay down this punishment as opposed to was the punishment warranted? So I thought based on the CBA and what I understood of the CBA that this was in the realm of what Roger Goodell could do, whether you agreed with it or not, and I believed that the courts were going to uphold that because it was in the agreement. So I was very surprised from that standpoint that they nullified the suspension.
“From the other side I definitely understand if you’re looking at it from a legal standpoint and for me from day one I’ve really felt like everything that I know and I don’t know everything was very circumstantial. It was very hard for me to see a man’s character attacked and to see a guy punished for four games because he likely knew about something but we had nothing extremely credible to say that he was involved in anything. So from that standpoint and the legal standpoint I definitely understand and not surprised if you were going from that standpoint that this was nullified.”
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http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...heating-speculation-unfortunate-for-everyone/
Kurt Warner calls Patriots cheating speculation “unfortunate” for everyone
Posted by Mike Florio on September 3, 2015
The Patriots won their first Super Bowl against the Rams in early 2002. From time to time over the past several years, members of the Rams have discussed the question of whether the New England win resulted in any way from cheating.
Much of that talk was sparked by a Boston Herald report from 2008, which alleged that the Patriots secretly videotaped a Rams’ walk-through practice prior to Super Bowl XXXVI. The Herald later retracted it, but people continue to believe it — as evidenced by a recent ESPN apology for stating the withdrawn allegations as fact.
Quarterback Kurt Warner addressed the topic again on Thursday’s PFT Live on NBC Sports Radio, after Judge Berman’s ruling was issued on Thursday. Specifically, I asked whether Warner ever wonders whether something fishy may have occurred.
“You know what I really don’t,” Warner said. “I don’t think there was any wrongdoing I don’t have any reason to think that other than the reports and knowing that the Patriots were engaged in some of those things along the way. When, where, how much, I don’t really know.
“All I always say is that I think it’s unfortunate because there’s no question on that Super Bowl Sunday that the Patriots outplayed us and deserved to be Super Bowl champs. But I think anytime you have someone or an organization that’s caught doing something outside the rules, all it does is it gives reason for, I don’t even want to say doubt, but for speculation of what happened, when did it happen, how did it affect them and all of those things, and I think it’s unfortunate.
I think it’s unfortunate for both sides. It’s unfortunate for the Patriots if it had absolutely nothing to do with them winning that we even have to talk about that. I think it’s unfortunate for the teams that maybe they beat along the way because now it makes those teams and those players and those fans go, ‘Well I wonder if they did and that’s why they beat us.’
“So I think it’s unfortunate all the way around, but I think it’s human nature that when somebody’s caught or it looks like they may have done something outside the rules. It’s going to always lend itself to if something else happens with that person or organization them saying,
‘Well, see. Here you go. It’s a history of it.’ And I think that’s the unfortunate part to this whole thing you know, but it’s unfortunate that when you do something like that that pushes the envelope it’s always going to keep people talking and it’s always going to be in the back of people’s minds.”
What was in the front of everyone’s mind on Thursday was the scrapping of the suspension.
“I’ll say first I was very surprised,” Warner said. “Simply because I felt like the issue became more about Roger Goodell’s authority to be able to lay down this punishment as opposed to was the punishment warranted? So I thought based on the CBA and what I understood of the CBA that this was in the realm of what Roger Goodell could do, whether you agreed with it or not, and I believed that the courts were going to uphold that because it was in the agreement. So I was very surprised from that standpoint that they nullified the suspension.
“From the other side I definitely understand if you’re looking at it from a legal standpoint and for me from day one I’ve really felt like everything that I know and I don’t know everything was very circumstantial. It was very hard for me to see a man’s character attacked and to see a guy punished for four games because he likely knew about something but we had nothing extremely credible to say that he was involved in anything. So from that standpoint and the legal standpoint I definitely understand and not surprised if you were going from that standpoint that this was nullified.”
