Late to the party, Kraft’s retort comes up empty
COMMENTARY
Sorry, Robert.
Too little.
Too late.
It’s nice to hear some semblance of passion emitting from Patriots owner Bob Kraft, especially considering the last time we saw him address his team’s involvement in the Deflategate scandal, his rebuke to the NFL lasted about as long as a Tootsie Roll pop.
But his comments at the start of his team’s training camp on Wednesday were so long overdue that they matter little in the face of public perception.
Kraft’s biggest mistake, as he admitted during a surprise precursor to Patriots head coach Bill Belichick’s Wednesday morning press conference, wasn’t necessarily putting his faith in a duplicitous league and its intransigant ruler, but presuming that his lack of fight would benefit his quarterback. His latest retort to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who upheld Tom Brady’s four-game suspension in an announcement made on Tuesday, comes off as empty, apologizing to his team’s fans for laying on the league’s sword earlier this year, without any certain act of penance in return.
The Patriots are still out a pair draft picks and a million bucks. They are still the laughingstock of National Football League. And, most notably, they are still scheduled to be without the services of their star quarterback for a quarter of the 2015 schedule.
Kraft suddenly deciding to be angry doesn’t change any of that.
“I have been negotiating agreements on a global basis my entire life. I know that there are times when you have to give up important points of principle to achieve a greater good,’’ Kraft said.
“I acted in good faith and was optimistic that by taking the actions I took, the league would have what they wanted. I was willing to accept the harshest penalty in the history of the NFL for an alleged ball violation because I believed it would help exonerate Tom.’’
Whoops.
It’s all a little surprising to hear Kraft admit, since he’s made his billions by failing to assume what’s happening on the other side of the negotiating table. Why in the name of Janay Rice would he believe that he could put faith in an NFL that was very clearly putting the screws to his franchise? Did he even read the “Wells Report in Context?’’
The Patriots have been all over the map in defending themselves and Brady against the allegations of deflating footballs and, now, destroying cell phones. From Mona Lisa Vito to the ideal gas law to the context report and its laughable excuses to…oh, wait, they suspended Jim McNally and John Jastrzemski for…what, exactly?
Why did the Patriots willingly allow a pair of sacrificial lambs not named Tom Brady take the fall when Brady readily announced on Wednesday that the team “did nothing wrong?’’
“I want to apologize to the fans of the New England Patriots and Tom Brady. I was wrong to put my faith in the league,’’ Kraft said. “Given the facts, evidence and laws of science that underscore this entire situation, it is completely incomprehensible to me that the league continues to take steps to disparage one of its all-time great players and a man for whom I have the utmost respect.’’
OK. So where was the respect when Kraft all but admitted some level of guilt in May at the owners’ meetings?
Perhaps Kraft simply didn’t want to become a modern-day Al Davis in becoming the only other owner to ever sue the NFL, but his admission on Wednesday comes off as naive, the antithesis of the successful businessman that Kraft reminded us of himself being during his six-minute press conference. Maybe he’s talked himself into “The deflator’’ being a Jenny Craig term of endearment, or he’s simply ignoring the text message evidence that the NFL has against his team’s staunch defense in the matter.
The destruction of Brady’s cell phone, on the day he was scheduled to meet with lead investigator Ted Wells, nonetheless, makes Brady and the Patriots look either guilty, or like rookie coverup artists. In light of the Wells Report, which the team attempted to pick apart in a highly-detailed response, Kraft truly though it was in his best interest to assume a deal? Please.
“They went halfway,’’ Jack Mula, former general counsel with player personnel for the Patriots told the Boston.com Morning Show on WRKO Wednesday. “Tom, for him to go the same way that’s just not Tom Brady.’’
Shouldn’t Kraft have understood that more than anybody else?
“Given the facts, evidence and laws of science that underscore this entire situation, it is completely incomprehensible to me that the league continues to take steps to disparage one of its all-time great players and a man for whom I have the utmost respect,’’ Kraft said. “Personally, this is very sad and disappointing to me.’’
Nobody is doubting that, but Kraft still managed to take the easy way out, both appeasing his beloved commissioner by paying through the nose for transgressions his team had nothing to do with, then by going on the offensive and attempting to re-build the bond he’s lost with Patriots fans who felt their owner had sold them and their quarterback down the Mystic River.
Kraft could have fought this thing when reputations were still at stake. Instead, he chose to side with the league’s dictator, leaving the perception of his team and his Super Bowl MVP QB twisting in the Foxborough summer breeze. Hell, the Patriots could have nipped this thing in January by admitting what they knew then, except that the paranoia of getting caught in another scandal permitted the laws of common sense.
Glad that worked out.
“I have come to the conclusion that this was never about doing what was fair and just,’’ Kraft said.
Neat. About time Kraft joined the party.
How different might all of this have been if he had just shown up on time?
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