NFL updates/news

[Logonov]

NFL.com Link

Saints GM, Mickey Loomis, accused of using an 'easvedropping device' to listen to real-time playcalls of opposing teams coaches during the 2002 - 2004 seasons. It was first reported by ESPN.

like spygate, pay for play scandals in college football and other college sports. It's more of a thing where the governing bodies know that everyone does it, but its a matter of catching them doing it.

It is just at this point i say, at what point should we no longer be surprised by such behavior?

[Vetali]

Kinda humorous that this is just now coming out after the whole bounty thing.

I honestly don't think it is true. Just a false rumor to stir up more shit against the saints organization. Though if it is, it will make spygate look like childs play. I don't think it will have any longer lasting PR effects than the bounty stuff because it was so long ago and it obviously didn't help at all.

Anyway how would you prove it true when it was ~10 years ago and the stadium has pretty much been redone since then?

[Skarsguard]

Saints have to worry about the District Attorney and not the NFL as much this time around it's not looking to good so far.

[TheFNK]

Bensel also provided a quote from Hall of Fame defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy, who has worked with Loomis as a Saints advisor for the past decade and watches games from the GM's suite.

"This is completely false," Kennedy said. "I have sat with Mickey for years, for multiple games and I can say that when Mickey gets up to go walk around during breaks or halftime, I put his earpiece in... it is WWL-AM radio... I know this, because I have heard. Plain and simple."

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Shortly after ESPN released the story, one of its own employees, former Colts General Manager Bill Polian, questioned the logic of the report.

"There’s something missing here," Polian told the network. "I don’t know what kind of competitive advantage you could get. Mickey would have to know the verbiage of every other opposing team in order to translate, and then he would have to do it instantly and find some way to communicate with his coaching staff, and get it down to the field in time to be useful. That would be very difficult to do, in my opinion."

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“The NFL has a frequency coordinator in every stadium at every game and every line and frequency, especially the signals used by each team’s coaches are heavily secured and monitored, and who and where it goes,” Bensel said. “This is a virtual impossibility."

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This level of muckraking by ESPN should leave them subject to a defamation of character lawsuit. Not only is every Saints member who was part of the team back then (note that most of them have moved on to other teams and positions like Haslett) denying the report. But the increasing chorus of voices are saying that this happening at all was, to put it bluntly, IMPOSSIBLE. ESPN has already dropped the ball with the Bernie Fine accusations and now this? They are losing a lot of journalistic credibility by irresponsibly running stories using unnamed sources as fact. Throw an "allegedly" in there and you can't get sued I guess.

[fizzbob]

Kinda humorous that this is just now coming out after the whole bounty thing.

I honestly don't think it is true. Just a false rumor to stir up more shit against the saints organization. Though if it is, it will make spygate look like childs play. I don't think it will have any longer lasting PR effects than the bounty stuff because it was so long ago and it obviously didn't help at all.

Anyway how would you prove it true when it was ~10 years ago and the stadium has pretty much been redone since then?

the DA wouldn't even look at it if there wasn't some shred of proof.

people are mistaking this for "listening in on calls made via wireless" when i took it to mean they were eavesdropping in the locker rooms via hardwire

---------- Post added 2012-04-24 at 09:57 AM ----------

Bensel also provided a quote from Hall of Fame defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy, who has worked with Loomis as a Saints advisor for the past decade and watches games from the GM's suite.

"This is completely false," Kennedy said. "I have sat with Mickey for years, for multiple games and I can say that when Mickey gets up to go walk around during breaks or halftime, I put his earpiece in... it is WWL-AM radio... I know this, because I have heard. Plain and simple."

------------------------------------------------------

Shortly after ESPN released the story, one of its own employees, former Colts General Manager Bill Polian, questioned the logic of the report.

"There’s something missing here," Polian told the network. "I don’t know what kind of competitive advantage you could get. Mickey would have to know the verbiage of every other opposing team in order to translate, and then he would have to do it instantly and find some way to communicate with his coaching staff, and get it down to the field in time to be useful. That would be very difficult to do, in my opinion."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“The NFL has a frequency coordinator in every stadium at every game and every line and frequency, especially the signals used by each team’s coaches are heavily secured and monitored, and who and where it goes,” Bensel said. “This is a virtual impossibility."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This level of muckraking by ESPN should leave them subject to a defamation of character lawsuit. Not only is every Saints member who was part of the team back then (note that most of them have moved on to other teams and positions like Haslett) denying the report. But the increasing chorus of voices are saying that this happening at all was, to put it bluntly, IMPOSSIBLE. ESPN has already dropped the ball with the Bernie Fine accusations and now this? They are losing a lot of journalistic credibility by irresponsibly running stories using unnamed sources as fact. Throw an "allegedly" in there and you can't get sued I guess.

again, all wireless headset communication issues.

only way to eavesdrop is via the locker rooms pregame and halftime. that's all plainspeak, more discussion, not something the league could pick up on and something that has been done in different ways for ages

[Finangus]

BREAKING NEWS!

An unnamed source just provided me with information that Sean Payton used the Ark of the Covenant as a weapon against opposing teams during the Saints' 2009 Superbowl season!

[buck008]

This level of muckraking by ESPN should leave them subject to a defamation of character lawsuit. Not only is every Saints member who was part of the team back then (note that most of them have moved on to other teams and positions like Haslett) denying the report. But the increasing chorus of voices are saying that this happening at all was, to put it bluntly, IMPOSSIBLE. ESPN has already dropped the ball with the Bernie Fine accusations and now this? They are losing a lot of journalistic credibility by irresponsibly running stories using unnamed sources as fact. Throw an "allegedly" in there and you can't get sued I guess.

I'm not one to generally stick up for journalists. ESPN reported that the US Attorney's Office had information about the Saints, and that it came from a former employee who worked with that sort of thing. Anything after that was the same type of inane speculation that every single 24 hour news network engages in. What they actually reported as a fact was simply that the Feds are looking into something. Which they are.

The Bernie Fine thing is still a mess. One of the accusers later recanted, but no one has disproved the authenticity of that tape they found. I doubt anyone will ever really know what was going on there. In either case, to be subject to a defamation suit they would have had to knowingly report false information. Won't happen.

[Vetali]

the DA wouldn't even look at it if there wasn't some shred of proof.

people are mistaking this for "listening in on calls made via wireless" when i took it to mean they were eavesdropping in the locker rooms via hardwire

---------- Post added 2012-04-24 at 09:57 AM ----------



again, all wireless headset communication issues.

only way to eavesdrop is via the locker rooms pregame and halftime. that's all plainspeak, more discussion, not something the league could pick up on and something that has been done in different ways for ages

I still say its going to be hard to find any solid evidence. Its been so long ago and the stadium has been re-done. If they do find evidence than they've probably been wiretapping a lot longer than the article stated. According to the article they were listening to real time play calls so it wasn't just the locker room.

[conscript]

I still say its going to be hard to find any solid evidence. Its been so long ago and the stadium has been re-done. If they do find evidence than they've probably been wiretapping a lot longer than the article stated. According to the article they were listening to real time play calls so it wasn't just the locker room.

The GM prior to Loomis had the exact same system in place but just wired to the Saints signal. It is going to be basically impossible to prove this at all unless someone took photos or video of Loomis listening to the other teams calls which is incredibly doubtful. You know somewhere in Bristol someone is watching every single Saints games from those years looking for any caps of Loomis with an earpiece in. They already did that for the guy who was GM before him and had pictures of it on SC this morning.

Personally, this is meaningless accusations. The statue of limitations has passed on most of this from a legal standpoint, it will be impossible to prove, and it didn't give the Saints any advantage since they were mediocre those years. If you want some evidence of it, while ignoring Katrina and everything else that befell the team in 2005, they went 9-7, 8-8, 8-8 in the years the system was in place and then 3-13 in 2005. Sure it could be because they played all their games on the road, home games were in San Antonio, Baton Rogue, and New York, but it is a much better story that they imploded because they lost the ability to hear calls so I am buying into that lol.

This is exactly what happens when prying eyes find their way into your organization thanks to a massive, massive fuck up like Spygate or Bountygate. Every worm is going to come out of the woodwork with all their little pieces of dirt on the franchise and they will be taken a lot more seriously now that the nation has had a look at the seedy underbelly of the team.

[Elbren]

NFL.com Link

CB Asante Samuel is available and it doesn't sound like it'll take much to get him. Eagles want to move him before the draft, but any deal would assuredly have to include a reworking of his deal.

I would love to see the Ravens trade a middle round pick for him if they can rework that deal. Unfortunately, they're tight up against the cap, so any type of deal would have to be super-cheap this coming season, moving most of the guaranteed money into year 2 of the deal (and beyond) when the cap should be going up alot more.

[conscript]

NFL.com Link

CB Asante Samuel is available and it doesn't sound like it'll take much to get him. Eagles want to move him before the draft, but any deal would assuredly have to include a reworking of his deal.

I would love to see the Ravens trade a middle round pick for him if they can rework that deal. Unfortunately, they're tight up against the cap, so any type of deal would have to be super-cheap this coming season, moving most of the guaranteed money into year 2 of the deal (and beyond) when the cap should be going up alot more.

Same thought as a Lions fan. He would be a step up at CB from anything we have, but that salary cap hit is painful.

[Vetali]

This is exactly what happens when prying eyes find their way into your organization thanks to a massive, massive fuck up like Spygate or Bountygate. Every worm is going to come out of the woodwork with all their little pieces of dirt on the franchise and they will be taken a lot more seriously now that the nation has had a look at the seedy underbelly of the team.

Yeah exactly. I remember a few years back after Qwest Field became known as a really loud stadium somebody said that we were pumping sound through the PA system or something. People just wana stir up shit for the sake of stirring up shit.

[Badpaladin]

Same thought as a Lions fan. He would be a step up at CB from anything we have, but that salary cap hit is painful.

Keep your filthy Lions hands off; he should be a Bronco.

[Skarsguard]

The NFL draft is in 2 days we all know who is going to be taken the first 2-3 picks I want to know who you want on your team and what position's does your need team to fill.

[Pendulous]

The NFL draft is in 2 days we all know who is going to be taken the first 2-3 picks I want to know who you want on your team and what position's does your need team to fill.

If Dallas is lucky enough to get Marc Barron, I'll be infinitely happy. They gotta fill their d-line and secondary hard.

[Robbyjawz]

Velp: The 49er's don't have any true glaring needs this year praise Allah. But by Khorne I want to get Stephon Gilmore out of university of South Carolina or Stephen Hill out of Georgia Tech, be damned with the fact that he isn't known for his all star play in GT, that kid has TALENT. I suppose you can say that the WR position needs some secure players to count on, in the second or third round I would like a RB, Gore is getting up there in years, Polk from UW or Martin from BSU would be fine by me if we can pick Martin in the second or Polk in third /fourth.

The Ravens on the other hand: have needs on the o-line and some question marks overall. I would kill for Hightower or Barron out of 'Bama to learn behind Ray or Ed. However, I predict both are gone before Balti picks unless some serious shiznit goes down. I like hte idea of getting a center or guard, but for the love of God, I don't want to see hide nor hair of Konz on the team! However, Jesus knows that Ozzie Newsome gets the best player avaliable, or who may be the best player available. (May Odin curse you Sergio Kindle!)

How many religious references be they fiction or not in there? I lost count.

[Badpaladin]

The NFL draft is in 2 days we all know who is going to be taken the first 2-3 picks I want to know who you want on your team and what position's does your need team to fill.

For my Broncos:

- best DT available in the first round, preferably one who can pass rush well
- LaMichael James in the 2nd round as a change-of-pace guy who could (hopefully) catch well on third downs
- best available WR in the 3rd round

Haven't really though about it too much past that.

[Amsden]

I'm hoping for Barron or Cox for Dallas. Decastro would be nice but I think he will be gone by 14.

[Badpaladin]

How many religious references be they fiction or not in there? I lost count.

Your fictitious references? Dunno.

[Vetali]

I'd say Poe for first round Seattle.