The New York Jets and their 2008 braintrust didn’t get fined simply for hiding the fact Brett Favre played a chunk of last season with a torn right biceps.
They also took a hit for, in effect, lying about it each week and at season’s end.
Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reminds us that, in the wake of Spygate, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell demanded that ownership, executives and head coach from each team must attest in writing that they had been above board in all they did that week. They also were charged with doing that at the end of the year. This practice puts everyone on the hook for policing each other within an organization. The new process was enacted at the 2008 NFL Owner’s Meetings.
The penalty to the Jets, GM Mike Tannenbaum and former Jets coach Eric Mangini (now with Cleveland and collecting fines of his own) was so severe because they signed off on their integrity sheets each week despite hiding an injury that needed surgery.
“I can attest that’s what the commissioner’s doing,” a league source told Grossi. “When you make a mistake, he’s going to make [the penalty] so stiff that it scares everyone else. Now you have people running around saying, ‘Let’s make sure this injury report is correct.’ “
Mangini and Tannenbaum were the ones that turned the Patriots in for videotaping back in September 2007. That act spurred the 2008 emphasis on integrity. That they’d be involved in hiding Favre’s injury less than 10 months after everyone had their “come to Jesus” moment at the owner’s meetings must have irked Goodell to no end.
UPDATE: According to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen speaking on Sunday NFL Countdown, the league called Mangini last December “specifically to review quotes in the media about a possible Favre injury only to get what could ultimately be called a denial.”
“Bigger” fines? Fines to make them think twice? They barely got penalized!
Of course teams are being fined more.
The league realizes that with the injustice that was perpetrated on the Patriots, from the excessive fine, robbery of a draft pick, the witch hunt, and the fact that the Patriots were scapegoated for something many other teams do, they have no choice but to dish out some equal injustice.
The penalty to the Jets, GM Mike Tannenbaum and former Jets coach Eric Mangini (now with Cleveland and collecting fines of his own) was so severe…
Why do you think the penalty to the Jets was severe? There clearly had been a precedent already set for penalizing teams with a lost draft pick or two for breaking NFL rules, or ignoring NFL memos, and the Jets did not suffer that consequence. IMO, maybe (actually definitely) the league needs to more clearly define what will be the penalty for breaking various rules. There will almost certainly still be some gray areas, but with Goodell everything seems gray right now.
The fines the Jets received were wrist slaps. With the money most NFL teams make, the $75000 fine of the Jets organization for “cheating” will be made up, and then some, in the first ten minutes of beer sales during today’s game. The $25000 each that Tanenbaum and Mangini were fined for cheating is chump change for them. Maybe you can argue the penalty was just right, but I don’t see how it was severe.
Interestingly enough, Eric Mangini is also fatter in the wake of Spygate.
And this is why people should keep their mouths shut. It would keep your pockets fuller.
Is anyone really surprised that the Commish is escalating fines, for no reason other than he is irked by people not heeding his warnings?
Everyone that hates the Pats, pretends that the first round pick, and the huge financial penalty were because the taping was a huge advantage. It wasnt a “huge” advantage, the penalties were severe because he was sending a message.
*Yes, there is obviously an advantage, or no one would do it, but it didnt guarentee anything….