Patriots won’t appeal NFL penalty

New England QB Tom Brady can still appeal suspension

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO

Now that Patriots owner Robert Kraft is not appealing his team’s punishments in the deflated footballs scandal, only his quarterback’s challenge remains.

Moments after Kraft said Tuesday he won’t oppose the $1 million fine and loss of two draft choices the NFL penalized the team for its role in using underinflated footballs in the AFC championship game, the players’ union reasserted that Tom Brady’s appeal will go forward.

Brady, the MVP of February’s Super Bowl and one of the league’s biggest stars, has been suspended for the first four games of the 2015 season by the NFL.

So while Kraft sought to end the “dialogue and rhetoric,” it’s certain “Deflategate” won’t disappear anytime soon.

At the owners meetings, Kraft said he was putting the league before his franchise because “at no time should the agenda of one team outweigh the collective good of the 32.”

The Patriots will lose a first-round draft pick next year and a fourth-rounder in 2017.

“When the discipline camea out, I felt it was way over the top,” Kraft said, adding that if he had made his decision last week, “I think maybe it might have been a different one.”

But after further consideration, he cited “believing in the strength of the (NFL) partnership and the 32 teams” for dropping any appeal plans.

Kraft also recognized the powers given to Commissioner Roger Goodell.

“Although I might disagree in what is decided, I do have respect for the commissioner, and believe he is doing what he perceives to be in the best interest of the 32,” Kraft added.

Extra point changed

The NFL is moving back extra-point kicks and allowing defenses to score on conversion turnovers.

The owners on Tuesday approved the competition committee’s proposal to snap the ball from the 15-yard line on PATs to make them more challenging. In recent seasons, kickers made more than 99 percent of the kicks with the ball snapped from the 2.

“There was strong sentiment coming out of our meetings in March that something had to be done with our extra point,” said Texans general manager Rick Smith, a member of the competition committee that proposed this specific rule change. “From a kicking perspective the try was over 99 percent (successful), so we tried to add skill to the play.

“It was also a ceremonial play.”

The accepted proposal places the 2-point conversion at the 2, and allows the defense to return a turnover to the other end zone for the two points, similar to the college rule. The defense can also score two points by returning a botched kick.

The change was approved only for 2015, then will be reviewed. But Smith predicts it will become permanent.

“This isn’t an experiment,” Smith added. “This is a rule change. We expect this to be a part of the game.”

The vote was 30-2. Washington and Oakland voted no.

New England and Philadelphia also made suggestions on changing the extra point, but the owners went with the powerful committee’s recommendation.

Officiating chief Dean Blandino said the percentage of kicks made from the 33- or 34-yard line has been around 93 percent. And Troy Vincent, in charge of NFL football operations, noted that placekickers can handle such an alteration.

“The kicker’s a skill position now,” Vincent said. “We’re not trying to take the foot out of the game.”

A major part of the change is the hope more teams will go for two points. In contrast to the traditional extra point kick from short distance, that is an exciting and usually a critical play.

Some teams could look into 2-point specialists; there’s conjecture that Eagles coach Chip Kelly brought in Tim Tebow to potentially fill such a role.