Former Grantland Editor-in-Chief Bill Simmons has remained relatively quiet since his dismissal from the website by ESPN. Left without a major platform to voice his opinions until his contract with HBO kicks in this October, the “Sports Guy” has taken to Twitter as an outlet for his Boston sports-related takes. This morning Simmons was particularly active on the social media site, unleashing a series of tweets defending his New England Patriots and mocking their past opponents.
The reason for Simmons’ outburst? Earlier today ESPN’s Outside the Lines released the results of a damning investigation into the relationship between the New England Patriots and Roger Goodell. The story claims that the motivation for Goodell’s harsh punishment of the Patriots in the Deflategate scandal stems from the leniency he once showed the team in covering up their habitual cheating from 2000-2007. The report uses a large number of anonymous sources who claim that under Head Coach Bill Belichick, the Patriots ran a complex videotaping scheme to steal signals, stole team play sheets from the Gillette Stadium visitor’s locker room, and routinely jammed the radio signals into the opposing coaches’ headsets before critical plays. The claims in this report will assuredly bring even more scrutiny to a New England Patriots team that spent their entire summer dealing with controversy.
Without further ado, here is Bill Simmons’ response to Outside the Lines’ report.
Finished OTL piece. Agree w/ theory that Goodell's DeflateGate botching was a crazed overreaction to his bizarre Spygate performance. But…
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) September 8, 2015
Not sure what to make of the sour grapes stuff. Sure seems like everyone who ever lost to 2001-07 Pats now has a built-in excuse for failure
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) September 8, 2015
Also doesn't explain the Patriots' ongoing success from game 2 2007 through SB 49 which mirrored their success from 2001 thru game 1 2007.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) September 8, 2015
And I'm happy for Rams – who scored a TD on their only SB36 red zone appearance but can now blame the Pats for stealing red zone signals.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) September 8, 2015
And I'm happy for the Eagles – who fell apart down stretch in SB39 like they did in 20 other McNabb/Reid games but now have a good excuse.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) September 8, 2015
And I'm happy for the Eagles – who fell apart down stretch in SB39 like they did in 20 other McNabb/Reid games but now have a good excuse.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) September 8, 2015
And I'm happy for the Colts – who kept blowing big games to NE until Polian got the NFL to change the passing rules, but now have an excuse.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) September 8, 2015
And I'm happy for Carolina – went 14-18 in the seasons before & after SB38, heavy underdogs in 03 playoffs, but somehow robbed of a title.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) September 8, 2015
Simmons does make some valid points in his rant. However, his arguments will be readily dismissed by most given their sarcastic tone and the clear bias Simmons holds towards the Patriots. As thorough as Bill Simmons was in his takedown of the Rams, Eagles, Colts, and Panthers, there was one question that was left unanswered. Thankfully, one of his fans had the wherewithal to ask it.
.@BillSimmons are you happy for the Giants?
— J.P. McDade (@jp_mcdade) September 8, 2015
