<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Pats file charge against JetsNew England claims rival tampered with WR BranchPosted: Tuesday September 12, 2006 3:59PM; Updated: Tuesday September 12, 2006 3:59PMFOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) -- The New England Patriots have filed a tampering charge against the Jets in connection with New York's talks with wide receiver Deion Branch.The move was confirmed Tuesday by an NFL source, who did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on the subject. On Monday, the Patriots traded Branch to Seattle for a first-round choice in next year's draft.The Patriots contend in the tampering charge that they gave Branch permission to discuss only terms of a contract and not what a team would offer the Patriots in trade, according to the Boston Globe and Boston Herald. The papers said New England contends the Jets told Branch what they would offer.The Jets were among the teams Branch or his representative spoke with after the Patriots on Aug. 25 gave the player, who had been holding out since the start of training camp, permission to seek a trade and negotiate a contract with other clubs until Sept. 1. The Jets offered the Patriots a second-round pick for Branch, but the Patriots announced just after the 4 p.m. deadline that no trade had been consummated.The NFL Players Association then filed two grievances against the Patriots.One of them said that in allowing Branch to work out a contract with another team, the Patriots agreed they would trade him if he was comfortable with that contract and if the draft choice compensation for him "was commensurate with what has been the value of similar players," according to union general counsel Richard Berthelsen.The other said the Patriots didn't bargain in good faith with Branch over an extension of his contract. He was scheduled to make $1.045 million this season, the last of the five-year contract he signed as a rookie.The tampering charge against the Jets comes less than a week before New England visits them in Sunday's second game of the season. The head coach of the Jets, Eric Mangini, was the Patriots defensive coordinator last year.The Patriots and Jets tangled off the field early in 2000 when Bill Belichick quit after one day as coach of New York. The Patriots hired Belichick but had to give the Jets a first-round draft pick as compensation.After the 1997 Super Bowl, Bill Parcells left as coach of the Patriots and moved to the Jets.Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.</div>http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/foot...g.ap/index.html :LMAO: :LMAO: :LMAO: :LMAO: :LMAO: First you give the rest of the teams in the NFL permission to talk to Branch, then you place Tampering Charges on them for actually talking to him.....you're losing your touch Belicheck. Methinks the Patriots are just mad that the Jets raised the contract demands for Branch out of your range. :whistling:
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jon_Vilma @ Sep 12 2006, 09:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>My God the Patriots are lame. </div>Says the fan of the tampering team lol.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (david81 @ Sep 12 2006, 09:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jon_Vilma @ Sep 12 2006, 09:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>My God the Patriots are lame. </div>Says the fan of the tampering team lol.</div>Even at face value, the charge is rediculous. The Patriots Gave every team permission to talk to their player, so we did. Now they are accuseing us of tampering because they claim we were not supposed to tell the guy what we were offering for him, except that is a part of the entire contract negotaion process because we cannot possibly sign him to a deal while he is property of the Patriots, and I have seen nowhere where it directly said that we cannot tell Deion Branch what he is worth. Basically, they are mad that we got involved and drove the price up in Branch's contract demands outside of the range that the New England Patriots were willing to pay, so they try to create some BS tampering charge to get back at us. Plus, its an attempted distraction by Bill Belicheck because the Jets play the Patriots this week in New York. I guess he figures that if the Jets even spend an hour prepareing for this BS tampering charge that its an hour less in Gameplanning, in reality though.....Im sure Mangini and crew would just put in an extra hour instead...
ADrop, yes the Jets did have permission to talk to him and offer a cotnract but no the Jets weren't allowed to offer a trade.What's the penalty? I believe the article left it out.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (chang @ Sep 13 2006, 11:17 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>ADrop, yes the Jets did have permission to talk to him and offer a cotnract but no the Jets weren't allowed to offer a trade.What's the penalty? I believe the article left it out.</div>Yes, we were allowed to offer a trade, the complaint is we werent supposed to Tell Branch what we offered. If Found Guilty Of Tampering it would be draft pick compensation.Then again, nobody is EVER found Guilty of Tampering because it is impossible to prove.
