Would You Believe Me If I Told You The Colts And The NFL Front Office Are Far More Connected Than We Thought?

(Source) — Throughout much of the #DeflateGate controversy, Patriots fans have pointed to connections between the Jets and the league office to explain both the leak of false PSI information to ESPN and the fire-aim-ready approach to an “independent” investigation aimed not at getting to the truth but at getting to a conclusion that the Patriots cheated. But there’s a connection between the team who made the complaint regarding deflated balls and the league office hiding in plain site at the team’s website. It’s a connection that is gratuitously touted in the biography of Colts Vice President of Football Operations Jimmy Raye III. Here’s the last line of the bio: “Raye’s father, Jimmy Raye II, played for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1969 and is currently a senior advisor to Troy Vincent who is the executive vice president of football operations for the NFL.” Apart from the fact that it makes little sense to tout the credentials of Jimmy Raye III by pointing out that his father serves as a senior adviser to Troy Vincent, the fact remains that the father of the Colts Vice President of Football Operations serves as a senior adviser to the NFL’s Executive Vice President of Football Operations. It’s unknown whether the father of the Colts Vice President of Football Operations provided any actual advice to the NFL’s Executive Vice President of Football Operations regarding the #DeflateGate scandal, but it would make sense for Vincent, who hasn’t held the job for very long, to seek advice from someone regarding the best way to handle an unprecedented controversy regarding the inflation of footballs. And if he needed any advice, wouldn’t he look to his senior advisor?

Let me start by saying that I completely agree with what Florio goes on to say in this article: the NFL is very incestual. Players move to coaching and front office positions then move to league official positions. That’s not rare and I get that. But, funny how we haven’t heard of any Patriot connections throughout this whole process. Seems as though everyone involved has bloodlines that run to the Ravens, Colts and Jets. SHOCKING. Three of our biggest rivals (at least they like to think so. Jets and Colts aren’t so much as rivals as they are speed bumps). I mean, c’mon. The VP of football operations of the team who lodged the complain is the son of the guy who helped Try Vincent come up with the penalty? That’s insanity.

“Hey Jimmy, I’m having some trouble trying to decide what kind of punishment I should hand out on this one, what do you think?”

“Well Troy, let me take a look at thi — oh, it’s a complaint from my son. He’s my little buttercup who’s never wrong. What do you say we give them the largest penalty ever given, for a rule that doesn’t exist, for a situation we know nothing about, and just call it a day? Throw out a few disparaging media leaks then let’s wash our hands of it.”

“Great advising, Jimmy!”

Completely outrageous. Again, I understand connections are bound to happen but when every one of them runs back to three teams that you’ve destroyed for the last 15 years then something starts to stink. Where there’s smoke there’s fire and the smoke is absolutely billowing on this one.

And most importantly, how big of a pussy is Jimmy Raye III that he needs daddy in his bio to validate him? Be your own fucking man, Jimmy. You’re so insecure that you need to scream “My dad is important! My dad is important!” to let everyone know you deserve a job? Try standing on your own two feet for once.