Inside The Pocket #001: Al Davis & The Oakland Raiders
By Rob Ward
Beginning in 2018 and running through 2021, the Collapsing Pocket launched a new series of podcasts looking back at the iconic characters and biggest moments in the NFL, and what makes football the most beautiful – and sometimes the ugliest – sport that we all know & love.
Known as the ‘Inside The Pocket’ series, The Touchdown will be relaunching these twenty episodes as part of the buildup to the 2023 season. The original creators Sam Akroyd, Simon Carroll and Rob Ward look back and offer their thoughts on how these legends and eras shaped the league we see today.
ITP #004: NFL Scandals
First aired 31st July 2018
Sure, championing the legends of the game – the iconic players and coaches that made the NFL the sport we all love – is great. But nothing gets us going like sporting controversy, right? That’s what multiple podcast series and Netflix documentaries tell me. Sport intrigues us when it gets murky, life intrigues us when it gets murky.
In this episode we reflect on three of the biggest scandals since the turn of the century. Scandals so epochal and era-defining they received that dreaded affix ‘gate’. These are episodes of mass controversy, that questioned the integrity of the game and the decency of those involved in it.
In 2007 the New England Patriots momentarily forgot how crap the New York Jets are and decided they needed an edge. They proceeded to film the hand signals of the Jets defensive coaches in an incident that became known as ‘Spygate’. Sean Payton, the celebrated head coach of the fairytale 2009 New Orleans Saints, was soon authoring a horror story called ‘Bountygate’, where bonuses were paid out for the deliberate injuring of opposition players. And in 2014, the Pats were centre stage once more with deflated footballs in the AFC Championship Game – ‘Deflategate’ to you and me – with Golden Boy Tom Terrific landing in hot water.
Revel in the scandal. Wallow in the madness. Embrace the darkness.
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ROB WARD
NFL/Fantasy Football ANALYST
ROB IS A LOVER OF ALL THINGS 49ERS AND HOST OF THE COLLAPSING POCKET PODCAST IN WHICH HE, SIMON CARROLL AND SAM AKROYD BUTT-FUMBLE THEIR WAY THROUGH THE WORLD OF THE NFL. AWAY FROM SPORT, ROB IS A PROFESSIONAL WRITER AND PERFORMER. HIT HIM UP ON TWITTER @ROBWARDRW!