Deflate-gate

[Countertrey]

Don Shula just called the coach "Bill Bela-cheat".

He's not the 1st & won't be the last.

I suspect there are very few coaches who are clean enough to call names...
Shula's name does not pop to the top of my list...

[emoses14]

Joe Jackson Gibbs. End of list.

[Countertrey]

Joe Jackson Gibbs. End of list.

Interesting... that is exactly the same length as my list...

[SkinsJock]

+1 - they broke the mold ... JJG just has so much integrity ...

[Countertrey]

+1 - they broke the mold ... JJG just has so much integrity ...

In the interest of fairness, must note that his Nascar teams have been penalized for rule violations. 'Course, in NASCAR, the saying is, "if you ain't cheat in', you ain't try in'."

Playing at the fringes of what the rules allow is part of ALL sport. Simple fact.

[emoses14]

+1 - they broke the mold ... JJG just has so much integrity ...

In the interest of fairness, must note that his Nascar teams have been penalized for rule violations. 'Course, in NASCAR, the saying is, "if you ain't cheat in', you ain't try in'."

Playing at the fringes of what the rules allow is part of ALL sport. Simple fact.

Nas-Car? Is that a French thing?

[Deadskins]

+1 - they broke the mold ... JJG just has so much integrity ...

In the interest of fairness, must note that his Nascar teams have been penalized for rule violations. 'Course, in NASCAR, the saying is, "if you ain't cheat in', you ain't try in'."

Playing at the fringes of what the rules allow is part of ALL sport. Simple fact.

Nas-Car? Is that a French thing?

You're thinking of Ess-Car-Go.

[Countertrey]

In the interest of fairness, must note that his Nascar teams have been penalized for rule violations. 'Course, in NASCAR, the saying is, "if you ain't cheat in', you ain't try in'."

Playing at the fringes of what the rules allow is part of ALL sport. Simple fact.

Nas-Car? Is that a French thing?

You're thinking of Ess-Car-Go.

Ah do 'preciate thuh hep, JS!

[yupchagee]

[quote="Deadskins
You're thinking of Ess-Car-Go.[/quote]

Now THAT'S a race I'd hate to watch

[DarthMonk]

The following is not a defense of Brady etal. but rather, an indictment of the NFL. I believe the NFL has never really cared about this issue until last fall and that they essentially ran a "Sting" operation against the Pats. Here's the evidence:

There is a video the NFL put out a year or so ago showing refs using pressure gauges before a game. I wondered if they were always as thorough as they appeared in the video. Here's the vid:

http://mmqb.si.com/2015/01/22/deflatega ... -pressure/

I love the "close enough" comment as well as the guy who looks like he's using a gauge for the first time.

I found this perspective of a ball boy to be interesting:

Among the many people who had contact with the Patriots pigskin used in Sunday's AFC championship — which were reportedly underinflated — were the ball boys. And one former ball boy (who did not take part in Sunday's match) told NBC News that his goal was always to prepare the ball to the quarterback's preference and hope they passed inspection, and that it would have been very difficult to tamper with them afterward.

Eric Kester, who was a ball boy for the Chicago Bears in 2003, says he can't speculate about the controversy dubbed "Deflate-Gate," but he remembers how the preparation worked — starting with the delivery of factory-fresh balls a few days before a game.

"We would then work with the quarterbacks to customize the balls to their liking. This involved scrubbing them with stiff horsehair brushes to rub off the leather's slippery silicone sheen, and occasionally inflating or deflating the balls a very small amount, which I believe is legal to a degree. Quarterbacks are very particular about the way a ball feels in their hand, and we worked meticulously to match their particular preferences," Kester said.

Two hours before kickoff, he would bring the balls to the referees' locker room for inspection.

"I recall them having a pressure gauge in the locker room, but most often they just squeezed the balls, turned them over in their hands a few times each, and inspected the laces. I don't recall them ever rejecting one of our balls," he said.

"My thought process was, 'Let's get the balls exactly the way our quarterback wants them, and if the refs reject one or two before the game, no big deal. But there's no harm giving them our ideal balls and hoping they make it through inspection.'"

My best guess at this point is the Pats gave the refs a bag with 11 balls Brady loved in every way with one at 13 psi thrown on top.

The effects of temp on pressure have been known for over a century. If the NFL thought the psi parameters were so important they would have been checking balls between quarters for decades. A ref on each sideline could do it in about 1 minute.

I think they had suspicions and took a chance with balls in the AFC title game. They actually take a chance in EVERY cold-weather game if they are not doing this.

So I say the NFL really doesn't see the psi parameters as being very important (hence the ball-boy observation: "I recall them having a pressure gauge in the locker room, but most often they just squeezed the balls, turned them over in their hands a few times each, and inspected the laces.") and therefore, this whole situation is essentially a farce.

The $1,000,000 plus suspension plus draft picks is absurd.

[yupchagee]

The following is not a defense of Brady etal. but rather, an indictment of the NFL. I believe the NFL has never really cared about this issue until last fall and that they essentially ran a "Sting" operation against the Pats. Here's the evidence:

There is a video the NFL put out a year or so ago showing refs using pressure gauges before a game. I wondered if they were always as thorough as they appeared in the video. Here's the vid:

http://mmqb.si.com/2015/01/22/deflatega ... -pressure/

I love the "close enough" comment as well as the guy who looks like he's using a gauge for the first time.

I found this perspective of a ball boy to be interesting:

Among the many people who had contact with the Patriots pigskin used in Sunday's AFC championship — which were reportedly underinflated — were the ball boys. And one former ball boy (who did not take part in Sunday's match) told NBC News that his goal was always to prepare the ball to the quarterback's preference and hope they passed inspection, and that it would have been very difficult to tamper with them afterward.

Eric Kester, who was a ball boy for the Chicago Bears in 2003, says he can't speculate about the controversy dubbed "Deflate-Gate," but he remembers how the preparation worked — starting with the delivery of factory-fresh balls a few days before a game.

"We would then work with the quarterbacks to customize the balls to their liking. This involved scrubbing them with stiff horsehair brushes to rub off the leather's slippery silicone sheen, and occasionally inflating or deflating the balls a very small amount, which I believe is legal to a degree. Quarterbacks are very particular about the way a ball feels in their hand, and we worked meticulously to match their particular preferences," Kester said.

Two hours before kickoff, he would bring the balls to the referees' locker room for inspection.

"I recall them having a pressure gauge in the locker room, but most often they just squeezed the balls, turned them over in their hands a few times each, and inspected the laces. I don't recall them ever rejecting one of our balls," he said.

"My thought process was, 'Let's get the balls exactly the way our quarterback wants them, and if the refs reject one or two before the game, no big deal. But there's no harm giving them our ideal balls and hoping they make it through inspection.'"

My best guess at this point is the Pats gave the refs a bag with 11 balls Brady loved in every way with one at 13 psi thrown on top.

The effects of temp on pressure have been known for over a century. If the NFL thought the psi parameters were so important they would have been checking balls between quarters for decades. A ref on each sideline could do it in about 1 minute.

I think they had suspicions and took a chance with balls in the AFC title game. They actually take a chance in EVERY cold-weather game if they are not doing this.

So I say the NFL really doesn't see the psi parameters as being very important (hence the ball-boy observation: "I recall them having a pressure gauge in the locker room, but most often they just squeezed the balls, turned them over in their hands a few times each, and inspected the laces.") and therefore, this whole situation is essentially a farce.

The $1,000,000 plus suspension plus draft picks is absurd.

There was substantial knowledge of this ~300 years ago & precise knowledge over 200 years ago.

[DarthMonk]

"What is not highlighted in the text of the report is that three of the Colts' four footballs measured by at least one official were under the required psi level. As far as we are aware, there is no comparable data available from any other game because, in the history of the NFL, psi levels of footballs have never been measured at halftime, in any climate. If they had been, based on what we now know, it is safe to assume that every cold-weather game was played with under inflated footballs.

Not defending just saying.

Actually, in the article I linked to, they made a point of saying that all four of the Colts' footballs that were tested were properly inflated.

Wells Report: More Probable Than Not Colts Played With Under-Inflated Footballs
Cold, Hard Football Facts for May 07, 2015

We agree with the Wells Report on DeflateGate commissioned by the NFL after the AFC title game between the Colts and Patriots: it's "more probable than not" that Tom Brady was aware of inappropriate handling of Patriots footballs. If guilty, he should be punished.

Regardless, here's the story you don't hear: officials found both at halftime and after the AFC title clash that, to steal a weak phrase, "it's more more probable than not" that the Colts played the entire game with under-inflated footballs.

That's not OUR interpretation. Those findings of likely under-inflation are straight from the report.

As you no doubt now know, NFL game balls are supposed to be inflated between 12.5 and 13.5 PSI. As part of the NFL's sting operation to catch the Patriots playing with under-inflated footballs, game officials at half time checked the PSI of 11 Patriots footballs.

All 11 came in under 12.5 PSI. Some way under 12.5 PSI. But you already knew that.

Here's the other story uncovered in the Wells Report you've NOT been told: 3 of 4 Colts footballs checked at halftime weighed in under 12.5 PSI by one of the two officials measuring them. Then, they suddenly stopped checking. The other 8 Colts footballs simply, and conveniently, went unchecked.

Here's the Wells Report table showing the PSI of the 4 Colts footballs weighed at halftime as it appears on Page 8. Blakeman and Prioleau are the two NFL officials who measured the balls.



Why did NFL officials check only four Colts footballs instead of all 12?

"Only four Colts balls were tested because the officials were running out of time before the start of the second half," reads the Wells Report on Page 7.

Hmmm ... pretty interesting. A Patriots ballboy can run into a bathroom and quickly deflate to exact specifications 12 gameballs in 1 minute, 40 seconds. But NFL officials didn't have time to check eight Colts footballs in 15 minutes of halftime, in an operation intended to uphold the integrity of the league.

Convenient excuse, isn't it?

Consider this scenario: Imagine if 11 of 12 Colts footballs checked in under 12.5 PSI by at least one official. And, remember, 3 of 4 did. Those results certainly would have taken the wind out of the sails of the SS Witch Hunt. And that must have appeared like a very real probability once officials checked the first four Colts footballs.

Seems "more probable than not' that NFL offcials stopped out of convenience rather than a genuine interest in the truth or integrity.

After all, it would have been hard to cruciify one team on the altar of the precious 12.5 PSI threshold when both teams were playing with balls below the legal limit.

The Wells Report, of course, tells this story in terms convenient to it: "The four Colts balls tested each measured within the 12.5 to 13.5 psi range permitted under the Playing Rules on at least one of the gauges used for the tests."

They might have worded it this way: "One of the gauges found that 3 of 4 Colts footballs fell below the required 12.5 PSI." But they didn't.

It got more curious after the game: four balls were randomly selected from each team's stash after New England's 45-7 humiliation of the Colts and were measured again by officials.

All four Patriots footballs weighed in within the legal 12.5 to 13.5 PSI range, according to at least one official; and 3 of 4 weighed within the legal range according to both offcials. One Patrots football was OVERinlfated according to one official.

Meanwhile, 3 of 4 Colts footballs were underinflated, according to one official; and one was underinflated according to both officials.

Post-game measuresments of Patriots footballs (3 of 4 within legal limit according to both officials; 1 of 4 OVERinflated according to one official):

Post-game measurements of Colts footballs (3 of 4 under-inflated according to at least one official; 1 underinflated according to both officials):

So, put another way, the Patriots played the entire second half with largely legally inflated footballs. Meawhile, it's "more probable than not" that the Colts played the enitre second half with under-inflated footballs. It's more likely the Colts, not the Patriots, played most of the game with deflated footballs.

None of which changes the probability that the Patriots may have doctored the footballs before kickoff. And if they did intentionally and knowingly bring the balls below the legal 12.5 PSI, they should be punished. Of course, the Wells Report doesn't prove that the Patriots did this, and it doesn't pretend to prove that they did.

But here's the point: it's impossible to argue that allegedly deflated footballs gave the Patriots a competitive advantage when it was the Colts, not the Patriots, who might have played most of the game with balls below the almighty 12.5 PSI. The Patriots played only one half with under-inflated balls.

Keep in mind, all this idiociy and outrage over a pound or two of PSI in a football came during a game in which the Patriots humiliated the Colts 45-7, no matter which team's footballs were over- or under-inflated.

And in the six quarters of football that followed the NFL's awkward halftime sting in the AFC title game, the Patriots outscored the powerhouse Colts and defending champ Seahawks by a combined score of 56-24, while produding the greatest fourth-quarter comeback in Super Bowl history.

The Wells Report simply proves that the Patriots were better than the Colts and the Seahwaks no matter the PSI of the balls on the field.

And that's pretty deflating for those fans and teams who have whipped this idiocy into a national scandal.

A sting and a joke, fellas.

[DEHog]

I was at least willing to listen to the Pats arguments, right up until the whole ”deflate diet” argument. I was even willing to try the “deflate diet” until I heard about its bad side effect…apparently it makes your nose grow!

[DarthMonk]

I was at least willing to listen to the Pats arguments, right up until the whole ”deflate diet” argument. I was even willing to try the “deflate diet” until I heard about its bad side effect…apparently it makes your nose grow!

Had to laugh at that too.

They should stick with the truth and challenge the severity of the penalty. The NFL is culpable too.

[cowboykillerzRGiii]

Am I the only one wondering how the C, wrs, te, and rbs aren't under fire too?

If Brady "had to know" why then isn't the other player (at least) who touches the ball every down being told the same?

[Deadskins]

Am I the only one wondering how the C, wrs, te, and rbs aren't under fire too?

If Brady "had to know" why then isn't the other player (at least) who touches the ball every down being told the same?

Well, because it's not like the center would, or could, tell the equipment manager to deflate balls without Brady at least giving his go ahead. If you're asking why they aren't being punished because they knew about it and didn't turn him in or speak up during the investigation, then get real. No player would ever do that while still playing (possibly after retiring, to promote a book or something).

[SkinsJock]

^^ and he for sure would not keep his job for very long

[yupchagee]

Am I the only one wondering how the C, wrs, te, and rbs aren't under fire too?

If Brady "had to know" why then isn't the other player (at least) who touches the ball every down being told the same?

Interesting point. Brady was the only 1 with the clout to make it happen, or reinflate the balls to comply.

[cowboykillerzRGiii]

Am I the only one wondering how the C, wrs, te, and rbs aren't under fire too?

If Brady "had to know" why then isn't the other player (at least) who touches the ball every down being told the same?

Well, because it's not like the center would, or could, tell the equipment manager to deflate balls without Brady at least giving his go ahead. If you're asking why they aren't being punished because they knew about it and didn't turn him in or speak up during the investigation, then get real. No player would ever do that while still playing (possibly after retiring, to promote a book or something).

I was more referimg to the investors statement sayimg thatbit was highly unlikely that Brady didnt know the balls were deflated, and be that as it may- the Center whom grasps the ball every down, should've "known" as well.

Seems to me there could be a slew of suspensions to hand out- why stop at the qb?

Knowing a crime is being or going to be committed and doing nothing nor telling no one, is also a crime.

The db knew right away, which lends to the fact that many of the Pats offensive players "had to know" as well...

[DarthMonk]

The db knew right away, which lends to the fact that many of the Pats offensive players "had to know" as well...

Might as well pick a nit.

The DB had no clue and said as much. He sent the ball to his sideline (after picking Brady) to keep as a souvenir. The Colt equipment manager noticed.

Jackson now says he didn’t notice anything unusual about the football, and that he didn’t take the ball to the sideline as part of an effort to expose a scandal.

“I wanted that ball as a souvenir.”

Nevertheless, you seem right in that many others must have known.

[yupchagee]

I seem to remember that it was an ILB who made the pick, the 1st of his pro career. As little experience as he has handling the ball, I wouldn't expect him to notice.

[DarthMonk]

I seem to remember that it was an ILB who made the pick, the 1st of his pro career. As little experience as he has handling the ball, I wouldn't expect him to notice.

Correct. Jackson is an LB not a DB.

[DarthMonk]

The more I think about this issue the more I think what a complete joke it is.

[yupchagee]

I think they should settle by Roger & Brady fighting a duel.

With hand grenades.

At 3 feet.