It was proved up to the standard of the rules in the NFL—which is, “more likely than not”.
But yeah, the text messages and all of that have guilty all over them.
So they think he might have done something, but they don’t know...
Pitiful.
I haven’t followed this too closely. I know they had texts between two of the equipment guys from previous games talking about how Brady was always on them about how the balls were inflated too much.
But doesn’t the NFL allow some leeway in how much the balls are inflated. Is there any evidence Brady told them to deflate the balls more than is legal? Did either of them tell him the balls he complained about were at the minimum allowed? Or is it possible that they were inflated too highly and could be deflated and still remain within the rules?
More important, is there any evidence he ever told them to take balls that had been inspected by the refs and secretly deflate them below the minimum?
More likely...."0" conversation if something was going on.
The text messages were from a time in *October* when the refs apparently gave Brady balls for play during the Jets game that they’d pumped up to nearly 16 PSI, and Brady was pissed and ranted at the game officials and the equipment staff. McNally was pissed at being the end of the chain when the fuss rolled down hill. Applying that to the Colts game certainly sounds damning, but is it reasonable?