Posted on 01/21/2015 6:57:45 AM PST by Colehill1999
The Patriots used underinflated footballs on Sunday night.
The next question is how did it happen?
According to a National Football League letter about the investigation into the controversy that was shared with the Globe, the Patriots were informed that the league’s initial findings indicated that the game balls did not meet specifications. The league inspected each of the Patriots’ 12 game balls twice at halftime, using different pressure gauges, and found footballs that were not properly inflated.
According to ESPN, 11 of the 12 game balls were found to be underinflated by about 2 pounds each. The NFL specifications say they must be inflated to 12½ to 13½ pounds.
That's my guess as well. I'm sure the equipment manager and ball boys are being interviewed by the league office. I'm also sure they wouldn't let air out of the footballs without someone (a coach or a player) asking them to. Unless these guys fall on their swords, they can implicate who put them up to it.
Rodgers likes the football inflated more. Brady likes the football deflated more. The kickers like the football inflated a lot. I don't see the big deal in changing the rules to allow for "personalized" air pressure. It is entertainment, after all, and more scoring is exciting for the fans.
All true but really the NFL should be the one supplying footballs and be in control of them throughout the game and this problem or any other irregularities regarding them would not happen. However it does provide fodder for talk for the runup to the SB.
The umps in MLB will rarely ask for a ball if it didn’t hit the dirt, and then its just to take it out of play if it’s too scuffed. But if a pitched ball stays in the air it could do loop-de-loops and if the batter doesn’t complain they 99% of the time aren’t going to check. If a batter suspects, he usually keeps his mouth shut, because chances are there is a pitcher on his team who loads or scuffs, and then the other team will check him in retaliation.
Freegards
Disclaimer - Pats fan since the 70’s.
Further disclaimer - quit watching with must interest the year the pats won their first superbowl. I just thought it had become like pro wrestling (like the nba 10+ years before that).
The Pats are, I think, the last organization that didn’t force a city to build them a stadium. One of the reasons I still like them, even though I don’t follow the game like I used to.
An easy way to prove the deflation would be to watch the ‘spike’ after a touchdown. I tried to find them, but the running back didn’t celebrate like that. Gronk scored one but I didn’t get to see the spike on that play...when he slams that ball down, it usually goes flying.
Pretty clear now that the Pats cheated, but what should the NFL do about it? Since this is at least a second offense after the Spygate (secret videotaping of future opponents to steal their play signals) scandal of 2007, Roger Goodell needs to lower the boom with significant sanctions on the the guilty party(ies)...
* Bob Kraft (involvement unlikely, but he obviously has permitted a culture of cheating and deception in his organization...the fish usually rots at the head): If Kraft had any knowledge, he should be fined $500K (max allowed) and suspended for the Super Bowl. Colts owner Jim Irsay got a $500K fine and a 6 game suspension (with no tweeting!) for his DUI and prescription drug abuse problem. Irsay’s situation was a personal behavior issue and had nothing to do with potentially corrupting the integrity and outcome of a game...the AFC Championship!
* Bill Belichek (possible culprit or with knowledge): Belichek was fined $500K for Spygate in 2007. Sean Payton of the Saints got a 1 year suspension for the Bountygate scandal (players paid bonus $$$ for injuring key players during games). BB should be suspended for the Super Bowl and for the 2015 season, plus a $500K fine.
* Tom Brady (possible culprit, had to know the balls were deflated before the game started): Suspended for Super Bowl. At his age and moment of his career, missing the chance to win a SB is a huge penalty. He would also deserve a $500K fine. Any other players or coaches involved should also be suspended for the SB.
* Patriots team: The Pats lost a 1st round draft pick for Spygate. This incident appears to confirm a continued pattern of cheating by the Pats. The loss of 1st-3rd round picks for the next TWO years would send a serious message to all teams in the league...cheating does not pay.
* Also, if Kraft, Belichek, or Brady had any direct involvement in this scandal, they should be disqualified from future Hall of Fame consideration when eligible. This was clearly an effort to influence the outcome of the AFC championship game. The NFL cannot just slap them on the wrist with a fine and a lost draft pick. Otherwise, the integrity of the game will be forever damaged and in question. This incident further reinforces the perception that BB and the Pats are cheaters and certainly taints all of their successes over he past 15 years.
Full disclosure: Colts fan here.
Can't forget how the Giants advanced thru the season into the playoffs by faking injuries to stop the clock.
Almost seems like cheating. And this year I guess the seahawks have more penalties than even the cheater patriots...seems like they are trying to gain an advantage, and getting caught for it.
Like I said in another post, it is almost like pro wrestling these days. I was gonna watch the game this weekend, but my daughter needed to watch Mulan...so I lost out on the TV.
If the ball boys get the balls 10 minutes before the game, then there almost has to be video of coach Bill letting the air out of the balls. Unless they had extra time because of the OT in the previous game.
I think the NFL will say the gauge was bad. New rule will be that the officials will use the same 2 gauges to check all the balls from both teams. And no cost to the Pats.
Otherwise, all we have is ‘the seriousness of the charge’. But we all know how far that can take ya...
They caught them on interceptions of the balls, both times, in Colts vs. Pats November and this last blowout.
I find it extremely suspicious that all 12 of the Colts footballs were found to be inflated to specification. That makes me pretty sure they had this whole thing planned in advance in the event of being behind at halftime. When you plan on accusing your opponent of “cheating”, have your ducks in a row.
Don’t likeeither.coach. Would take Hawks straight up
I hear tell that nitrogen is more stable than fresh air during temperature changes to pressure. That’s one reason we are seeing it used more often in vehicle tires. Speaking of which, the only solution to the football inflation issue is to now bring in the Feds to regulate it. I see pressure monitors in each and every football, with a transponder that transmits the current pressure to remote receivers that display and record all of the information to a databank in some remote facility.
/s
My understanding is this was caught and changed at halftime. The second half the balls were all at correct pressure.
I guess that explains why the Colts came back and won the second half.....
And why the Colts so clearly dismantled the Patriots in Indianapolis early this year......
:-)
In fact, there was a catch made during the regular season which we have all seen many times on highlights. The receiver caught the ball with one hand after it had passed him. I would like to know what the pressure was in that ball.
I hadn’t heard of the complaints from the earlier game. Couldn’t find any articles talking about it either, except in a ‘hey, now that I think about it’ tone.
But it is well established that they cheat. Just last week they were using trick plays...and since they have the cheater label, it gained traction. Throw this on last weeks accusations, and it sticks better.
Some ballboy will talk if they did something, no doubt about it.
If only we could get the country as worked up over Benghazi and Fast and Furious as they are about deflation-gate.
Our local AZ sports news has been interviewing Jake Plummer on this. It's funny how the fans all keep saying the inflation makes no difference, and then you hear from the guys who actually play the game and they all go, "Oh, yeah. It makes a big difference." Plummer was talking about how he was playing a game in the rain in Washington and he kept taking the ball and pressing it and scraping it on the ground (on the sidelines) because he just couldn't get a grip on the thing. So I doubt there is any cloak-and-dagger going on with the center. It's probably the guys on the sidelines -- you see the QBs over there tossing the ball back and forth all the time anyway -- they just stuck a needle in the valve and let a little air out. It would take 2 seconds.
I'm not a fan of either team. What I find most annoying about this whole episode is the Pats fans who cheer on their cheating team, calling everyone else whiners because they lost to a team that CHEATS. "They beat them 45-7. What difference does it make?!" Yeah, right Hillary. We've heard that one before. What difference did it make that a bunch of precincts turned out 110% of their voters who all voted Democrat. Obama still won 335 electoral votes. WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?
And they promptly took them to the sidelines and deflated them again, most likely.
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