Evidence suggests Patriots deliberately deflated footballs

Boston Globe ^ | 1/21/15 | Ben Volin

[randita]

The Patriots’ run to the Super Bowl has turned into an episode of “Law & Order.” And three days into Deflategate, it is becoming increasingly clear that the “law” was broken.

Now the tricky part: Figuring out the appropriate punishment.

The NFL’s investigation into the Patriots using under-inflated footballs in Sunday night’s AFC Championship is still ongoing. The league has said very little about the investigation or the timetable for its conclusion. The NFL sent a letter to the Patriots on Monday informing them that the league concluded that under-inflated footballs were used on Sunday. The investigation is now centered on how this could have happened.

We don’t need official word from the NFL to know it’s not looking good for the Patriots right now.

We know the Patriots’ footballs weren’t fully inflated when tested by officials at halftime. We know it wasn’t cold enough (51 degrees at kickoff) for the balls to deflate by almost 20 percent on their own. Pro Football Talk reported Tuesday that the officials tested the balls properly before the game. WEEI reported that the officials removed the faulty footballs at halftime and replaced them with properly inflated backup footballs. ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported that the Colts noticed the under-inflation in the teams’ Nov. 16 matchup and alerted the officials to it before Sunday’s game.

[Banjoguy]

Teams are given their own set of footballs.

[mkleesma]

Pina colada song?
Seriously,
that’s the best you can do?
LAME.

[neocon1984]

So if I am Belicheck, the refs need to check my balls several times a game.

While you’re down there ...

[logi_cal869]

This is no longer a sport: It’s all about money.

They’ll never be punished, just like none of the baseball cheats.

Best way to punish them, punish the NFL for both permitting this cheating (poor safeguards) and no penalty:

Don’t watch the Superbowl.

[randita]

From what I saw, the Colts first raised the issue in November. The Ravens chimed in somewhere along the line. But if you don’t do it during the game, no way to prove or disprove it.

[randita]

Each team has their logo branded on the balls they use. They become more valuable that way. So you can’t do a random pick.

[randita]

A friend of mine who works in DII college athletics got a group of balls, inflated them and then deflated them really couldn’t tell the difference. I told him that’s why he is in D2 college athletics and not the NFL.

For someone with average hand strength, I read that 10.5 PSI vs. 13.5 PSI is not discernible. Still feels hard as a rock. But a pro player who lives and dies by hand strength can feel a difference. The refs don't squeeze their fingers in the ball as if holding on for dear life. They carry it it casually.

[Sacajaweau]

Obviously I know little about football.

However, I do know that if you unplug the tv and cut the cord during the middle of a game, hubby will get very, very angry.

[MrB]

And this is FAR more important than Congress stopping or reversing Obama.

I mean... the Patriots can cost you your job, destroy the economy, let our country be overrun, and let all of our allies be overtaken by Muslims...

no, wait, no - they can’t.

[vladimir998]

“How did an “easier to catch” football give New England an advantage over the other teams? Don’t both teams get to catch the ball?”

Each team is supposed to bring twelve game balls for their respective teams to use. If only one team deflates their team balls to make them more catchable, then only one team has the advantage consistently throughout the game.

[IamConservative]

Bob Kraft had to stand up in front of the other 31 owners and apologize for Spygate in 2007. Rumors have it that he was not at all pleased to have to do so. If this scandal keeps spiraling out of control, he might fire Belichick to maintain his own credibility. The sad part is, one of the other 31 owners that were put off by his cheating when they were the victim will hire Belichick before the sun goes down.

[Wolfie]

Or Kraft might just collect another Lombardi Trophy and the multi-millions that go with it.

[randita]

The buck stops with Belichick, but I expect he’ll get off with a minor wrist slap if the directive to tamper with the balls can’t be directly traced to him.

Supposed to be a press conference with Belichick at 9:30 AM today and with Brady later in the AM.

I can’t imagine that Brady didn’t know the balls weren’t right, but it’s not up to the QB to handle that, so if he liked the way they felt why say anything.

[MortMan]

Care to expound on how the league has cheated against the Patriots?

This should be entertaining...

[Half Vast Conspiracy]

You can learn a lot about how someone lives by watching how they play games.

Freepers who just write off cheating disappoint me.

[xzins]

From Boomer Esiason in the Cincy paper this morning:

"I used to argue with (punter) Lee Johnson all the time about balls. I wanted them one way, he wanted them another. We played with balls right out of the box. Peyton Manning lobbied the commissioner so quarterbacks could be allowed to scuff up balls. The argument then was you could scuff up baseballs, you could put the hockey puck in the freezer to keep it from bouncing all over the place. A lot of this (has) more to do about people hating the Patriots and trying to attach Spygate to this. Quarterbacks have been doctoring the ball for years. ESPN is putting the narrative on this and everybody else is making a mountain out of a complete and utter molehill.''

[randita]

Freepers who just write off cheating disappoint me.

Likewise. Granted the breaking of some rules is more egregious and has more dire consequences than the breaking of others, but disregard for the rules just because you view them as silly or they didn't have an impact one way or another on the result (and how would you ever know this for certain) calls into question the integrity of the organization and the outcome of the process.

I wonder if those same Freepers would be equally nonplussed if a political candidate you didn't like disregarded the election rules and won by such a large margin that had he/she not broken the rules, it still wouldn't have affected the outcome?

Or I wonder if they are bothered when Obama ignores his "rulebook" - the U.S. Constitution.

[vette6387]

“I came on this thread to make a similar point, but you beat me to it. It’s shocking how much bread and circus crap gets posted here, and how emotionally involved these couch potatoes are when “their” team is involved.

And this guy was telling me that if I didn’t like it that I should just “keep it to myself!”
He reminded me of a former employee I had (who was a professional engineer yet) back when OJ Simpson got off who told me that “he knew for a fact that OJ didn’t do it due the the fact that he was a sports figure.”

To elevate sports to the level of the real issues of the day is just another example of how far we have fallen as a thinking people.

[vette6387]

“I came on this thread to make a similar point, but you beat me to it. It’s shocking how much bread and circus crap gets posted here, and how emotionally involved these couch potatoes are when “their” team is involved.

And this guy was telling me that if I didn’t like it that I should just “keep it to myself!”
He reminded me of a former employee I had (who was a professional engineer yet) back when OJ Simpson got off who told me that “he knew for a fact that OJ didn’t do it due the the fact that he was a sports figure.”

To elevate sports to the level of the real issues of the day is just another example of how far we have fallen as a thinking people.

[mmichaels1970]

From Boomer Esiason in the Cincy paper this morning....

Quarterbacks have been doctoring the ball for years. ESPN is putting the narrative on this and everybody else is making a mountain out of a complete and utter molehill.

First....In my opinion, Boomer Esiason is a moron. I hear him do updates frequently on CBS Sports Radio and he's almost unlistenable. Never liked him, never will. He was a crappy quarterback and is worse as an announcer. Phil Simms is the only ex-qb I dislike more.

Second....There is a legal amount of "doctoring" a team can do to the ball. The team is allowed to mess with it so long as it remains in "game ready" condition as deemed by the referee. They are legally allowed to squeeze it, scuff it, and wipe it down. One thing they are NOT allowed to do is deflate it to less than minimum league specifications.

And if Boomer chooses to use the "everybody cheats" justification for cheating, well then shame on him.

Consider the spitballer in baseball. We know there's quite a bit of doctoring of baseballs going on. We're even a bit affectionate about some of the more creative cheaters. But when they get caught, they get caught. They are immediately ejected from the game. They also face fines and additional game suspensions. Why? Because they are doctoring equipment beyond what has been determined reasonable by league rules. The same applies, or at least should apply for the NFL.

If it's a dumb rule, then remove if from the rulebooks in your spring owner's meetings. But until then, violators should be penalized, regardless of what Boomer Esiason thinks.