Cheatriots At It Again....

[HRBAKER]

Originally Posted by itjclarke

Definitely not unique to him, but I did think his comments about deflate gate were moronic (and said so here). Charles Haley's comments ("Joe Montana didn't need to cheat", "lost all respect for Brady", etc) yesterday were really stupid as well.

Another double standard, I'm not seeing much outcry over the Falcons blaring extra stadium noise. It's being reported, being discussed some, but definitely not generating the backlash deflate gate did. I think it can easily be argued that blaring crowd noise/supplemented by speakers would have a greater effect on games than deflated balls. If you neutralize the line's ability to hear their protection audibles, the QB's ability to audiblize, or even clearly hear his helmet speaker, it's going to greatly hinder an offense.

Of course you're not seeing much about the Falcons, it's success that breeds contempt, not mediocrity.

[Tabe]

Originally Posted by HRBAKER

Of course you're not seeing much about the Falcons, it's success that breeds contempt, not mediocrity.

Same reason you don't hear much about the Broncos getting busted taping opponents in 2010 - three years after the Patriots got busted for Spygate.

[PM770]

Originally Posted by Tabe

Same reason you don't hear much about the Broncos getting busted taping opponents in 2010 - three years after the Patriots got busted for Spygate.

I wonder what the 2010 Broncos head coach is doing now?

[vintagetoppsguy]

I'm not sure what to make of this, but it does sound pretty strange, right? Thoughts?

http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/...-lines-reports

"Yette found it surprising that the officials' locker room attendant was on the field, trying to hand him a ball, because officials' locker room attendants don't typically have ballhandling responsibilities during NFL games."

[Runscott]

David, that doesn't make sense. The 'K' balls have the letter 'K' and a numeral hand-written on them with black marker (for non-Championship games they are pre-stamped). The first ball used is 'K 1' and for the last two NFC championship games, 'K 1' lasted deep into the 2nd half ('K 1' was still in use for the fumbled on-side kick in this year's game). There's a reason for that - both teams' kickers, punters and snappers prefer to use the same ball as long as possible, as it continues to get worked in and they are all used to handling it.

If a 'K' ball that was not one of the original 16 were given to the K-Ball Coordinator, it wouldn't matter, as the special teams players know which ball is being used in the game, and they are going to demand it. Once it's no longer in play, 'K 2' is used. There is no way a stray K ball will get introduced into the game.

[FenwayFaithful]

.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Ok, I'm trying to wrap my head around all this.

Here's my understanding and correct me if I'm wrong:

League Official #1 got caught trying to steal a ball and tried to cover it up by passing off different ball (a "K ball”). He gave the ball to Jim McNally who is a Patriots locker room attendant. McNally then gave the ball to another League Official (Greg Yvette) to be introduced into the game. Yvette noticed that the ball didn’t have the proper markings and notified another official. Did I get that right?

If so, that still doesn’t explain McNally’s part in this. Why didn’t McNally notice that it was a “K ball” to begin with? After all, he has several years’ experience. Also, as the first article mentions, it sounds like McNally wasn’t following procedure because “officials' locker room attendants don't typically have ballhandling responsibilities during NFL games."

[Runscott]

David, it sounds like it started with the removal of a 'K' ball. But the story still doesn't make sense, as the 'K Ball Coordinator' is not supposed to let these balls leave his sight - he introduces the ball into play, it is used for the kicking play, it is retrieved by another 'K Ball Coordinator', and it's then back in his hands until used again. They don't just get marked by the official and then tossed aside somewhere. It sounds to me like the NFL's 'K Ball' process isn't being followed, and that someone was too dumb to realize that the approved balls should have certain markings.