OT - Patriots Deflate Report

[packs]

I still don't think you can turn back time so they are the champs to me. But I hope that moving forward they will be under the most intense of scrutiny and be embarrassed every weekend when a ref stops play to test the inflation of their footballs.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by packs

I still don't think you can turn back time so they are the champs to me. But I hope that moving forward they will be under the most intense of scrutiny and be embarrassed every weekend when a ref stops play to test the inflation of their footballs.

The same refs who must have handled the balls dozens of times during the game and not noticed anything amiss?

[packs]

Yes, those refs. Maybe some new ones. I don't know what the NFL's turnover is like.

[steve B]

Having read the excerpts from the letters sent to the team and Brady I think the punishment is just about right. Maybe a bit less so for the team. I'll go with the coach and management not knowing, since the NFL investigation says no. But I'm not sure I believe that. Brady trying to cover stuff up is probably at least two of the four games.

Brady certainly was acting like a guy with something to hide.
But..............He must have some "interesting" stuff on his phone, maybe some pictures he was sent? yeah, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't hand over the phone either I can't imagine Giselle being mad as a good thing.

I do have a few questions though.

My phone shows both sides of the text conversation. But it's windows. Do the other two hide the incoming side after a time? And if not why would they even need Bradys phone after getting the other two?

The next two are partly sarcastic/kidding, partly not.

Two of the Colts balls were also underinflated at halftime. Since we have to believe the refs checked ALL the balls, then the Colts must have deflated a couple too. When is the report on that and the announcement of fines/suspensions ? Or do they claim the pats staff also deflated a couple for the other team? Or just maybe - The refs didn't check all of them?

One of the texts references the refs overinflating some balls to 16 Psi for an earlier game. Can I assume that either 1) They were sort of covering for deflation by overinflating. OR 2) The refs were altering the ball by overinflating and we'll see some fallout from that soon.
Either way those refs were either adversely affecting the team deliberately, or were attempting to cover up cheating with some other cheating.
Neither is acceptable, but I'd be willing to bet there won't be any punishment.

All in all the rule and it's oversight is very poor. But it won't get rewritten, and the equipment used won't get any better.

Steve B

[packs]

The released texts were between equipment managers. I'd imagine Brady doesn't want to release his texts because his texts are between himself and their supervisors, who probably were the ones to filter down the directions. That would also further implicate the team and not just an individual.

[chernieto]

So.....For how long has this been a rule anyway? Did they measure the PSI on the balls in the 20's? 30's? 40's, 50's, 60's ?

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/200...tion-committee

Seems like a whole lot to do about nothing. Read that article from 2006 !!

[nolemmings]

It's what happened in 2006 that makes Brady even less worthy of sympathy. It was that year that NFL quarterbacks, led by Manning and Brady, got the league to change its prior policy of having the home teams supply all the footballs. They argued that they are in essence artists who ought to have some control over the type of ball they throw, and the league agreed, allowing the visitors to bring their own balls. As part of the process, if it didn't already exist, specs were used as to the level of inflation those balls must possess, i.e.,within a certain range of air pressure.

Brady thus has known about the air-pressure rule since at least 2006. At that time he either got all that he wanted, including an acceptable range of PSI, from the NFL, or he at least got his primary wish of using his own team's balls and knew what the limits were on PSI. Either way and both knowing that this was a rule and the process for changing it if he was unhappy, he instead decided on his own that the rule could be discarded and avoided, and acted surreptitiously to do just that.