The report is in on “Deflategate” and it does not look good for either the Patriots or Tom Brady. As we discussed earlier, Coach Bill Belichick insisted at the earlier press conference that he not only had no idea how the balls were deflated in New England’s AFC title game against Indianapolis in January. He claimed utter ignorance about virtually anything to do with the subject of air pressure and footballs. He was followed by quarterback Tom Brady who, despite previously saying that he preferred underinflated balls, said that he could not tell that the balls were deflated (even when a Colts employee could immediately feel the difference and report it). It is the immaculate deflation. It just happened by some cosmic coincidence over(1) and over(2) and over(3) and over(4) and over(5) and over(6) and over(7) and over(8) and over(9) and over(10) and over(11) again. Ted Wells does not appear to buy it though absent a confession, he could not conclusively say that the team or Brady was guilty. Instead, he concludes in this 243 page report that “We believe it is unlikely that an equipment assistant and a locker room attendant would deflate game balls without Brady’s knowledge and approval.”
Brady claimed to know nothing about football pressure in his press conference: a performance mocked on Saturday Night Live.
Wells scoffs at Brady’s denials and states “We found these claims not plausible and contradicted by other evidence.” The report found that Brady “was at least generally aware” of all the plans to prepare the balls to his liking and that it was “more probable than not” that two Patriots employees – officials’ locker room attendant Jim McNally and equipment assistant John Jastremski – carried out the plan. McNally is accused of demanding expensive shoes and signed footballs, jerseys and cash. Communications are described as basically a swag grab. One email said “Remember to put a couple sweet pig skins ready for tom to sign.” Another said “Nice throw in some kicks and make it real special.” The report notes that Brady had virtually no communication with the men for the prior six months and then had six telephone calls in three days.
The report does note that, while Brady was known to prefer deflated balls, he actually did better in the second half of the game after the balls had been pumped back up to regulation level.
The next question is now how the NFL will respond. “More probable than not” may be the best you can get without a confession and it has been enough in past disputes. The Patriots could be facing yet another serious sanction in an organization that is viewed as having a highly checkered past and problematic team culture.
While owner Robert Kraft called the conclusion “incomprehensible,” it is the account of the Patriots that seems incomprehensible. McNally took the game balls into a bathroom in the short period between the testing and the resumed game. Referee Walt Anderson’s said that he was surprised when he was unable to locate the previously approved footballs at the start of the game – the first time that had happened to him in 19 years.
The question is whether a penalty would reach just the Patriots or whether it would extend to Brady or Belichick (who seems less of a focus of the suspicions). There could be another draft pick loss or even a suspension of the player and the coach for the next season. That would be a lessen to every team since the Patriots did not need to deflate the balls to beat the Colts. The way the game went, it looked like Brady could have been throwing beachballs and reached the same result.
Oh, football thread… Deflated egos, not deflated balls, something to aspire to.
Hillary should step down. She has far too much baggage. Warren should step up and we have already have Sanders, a very ethical man. There are other Democrats in Congress with name recognition and history of clean governing that could and should step up. I sure won’t be voting for Hillary.
Did Hillary deflate the balls? That no good b%¥®h!
Issac, The fact that you think there is a difference between R’s and D’s shows you still are not understanding the true problems. Giving Hillary a pass as the lesser of two evils points that they have you right where they want. I know, it’s my fault with trying to engage with a socialist. There is no sense in arguing it. Although, I do find it curious that you end with “power to the people” since it would seem that socialism has shown over history to give very little power to “the people”. True power is liberty and both parties are taking it from us at an ever increasing rate.
Jim22
Sometimes it comes down to the lesser of two evils. Unfortunately there are only two choices. Hillary is the lesser of the two potential disasters. The disaster of the last Republican Presidency combined with the treasonous actions of the Republican party in Congress and in the Senate far out weigh the ‘double dealing’, ‘hypocrisy’, and other idealistic short comings of Hillary and the Democrats. By the way the Republicans far out strip the Democrats in all of these character or lack of character traits.
Recent history – 60yrs, has shown the American economy to do better under Democratic administrations. Regardless of Obama’s idealistic shortcomings, he stabilized America and put the country on track to recovery, after eight years of almost unfathomable incompetence. The three stooges put this country so far behind it will take at least two double terms of leadership from one party to repair. If Hillary gets in and stays in for two terms, the economy will be strong enough for another Republican leader to screw up. The first step has been accomplished by Obama, as inequitable as that may be. The second step will be to socialize the economy to reward those who are truly responsible for America’s wealth, the workers. Obama and the Democrats may fall short of repairing what is wrong with America’s status quo, however it is the Republicans and their yearning for an unbreakable class system protecting the elite and subjugating the worker that is the primary cause for America’s malaise. Power to the people.
Report is full of hot air.
bam w/ the thread winner!
Once he stops bringing home 26.5 million a year, Giselle, the supermodel wife, is going to take the air out of his balls.
There’s only two honest sports, one is wrestling and the other is roller derby
Yes, we are a stupid nation. But since there was never any record of the balls’ initial inflation pressure (when the refs checked them before the game), no record of the accuracy of the gauges used and no long term record of inflation pressures over the course of the season, I wonder if the Patriots or any of the individuals have any cause of action against Wells or the investigators? The final report deals in suppositions and guesses about who might have had opportunity but there is not a bit of actual EVIDENCE that anyone did anything wrong except that some of the balls were underinflated. There is no video of anyone sticking a needle into a ball and there is no confession by anyone that they did it or were asked/directed to do anything to the balls.
Maybe what the Wells’ report should have suggested is that there be some sort of actual record keeping regarding inflation pressure and a strict chain of custody for the balls once they are declared game-ready.
Anything else is simply hot air.
T. Hunt
issac, Moral relativism is not going to solve any of today’s problems. How about we look at what is in front of us right now? If we did, Hillary should be disqualified and people like Lois Lerner would be in prison. Instead, my bet is that the uninformed voter will make the criminal Hillary the next president. We are a stupid nation.
On the subject of Hillary, the NPR host yesterday almost had a stroke when JT called both she and Obama out for tacitly allowing blasphemy laws be part of our foreign policy. She jumped on JT demanding an explanation which he gave w/ aplomb. All those Dem women are in defense/attack mode.
Belichick was completely cleared in the report, as was every Patriots employee other than Brady, McNally, and Jastremski. To imply otherwise in the last paragraph is inaccurate. You’re also going a little too far with stating McNally “demanded” swag. If you read the entire report, and the texts, there was no demanding. Final clarification: Brady is known to prefer footballs at 12.5 psi, the lowest limit allowed, which is not considered “deflated” by the rules.
I’m disappointed any Patriots staff or team member may have in any way done something inappropriate or against the rules, but exaggerating what the report stated is not necessary. Your Bear is showing too much by doing so.
Brady needs a 10 game suspension. Belichick a 4 game suspension. The Patriots lose a 1st round draft choice.
Jim22
I’m still waiting for the reports on what the three stooges did. So far all it has been are books that some buy and read, and believe. There are criminals like Hillary and then there are criminals that make Hillary look like a saint.
243 page report all about nothing. It’s too bad we can have this kind of scrutiny when it comes to criminals like Hillary. I wonder how many of you lawyers here would go with “more probable than not”?
The game’s too prissy. The field is immaculate. Players play one or two plays then go to the sidelines for a break. They are coddled. And, they get millions of dollars to play a game.
The field should be strewn with obstacles, broken glass, old tires, etc.
A player should have to play the entire game either offense or defense.
One kicker for all kicks.
No communication between side line and team.
A little mud and a little blood would make for a vast improvement.
The way they have it set up so that can over or under inflate for each quarterback makes all this possible. Maybe they should do that in basketball. Each basketball player should have a special ball they have inflated to the desired limit to play with. When they are dribbling, shooting, passing, etc. that ball is brought in. It will slow down the game but I am sure the fans won’t mind an extra hour.
I’ve long asked about whose hands should be the most familiar with the pressure of the ball through the game… I come up with very few people.
Football players cheating? Yep, its not good. But considering what some football players do it seems almost petty.