ESPN: 11 of 12 footballs under inflated by 2 pounds of air.

[festy1986]

How high a draft pick can they take?

A 2nd or a 3rd? I would imagine Goodell wants to make an example out of the Pats being another skirting of the rules even so minor.

the answer should be zero. The penalty for altering a ball is already written in the rule book, it's 25,000. Are they gonna rewrite the rule book just to punish belechick and the pats harder?

I'd go rip **** if I'm kraft if that happened. In this case, the commissioner can't just make up a penalty like he did with Spygate, as much as he no doubt would love to.

 

[Guts]

I genuinely believe that no one knows anything and we should withhold our judgement until an official report is given by the league. This non issue of a story has become idiotic Aaron Rodgers himself said he likes the football over inflated but since it's the big bad Patriots we are automatically cheating. I'm just gonna take the same position as our players and laugh it off everyone can suck it Go Pats!

 

[TomPatriot]

Under the rules, the sole judge of the balls' compliance with the specifications is Walt Anderson. If he says they complied, end of story.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

Calm the **** down people.

Some of you are treating this like Watergate or the Iran-Contra scandal when really some balls didn't have some air and nobody, including the refs, noticed for a long time despite handling them throughout the game. Some of you conspiracy nutters are already drooling over how high it must go up...is it all the way to the top? WAS IT KRAFT? OR GOODELL??? OR OBAMA?!?!?!!!1111one

And seriously, it's the ****ing Colts. We've owned them since Luck got there. We destroyed them in Indy earlier. And last year in the play-offs. We would have destroyed them with regular balls or deflated balls or beach balls.

We're onto Seattle.

 

[Froob]

I'm gonna be pissed if they come down on us after Rodgers admitted other teams do it.

 

[Jackson 2]

Doesn't matter really......Pats will be (basically already are) found guilty in the eyes of the public and media....for years and years to come

Like many others, I've been fighting this BS since 2007. It doesn't really matter in the court of public opinion what the truth is, as you say, because this case is already closed. I don't have it in me to engage in a new holy war. I'm done. They won.

 

[Aßßynormal]

We would've put in up to 36-48 footballs because of inclement weather. Correct?

 

[Triumph]

the answer should be zero. The penalty for altering a ball is already written in the rule book, it's 25,000. Are they gonna rewrite the rule book just to punish belechick and the pats harder?

I'd go rip **** if I'm kraft if that happened. In this case, the commissioner can't just make up a penalty like he did with Spygate, as much as he no doubt would love to.

The Pats have spygate on their rapsheet.

I would imagine a tougher penalty since BB is stealing cars instead of robbing banks.

 

[shmessy]

If found to be directly connected to BB.
This should be the post of the year.

Amazing how you show up only at these times.

 

[Triumph]

Under the rules, the sole judge of the balls' compliance with the specifications is Walt Anderson. If he says they complied, end of story.

Hes a senile old man.

 

[DefenseRules]

Under the rules, the sole judge of the balls' compliance with the specifications is Walt Anderson. If he says they complied, end of story.

This is the main point here. Everyone wants to blame BB for this and BB only. What if he didn't order it? What if none of this was done on purpose? There are more people responsible for this failure than just the HEADCOACH. And if this was not done intentionally, then what do they do? Is it possible that the balls were just not inflated and inspected PROPERLY. These are the questions the NFL needs to answer. Why were the balls deflated, who deflated them, and why did the referees not notice it?

 

[Halifax_Pats_Fan]

This is the media hype that drives me nuts.

Has there been a report released yet...has there?....NO

It's like ...well, Fox news said after the recount Bush was the winner in Florida so if Fox news said it it must be true?...SERIOUSLY

We need to wait, the entire process needs to be followed from beginning to end and each step needs to be verified (esp. the one where the refs needed to confirm the balls).

Just because BSPN said it, don't be convinced, and I am talking to all of our fan base. Actually I would question that report even more if BSPN quoted 'Sources'.

Are these the same sources that hate this team to begin with? There is an agenda here and you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure it out. As a fan of a team you can only take getting man handled for so long before you start to find whatever you can on whoever beat you.

People love controversy, esp one like this where they are not impacted. They can speculate and come to their own decisions.

Can we all just wait for the report to be released and keep in mind if the process is broken then the league needs to fix it....

 

[shmessy]

Weren't we playing with the same footballs? So what exactly is the advantage for us? Why would we want to use a deflated football?

No.

Each offense provides their own 12 balls.

This is something that has been widely discussed for the past two days.

 

[DarrylS]

They couldn't find them. I am sure they were deflated though.

Seriously, I doubt they examined those footballs because there was no Patriot claim that they were deficient.

But they would serve as some type of control and standard of comparison....

 

[stcjones]

Remember though in 2007 this was a HUGE Weight and DISTRACTION on the Pats players and coaches....and I think it obviously affected their play in the SB ....unfortunately I expect this to be déjà vu...unfreakingreal....

As expected, the media is all over this because it's the Patriots. I don't think anything will come of it though. It will be more fodder for the haters, but screw the haters anyway. That includes the vultures in the media.



lol, no kidding... As if there isn't already enough motivation, now the Pats have the people who want to discredit their hard work. Every SB they've been in dating back to 13 years ago has been close, I'd love nothing more than the Pats to dominate this game and shut the haters up.

 

[RobAllan]

Someone on the NE staff will fall on his sword for this, but we all know the decision came from Belichick.

Its too bad. BB is so brilliant, but like so many Geniuses also so self destructive. Belichick is like the millionaire who gets caught shoplifting at Walmart. The consequences and fallout (particularly after spygate) of getting caught far outweighed the risk of breaking the rules. Spygate was sort of going away and in the distant past. Not anymore.

The Pats didn't need to deflate the balls is whats so maddening. Blount and Gray could have ran for 300 yards vs the Colts. The Pats are the better coached and more talented team. Probably the best team in the NFL this season and now the season is tainted. The franchise and fan base tainted for something so stupid.

It didn't have to be this way.

I actually find it unlikely BB would even be aware of it- seems like TB would be responsible for prepping his balls. I doubt BB is going to walk over to his old, veteran, HOF QB and say, "make sure it's exactly 12.5 PSI at the lowest." If it's not an environmental issues, I'm sure TB12 underinflates the balls and lets the refs fill them if they notice. These refs were dumb and probably didn't really check.

It'll be a black eye either way, though, and people will say like coach, like QB. Even though it's probably true all QBs do it.

If we did something wrong, though, it would be nice to think our QB would understand how important it is not to screw around with Spygate on the record already. I'd have the same complaint with him as I would BB.

 

[Midship]

Ill say it again - the game wa 45-7.

It's embarrassing that everyone is so up-in-arms about this. It was the first thing on 'The Lead' this morning on Sportscenter and the first thing Mike & Mike addressed, as well.

Pats are the most hated team in the modern NFL - no surprise everyone and their mother is using this as an excuse to attempt to tarnish their legacy. Stop comparing this to 'spygate', it's absolutely absurd.

 

[shmessy]

That was one of my thoughts, how does Mort get this info?? Paving the way for some media relations ploy??

At best it is partial information..

I already have a headache @ 6:30 in the morning..

At least you got sleep last night.

I saw this at 11:45pm and couldn't sleep 'til 3:30AM.

 

[Oswlek]

Aaron Rodgers himself said he likes the football over inflated

The amusing part is the spin on Rodgers' comments is, "OMG! Air being taken out of balls is the work of the Debil!" rather than the most obvious, "Over inflating is just as illegal is under inflating."

Just add it all to the Crygate file. Keep those delicious tears rolling, fellas.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

the answer should be zero. The penalty for altering a ball is already written in the rule book, it's 25,000. Are they gonna rewrite the rule book just to punish belechick and the pats harder?

That's not what it says. It says the people involved and head coach are subject to penalties not limited to discipline and a $25,000 fine.