Deflate-Gate: Here We Go Again

[Big-T]

Was just checking out NFL.com and there isn't one word about this whole thing. I'm just wondering if the league is afraid it will ultimately come back on THEIR officials for not doing their job.

NFL.com pretty much moved passed it when Dean Blandino said that his happens on a regular basis.

Once again the media are blowing it out of proportion because it's the Patriots.

 

[tatepatsfan]

Start watching around the 1:40 mark. Now, we are talking about 10 degree weather, which is not what we were dealing with on Sunday. However, they were also only looking at one hour, and not in rainy weather. It is entirely possible - indeed, perhaps probable - that the balls were measured (if measured at all) several hours before the game started, and the supposedly faulty measurements were taken at halftime.

In short, I think it's entirely reasonable that if the measurements were taken at 72 or 75 degrees indoors several hours before the game, and then measured at 11.0 psi at halftime, that the balls could have deflated from 1.5 psi.

Not saying this is what happened. I have no idea. But that is a very feasible scenario.

 

[IllegalContact]

I have been waiting for Deadspin to get into this. I am glad they are on it. They usually get to the truth.

And either Kraft or Goodell have to do something very dramatic to make it clear that this kind of nonsense will not be tolerated.

I feel like this is the essence of Roger Goodell's job description now, as if someone handed him a sheet of paper when he first started and it said, "Do not tolerate things. Send strong messages." And then he ate 12 bananas and hurled his poop at the wall and nodded vigorously.

word

 

[Gronk]

And here come the hot takes!!!

http://deadspin.com/the-ballghazi-takes-are-here-and-they-are-****ing-insa-1680877948

Love Deadspin absolutely wrecking Kravitz.

That is all so very fantastic.

 

[condon84]

Peter King ‏@SI_PeterKing 2m2 minutes ago
Three things about the deflated football issue: 1 It’s likely, but not certain, that discipline will be deferred till after Super Bowl.

Peter King ‏@SI_PeterKing 3m3 minutes ago
2 Some info about what NFL knows could come out later today or tmrw.
3 Very impt element felt by NFL: 31 other teams watching intently.

translation - 31 teams want pats to be crucified

The NFL would do it's product disservice if they were to announce discipline after the Super Bowl. A lot of people will equate the severity of the punishment to how much advantage the Patriots actually had in deflating footballs. Without that being resolved, people will assume the absolute worst. Imagine if the Pats end up winning, the NFL would have a PR mess celebrating it's champion if it is still an unknown how much advantage the Patriots had in advancing to the SB.

 

[pheenix11]

I predict the Pats will be cleared and there will be backlash against the NFL, Colts and the media for blowing this stupid controversy out of proportion.

 

[Connecticut]

I predict the Pats will be cleared and there will be backlash against the NFL, Colts and the media for blowing this stupid controversy out of proportion.

Let's hope but I honestly doubt it. This whole thing stinks to high heaven.

 

[upstater1]

Blame whatever ****tard deflated the balls to give them the ammo.

It was Brady

 

[Ivan]

Was just checking out NFL.com and there isn't one word about this whole thing. I'm just wondering if the league is afraid it will ultimately come back on THEIR officials for not doing their job.

It's amazing they leak the way they do and keep their own people in the dark.

 

[heavyde050]

It was Brady

How do we know this? Wouldn't someone else just be actually working with the balls and Brady saying they feel okay?

 

[Big-T]

I predict the Pats will be cleared and there will be backlash against the NFL, Colts and the media for blowing this stupid controversy out of proportion.

Or more likely if the Pats are cleared:

"SEE THE NFL WAS PAID OFF BY THE PATRIOTS!"
"PATRIOTS CLEARED OF CHEATING"

etc.

 

[NSPF]

If walt anderson and his crew comes out and says "we checked the balls before the game and they were fine" and suspected that they were tampered afterwars (i.e., the reason for the refs inflating the balls at halftime) the pats are screwed. Walt Anderson is the key guy here.

So Walt, let me remind you that if you failed to inspect the balls properly, you will be fined and/or fired. Now, did you inspect the balls properly?

 

[Username]

I predict the Pats will be cleared and there will be backlash against the NFL, Colts and the media for blowing this stupid controversy out of proportion.

No chance unfortunately. Even if Andrew Luck himself confessed that the ball deflation thing was an elaborate conspiracy concocted by the Colts, who murdered the original ballboys, dumped their bodies in a skip, and replaced them with ringers who subsequently deflated the ball, even then people would still want BB sacked, Pats stripped of all our draft picks and Robert Kraft dipped in a river to see if he floats.

Once hysteria takes off, facts are utterly unimportant.

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

Hopefully we'll find out that the officials didn't measure the balls before the game or that they let under-inflated balls pass. Otherwise, I have a feeling this is not going to end well for the Pats.

As much as I'd like to believe the officials would be honest and admit either of the above, should that be how it happened, I'm not holding my breathe that they would admit to either mistake, if they did in fact mess it up.

In any case, I'm royally pissed that yet another "gate" issue figures prominently in another Pats SB appearance.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I'm also not buying the laws of gas pressure theories either. I know the balls will lose some pressure when the temperature changes, but two lbs in that time span does not seem possible, imo.

Well, the laws of physics don't really care whether you believe in them or not.

 

[Big-T]

After the balls are inspected by the officials, they are given to the ball attendant two hours and fifteen minutes before game time.

They're tested 2 hours 15 before the game, but supposedly aren't given to the ball attendants while a couple of minutes before kick off.

This story makes me sick. I'd feel a lot better if Belichick and especially Brady came out and said that they had no knowledge of this. The longer this story is out there without any refutation by either, the worse I feel.

They did on Monday...

 

[OhExaulted1]

It's amazing the PSI density of a football so completely trumps the human factor in a game of football.

It's right on the same level as having a faulty Sony Play-Station controller. Who knew?

Disregard running, blocking and tackling. We're in the Play-Station era where when you lose you blame it on everything else instead of looking in a mirror and take resposibility for your own actions.

45-7? The Colts would've won if the ball pressure was held up to league standards. That's obvious.

 

[patsinthesnow]

@MattLeinartQB: Every team tampers with the footballs. Ask any Qb In the league, this is ridiculous!!

 

[SVN]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...-properly-checked-before-colts-patriots-game/

First, per a league source, the NFL has reviewed the entire process and determined that the balls were properly checked by the officials before the game. Which means that, when the balls left the possession of the referee, the pressure was at least 12.5 PSI and no more than 13.5 PSI.

 

[The Gr8est]

Yup. And it's working. They've already lost all their draft picks on ESPN. Hell, I'm watching First Take. Yikes! I mean, you really can just say anything about the Patriots at this point and it all just becomes part of the narrative. "I'm not saying Bill Belichick did ______, but because he did _______, HE IS GUILTY AND SHOULD BE FINED, SUSPENDED, AND LOSE ALL DRAFT PICKS."

I understand that the NFL might not mind what is being talked about as long as the NFL remains at the height of the discussion, but I think there's something to be said for not allowing the discussion on one of your flagship franchises "cheating" to just swirl around the toilet for days one end. It's sad, and while I don't think this will affect my enjoyment of the Super Bowl, it's another in a long line of things that makes me wonder how much I'll care about the NFL down the line. They have this country by the balls in terms of being a successful, omnipresent professional sports league, and they're doing everything they can to **** it up.

I have not watched the past two Superbowls, and I will no longer watch unless the Pats are in it. It isn't sour grapes, I just don't like what the NFL has become and that is my own personal protest.

Once the Pats are no longer a strong team I will likely be done with the NFL.

It isn't easy following through with this; old habits die hard.