Deflate-Gate: Here We Go Again

woolster22 said:

Any word on a time?

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Not yet

MOTHER NATURE DELFATED THE BALLS

Didn't the Seahawks lead the league in penalties?

Penalties = Knowingly breaking rules during a game.

CHEATERS.

hell, seattle used an illegal formation on their onside kick.....media kind of left that one alone

billdog3484 said:

what is rkarp from bcd???

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A dude who posts on the boston discussion board. Supposedly works for Espn in some capacity who initially reported the Pats would be exonerated. So far his info has been jiving...so we'll see. He has a good track record on the board.

yukon cornelius said:

hell, seattle used an illegal formation on their onside kick.....media kind of left that one alone

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No they didn't. Some clown on Twitter claimed that they did, and people ran with it, but he was wrong.

TBR said:

Didn't the Seahawks lead the league in penalties?

Penalties = Knowingly breaking rules during a game.

CHEATERS.

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Now now, don't take on the attitude of the vultures in the media over stupid little things being blown out of proportion. Plus it's not like the Pats have been flag free throughout the season.

yukon cornelius said:

hell, seattle used an illegal formation on their onside kick.....media kind of left that one alone

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IT was legal

rlcarr said:

(Note: this is what I think will happen, not what I want to happen.)

I think it's getting to be prediction time, so here's mine...

1. As much as the NFL likes seeing NE roast, they're finally going to want to turn the page on this for now and get people talking about the game. So I expect some statement to come out today or over the weekend.
2. I think the NFL will release a statement saying:
   1. The balls were out of spec.
   2. However, there was no meaningful competitive effect.
   3. They believe that Belichick knew nothing about it.
   4. They'll equivocate more on Brady but will phrase it such that no sane person will feel a game suspension is warranted.
   5. That since they don't know how it happened they will be doing an additional/extended investigation in the offseason.
   6. $50,000 fine right now because balls were out of spec, potential of more punishment depending on outcome of extended investigation. No individual punishments at this time.
   7. Brady/Manning rule will be revoked and things go back to one set of balls.
   8. Improvements to ball-handling protocol will be made (for example, refs will need to log pressures of balls, some security guy will have to sit with balls pregame, etc.), though no/minimal details of proposals given that this time.
   9. More definition about in-game pressures (for example, it makes no sense to allow a ball to be inflated as low as 12.5 PSI pre-game and then say that it's out of spec at anything lower 12.5 PSI during the game.)
3. They will fervently hope Seattle wins the game (I would be remiss in not noting the irony that Seattle will be assisted in their win by a screwjob bigger than the one that (ahem) cheated Seattle out of the SB40 title.)
4. The ultimate punishment depends on what they find in the extended investigation. After BB and Brady's statements, if the NFL can ultimately find real evidence one or both knew, I expect suspensions next season (potentially the entire season for BB). If the NFL can't find anything at all, the initial $50,000 fine will be it. If they can find some ballboy or proof a ballboy was instructed (say by an equipment manager), then an additional fine and loss of a top-half-of-the-draft draft pick.

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Pretty reasonably set of predictions. I think my only quibble is I don't think they'll unilaterally change any rules; the SB already has a different set of rules around game balls so they'll wait till the competition committee can tackle this in the offseason.

Aside from that I think you're right: they have evidence that balls were deflated in some way, shape or form--natural, tampering, whatever--but haven't been able to uncover a source on the Pats sideline.

One thing to add: Leaving it open-ended like this will mean another 'Rams walkthrough' situation, where regardless of the ultimate investigative findings the Pats will forever be known as a team that deflated footballs to get to the Super Bowl. That's likely the case even if they had evidence exonerating the Pats right now, but at least now all eyes are on this situation, whereas in May when they'd theoretically come out with their findings no one will care.

Kdo5 said:

Now now, don't take on the attitude of the vultures in the media over stupid little things being blown out of proportion. Plus it's not like the Pats have been flag free throughout the season.

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It was sarcasm lol. And yes, the Patriots were 2nd in the league for # penalties called.

Guys, keep in mind: the afternoon announcement is speculation from two supposed inside sources.

We'll know whether to trust them going forward after today, but I don't think we should be holding our breathes here (if we haven't been doing that already )

TBR said:

It was sarcasm lol. And yes, the Patriots were 2nd in the league for # penalties called.

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Sorry I slept two hours last night. My sarcasm detector isn't working too well.

Kdo5 said:

Sorry I slept two hours last night. My sarcasm detector isn't working too well.

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thats what you get for sleeping on a bed of lies

(that was sarcasm)

I just want to say, I've seen a lot of people on here over the last week say "I can't stick by this team, if it's true, I don't want my team called cheaters anymore", yada, yada, yada.

Listen, this "controversy" has only made me even more of a fan of the New England Patriots.

To see the absolute low depths these scumbags in the media, on ESPN, etc. will go to try and knock our team over air an a ball, has only made me prouder to be a fan of the Pats. To see Brady go up there, willingly, and take stupid question after stupid question and not explode was extraordinary.

We're in the Super Bowl for the sixth time in 15 years. A chance at a fourth Lombardi. They hate cause we're good.

Let them hate. Cause this team isn't going down the drain anytime soon.

chasa said:

thats what you get for sleeping on a bed of lies

(that was sarcasm)

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Thanks for the disclaimer. Still not functioning very well. Being glued to Pats Fans during all this is driving me slightly bonkers.

Ron Borges on RichEisenShow , Brady lied and didnt tell the truth. He wants you believe but he just weighed the balls after the refs and asked the equipement guy to reduce air. The league does not want throw out Brady from the SB so they will announce it after the game .

It makes sense that there would be a presser today - there has been no official announcement thus far on the issue from the NFL other than they are "investigating the matter"; it has blown way, way, way (I could put in a thousand more "ways") out of proportion and they need some official announcement in wake of the media firestorm; the weekend is coming - pressers before the weekend are usually the last word on the story at least until Monday and finally, I do believe they would like to switch attention to the biggest NFL event of the year.

It's possible that this is just an update and they will say that thus far there is no evidence, but that they will be continuing their investigation AFTER the super bowl.

I'm sure this has been posted already but it's a good, sane read from a good, sane journalist (we found one!)
http://grantland.com/the-triangle/b...re-a-front-row-seat-for-the-foxborough-farce/

One quote among many that I loved:

If Bill Belichick is the dark genius that his most fervent detractors insist he is, then he’s goddamn bad at being a dark genius. He keeps getting caught. He got caught with the videotape deal. Now, it is alleged, he got caught in a penny-ante scheme to gain an edge in a game his team was winning from hell to breakfast anyway, and he now will spend the rest of his career doing million-dollar time for a 75-cent crime. If Bill Belichick is the dark genius that his most fervent detractors say he is, then there’s another Bill Belichick, the stubborn, arrogant, and not-altogether-bright Bill Belichick, who keeps screwing up the spells, like Mickey Mouse as the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. As it happens, I don’t believe in that second guy. I think it is Belichick’s stubbornness and arrogance that give power to the dark magic, and those are his most fundamental flaws as well.

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Mark Daniels @MarkDanielsPJ
Brady spoke to the team yesterday and Revis said Brady told them, "that’s something he wouldn’t do. He wouldn’t break the rules."


@MarkDanielsPJ
For all the talk that Tom Brady lied to the media that's going on, I highly doubt he would lie to his teammates behind closed doors.

Kdo5 said:

Thanks for the disclaimer. Still not functioning very well. Being glued to Pats Fans during all this is driving me slightly bonkers.

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Want to help me put together my independent investigation of the nfls investigation.

So far my questions

1.) When did you find out that the patriots may have been using deflated balls?

2.)Did you allow the patriots to play all, or at least part of the 1st half with this knowledge that they may have been tampering with the balls?

3.)What were the exact measurements of each ball when they were submitted for approval, and do you have a record of that readings?

4.)What were the exact measurements of each ball at half time, and do you have a recording of that reading?

5.) After the balls were approved, who did the referee hand them off to? What was that persons name?

6.) Early this year, both the panthers and vikings were caught on video using sideline heaters to warm up balls during a game, this goes against this rule(state the rule) the league decided not to fine, or punish either team despite there being video evidence that they were tampering with the balls during the game, why is it that you are now into your 5th day of investigating the patriots for deflating footballs?

7.) Rodger what do you say to all the men, women, and children out there that are asking themselves, why is this becoming such a big deal, when players like ray rice and adrian peterson physically who beat their family members, were essentially non stories?

8.)Will you be investigating your own office to find out who is leaking information to the press, resulting in this witch hunt?