The Official Belichick Post Press Conference Thread

ender24601 said:

Anyone catch Breer on CBSSports Radio? Basically said that he thinks the NFL has to have something on Pats, otherwise, they would have put this thing to bed because it would be their best interest.

I think pretty much everyone here things that would be the opposite. Thoughts?

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Breer can blank off...those are my thoughts. He already thought they were guilty. I heard him on Gresh and Zoe. He oozed his beliefs on that radio station.

I just re-watched that presser for the third time now, and I think the one thing that stands out the most is Belichick's answer's to Tom (Curran?): "You will have to ask the league as to what they did or did not do"

DID NOT DO!!! - i.e. measured the pressure with gauges to get an ACCURATE reading before signing off.

I am pretty sure the refs royally ****ed this up, especially after Belichik's also said "We gave the balls to the refs and asked for a 12.5 psi. What they did afterwards... is beyond me" - eluding the refs didn't follow through.

Just something to ponder: imagine how pumped up we are after BB press confernce. I can only imagine how much more the players are pumped up right now.

skri65 said:

That was a side of BB that I think players love but we rarely get to see. He sold me on his theory except for one point that I hope someone else here could clear up. How would the preparation of balls before the game increase the PSI of the balls by 1 pound per square inch? Moreover, wouldn't this preparation of the balls be accounted for when the refs evaluate the balls before the game? I guess I don't see how the preparation of the balls that lead to the rise of PSI by 1 have anything to do with the decrease of the PSI from the point at which the refs give the balls back to the team and halftime...

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Rubbing the football would excite molecules, basically act as heat I guess, and therefore could raise the pressure. This is artificial in the sense it has nothing to do with the atmospheric pressure, and it is temporary because once the atoms in the football are no longer excited, it will start to wear off. That, combined with difference from controlled room to field conditions, could account for the decrease in PSI.

Basically, Patriots balls were 'artificially' at 12.5 once the refs inspected/filled them, and soon decreased.

All you need to assume is the Colts have a different process for prepping their footballs, or perhaps that their footballs were prepped back in Indianapolis and had already reached equilibrium (affects of 'rubbing' wore off) by the time the refs inspected them, so they were actually raised to whatever legal level the Colts request.

That was an interesting and overlooked part of this too, that the refs are the ones who are asked to inflate the balls. This whole time it was kind of assumed the team does that, and then the refs make sure they did it/correct it if they didn't. If the refs are ACTUALLY SUPPOSED TO DO THIS and failed- and BB clearly kept leaving this door open throughout his whole monologue- then the league looks like fools.

I feel like the legend of Crygate took a blow today.

BadMoFo said:

Another important thing he said is that footballs aren't checked during games so there is no way of knowing that this happens. I bet the colts or Ravens checked the psi level of one of our intercepted balls and figured it out. All they had to do is cry about it and make us look guilty. If footballs were checked during games you may find that this happens quite a bit.

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That would be considered tampering if done during the game.

I'm telling you, I could watch that press conference over and over again.

Shannon Sharpe is sticking like glue to the "why were the Colts footballs normal" theme.

Someone should show these guys this thread.

BadMoFo said:

Another important thing he said is that footballs aren't checked during games so there is no way of knowing that this happens. I bet the colts or Ravens checked the psi level of one of our intercepted balls and figured it out. All they had to do is cry about it and make us look guilty. If footballs were checked during games you may find that this happens quite a bit.

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Kjmass1 said:

That would be considered tampering if done during the game.

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Well, there is a missing 12th football. Maybe this is why the investigation is still ongoing.

Wrath Mania said:

Basically, Patriots balls were 'artificially' at 12.5 once the refs inspected/filled them, and soon decreased.

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No doubt. The fact that they all deflated exactly 2 PSI gives more credence to the idea that pre-game ball preparation and laws of physics lowered the PSI. Ever try to inflate or deflate a ball/tire to your exact psi? now do that for 12 balls inconspicuously; logistically would be impressive.

I think the focus needs to shift to the Colts and just WTF they were trying to do, PARTICULARLY in light of the unconfirmed "reports" of them noticing something in November. Well, then WHY would that be allowed to sit and fester? Why would that make us look any worse, as we would have been unaware of any issue and kept on preparing our footballs the way we always have? Yet they might have sat on it and started some half-assed sting operation? That turned into this?

They need to be punished into oblivion if any little bit of that is true.

buile said:

When the footballs are turned over to the REFs, it is assumed they adjust the PSI to bring it within limits, and the process is DONE, and football players go out and play the game.

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Yes, this. That point seems to have shot by a lot of people. Bill said that they give the balls to the refs at whatever pressure and ask the refs to adjust them to the legal limit of 12.5psi. Whether the refs do or do not is on the NFL, not the Patriots.

will the "other teams were also videotaping" comment prompt the league to launch another investigation?

juny said:

Just something to ponder: imagine how pumped up we are after BB press confernce. I can only imagine how much more the players are pumped up right now.

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We're just fans and we know how it affects us, just imagine how it affects the players who are trying to reach NFL nirvana and have to hear this crap.

Bella*chick said:

I think the focus needs to shift to the Colts and just WTF they were trying to do, PARTICULARLY in light of the unconfirmed "reports" of them noticing something in November. Well, then WHY would that be allowed to sit and fester? Why would that make us look any worse, as we would have been unaware of any issue and kept on preparing our footballs the way we always have? Yet they might have sat on it and started some half-assed sting operation? That turned into this?

They need to be punished into oblivion if any little bit of that is true.

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See Curran and Volin's most recent articles on the Harbaugh/Indy grudge that probably spawned all this.

As others have stated, it's clear now that this was all phenomena no on was even aware of or even cared about until today. In other words, ridiculous.

The key thing BB got out there today was the fact that the footballs are prepped right up until they're handed off. Everyone was trying to figure out if there was some way the balls could be at a higher pressure when being inspected pregame, and a lower one later. No saunas, no heat guns, no exotic air mixtures; just old fashioned rubdowns are the piece we all missed.

Unless Commissioner Clueless tries to spin that into some kind of immoral process, I think the Pats are in the clear here.

sb1 said:

Shannon Sharpe is sticking like glue to the "why were the Colts footballs normal" theme.

Someone should show these guys this thread.

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Because they do not prepare their balls the way the Pats do.

Speaking of balls, maybe Shannon should be more concerned about having his snipped so he can not father anymore illegitimate children, I think 3 in one year is enough!

BTW guess who else is on this distinguished list...

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/367659-whose-your-daddy-ranking-the-nfls-biggest-players

zydecochris said:

the NFL should have come to this obvious conclusion long before now, exonerating the Patriots. Why had that not happened?

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I might be in the minority here, but, I think the NFL is "in the middle." The Colts or the Colts' media raised the question, which forced the NFL to investigate the matter. Alas, this forces the NFL to confront that ball pressure is such a relative non-issue, that not much attention is given to the matter. However, the NFL is now under scrutiny as to why exacting measurements are not done to adhere to a ... inconsequential(?)... rule.... It's politics at it's worst, fueled by jealous haters.

Uncle Rico said:

Would be funny if they inflated them over Luck's comfort zone and that's part of why he sucked so badly.

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Been thinking the same thing the past couple of days.

Wiggy on CNN now