Rappaport on NY talk radio...

Says that reason investigation is taking so long is that they haveto formally interview the players and after the SB - it's very hard logistically get them all in one place at once. He said report won't be done before the combines. Asked about what he expects from the report - he said that in his view - they might not be able to find anything to confirm or deny tampering was done. Kind of leaving it out there for public to decide....

Makes some sense, but did he say players plural? Curious - who besides Brady needs to get interviewed??

Did he stand by his report that only one was 2 psi under?

Looks like its heading towards the ending @rlcarr has been referencing, unfortunately.

Leave it up to the public to decide?

Really? REALLY?!

If the NFL trots down that path I will be 100% confirmed in my belief that they the most incompetent bunch of idiots I've ever seen.

I wanted Evan Roberts (the host) to ask that but he didn't. Only other thing Rappaport said was that it would be difficult for the investigators to figure out ball pressure loss and compare that to standards during half time as that had never been done before in the NFL - to measure balls at half time.

Scouting Combine is February 17-23 (next week), so at least that's sort of reasonable. There should an update tomorrow if they're keeping up the act of transparency.

I know I'm probably expecting too much, but I hope the league isn't foolish enough to go with a "We can't confirm or deny any tampering" approach. That would be a blow to NFL's credibility. If they can't figure out if someone let air out of a football or not, then how can they be relied on to competently handle more complex issues?

They need to come out with a definitive statement; either there was no wrongdoing or there was and back up their decision. If they can't do that, then all their talk of integrity is a waste of breath.

I think the dirty secret is the NFL didn't really care about football pressure until now. Sure, they sent out the memo after the Vikings/Panthers game, but that's because they were heating the balls in front of cameras. They've never measured balls at halftime before, they don't record the values they're inflated to, and until recently it was probably acceptable to give the balls the squeeze test instead of using a pressure gage.

Now there's a sudden interest in keeping the ball pressure up for the integrity of the game, and the public uproar about football pressure grew faster than the NFL's interest in regulating the psi.

I expect new code enforcement on football pressure next season and I expect everyone to blame the Pats for the new rules.

Honestly, it doesn't matter what is said. If we are found guilty of anything, people will hate us and whatever punishment is levied will be not enough. If we are found not guilty, people will say it's because the stuffed suit is Kraft's puppet and will think we did it anyway.

People hate us, so just embrace it.

I will be surprised if the league decides to be strict about PSI. This league wants offense. I doubt they'll do anything to hamper QB's from putting up big numbers and stats.

Here's a clue
The league CAN'T be stricter about psi. They freakin can't.
There is NFW the league can regulate the air pressure inside footballs to meet their bozo standards for games that are played outdoors in cool temperatures. This also goes for balls set around the allowable 13.5 psi in a 70 degree air conditioned locker room that subsequently sit outside in the Florida sun at 98 degrees ambient.

Yup. The same laws of physics that help to lower PSI in cold footballs also work to raise that same psi in high temps.

Damn those laws. Damn them to hell for not obeying league edicts!!!

PatsWickedPissah said:

Here's a clue
The league CAN'T be stricter about psi. They freakin can't.
There is NFW the league can regulate the air pressure inside footballs to meet their bozo standards for games that are played outdoors in cool temperatures. This also goes for balls set around the allowable 13.5 psi in a 70 degree air conditioned locker room that subsequently sit outside in the Florida sun at 98 degrees ambient.

Click to expand...

It's all in the preparation. If they account for the higher temperature at game time they can inflate the footballs to 12.5 before the game. Or they could prepare the footballs outside. Clearly they can't let the weather move the balls out of acceptable range. Mark Brunell would drown the league in tears.

memento said:

It's all in the preparation. If they account for the higher temperature at game time they can inflate the footballs to 12.5 before the game. Or they could prepare the footballs outside. Clearly they can't let the weather move the balls out of acceptable range. Mark Brunell would drown the league in tears.

Click to expand...

The thing that bigs me about all this is that in cold weather, the balls become harder, so if they lose PSI, they are probably as manageable (and maybe less so) than an overinflated ball in warm weather.

It's like Mother Nature is looking out for QBs and WRs. Cold slick balls? Why don't I deflate them a bit?

The whole thing is so stupid. Trust me, Brady would rather throw a ball at 14 PSI in 80 degree weather than a waterlogged ball at 12 PSI in 40 degree weather.

If they want the balls to stay at the psi range (12.5-13.5) just take control of the team balls two hours before the game and put them on a ball rack on the field to let them adjust to the outside temps. Then measure the psi a half hour before the game and adjust if necessary. If they notice a huge temp. drop during the game they can adjust the balls if needed. It seems pretty simple to me. Maybe I am missing something?

PatsWickedPissah said:

Here's a clue
The league CAN'T be stricter about psi. They freakin can't.
There is NFW the league can regulate the air pressure inside footballs to meet their bozo standards for games that are played outdoors in cool temperatures. This also goes for balls set around the allowable 13.5 psi in a 70 degree air conditioned locker room that subsequently sit outside in the Florida sun at 98 degrees ambient.

Click to expand...

The balls can be filled with air the same as game time conditions. The balls are kept in a gage on the field.
15min before the game and at 5min prior to the 3rd quarter they are re-calibrated. No big deal at all.
and it is being done in front of 70,000 witnesses.

Why bother? A few years ago the NFL changed the rules regarding footballs to accommodate the request of quarterbacks like Manning and Brady. As long as they are using the regulation ball let anybody inflate it to any pressure they want. Problem solved!

PatsWickedPissah said:

Why bother? A few years ago the NFL changed the rules regarding footballs to accommodate the request of quarterbacks like Manning and Brady. As long as they are using the regulation ball let anybody inflate it to any pressure they want. Problem solved!

Click to expand...

Because in this scenario, the NFL is admitting what we knew all along : it doesn't really matter that much. They've already made it seem like it is kind of a big deal...

They should play with nerf balls because they don't know how air works.

PatsWickedPissah said:

Why bother? A few years ago the NFL changed the rules regarding footballs to accommodate the request of quarterbacks like Manning and Brady. As long as they are using the regulation ball let anybody inflate it to any pressure they want. Problem solved!

Click to expand...

Because then cheaters like the Patriots would play with these:



Can you imagine how many we'd score a game with those bad boys in Brady's hands? Game over, NFL.