2/18/2015: Schefter Blows Up ESPN's Earlier Story

SVN said:

PFT's version of crap
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...ired-employee-who-sold-deflategate-footballs/

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Yup just saw that by one of Florio's underlings. So all of this just solidifies the fact that the Pats probably cheated and got away with it. Nice, PFT.

Deus Irae said:

Nothing will prove the Patriots INNOCENT in the eyes of those who have the bias, Ken. God could come down from on high and pronounce the Patriots innocent, while producing 100% exculpatory audio and video, and there would still be people screaming about a cover up.

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Sadly that might very well be true, DI. However that doesn't mean you don't keep fighting. If you do there's a chance to change minds. I've seen happen during all this. If you just cynically sit back thinking there is nothing to do, you not only allow the haters to win, you abet them.

I know its frustrating and I sympathize, but I'm not without suggestions. Check out NYC's link to an article outlining Miami's "tapegate" in 2006 and compares how it was handled vs the 2007 handling of "cameraplacementgate". It also lays out what actually happened to get the Pats punished and clearly shows how it doesn't come close to being "cheating". I suggest everyone have that link at hand to make you point when you have to deal with haters

I know you'll never change the minds of the closed mined, but not everyone is closed minded. Most are merely ignorant of the facts, and until now it just took to damned long to explain it properly and usually not as well as this guy does.

So now if you have to deal with someone who is just deluded, you can quickly give him the means to education himself and hope for the best. You won't convince everyone, but you will change some minds and that's all you can do.

Fixit said:

If this all holds up, there's no doubt that this will be the sweetest sports championship of my life, surpassing the '04 Sox and '01 Pats.

The comeback against Baltimore, the subsequent Harbaugh whinefest, the beatdowns of Indy (twice) and Denver earlier on, the Sherman **** talk and priceless reaction gif, the Deflategate ********, the idiots coming out of the woodwork, Brunell's tears ... capped off by a ring and a lot of egg on a lot of faces?

Hard to top that.

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Don't forget that hypocrite Rice confessing to cheating w/stickum! (still the best WR ever, should have just kept his nose out of this business, and not be holier than thou)

patfanken said:

Sadly that might very well be true, DI. However that doesn't mean you don't keep fighting. If you do there's a chance to change minds. I've seen happen during all this. If you just cynically sit back thinking there is nothing to do, you not only allow the haters to win, you abet them.

I know its frustrating and I sympathize, but I'm not without suggestions. Check out NYC's link to an article outlining Miami's "tapegate" in 2006 and compares how it was handled vs the 2007 handling of "cameraplacementgate". It also lays out what actually happened to get the Pats punished and clearly shows how it doesn't come close to being "cheating". I suggest everyone have that link at hand to make you point when you have to deal with haters

I know you'll never change the minds of the closed mined, but not everyone is closed minded. Most are merely ignorant of the facts, and until now it just took to damned long to explain it properly and not as well as this guy does.

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Here's a comment from another forum, after the Schefter report came out:

we'll never know what really happened, it will all be swept under the rug like Spygate, and everyone will forget this was even a thing

the NFL is too big ... cheating is too much of a black eye ... whether or not the Pats actually cheated won't matter, we'll never know the real story

oh well

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http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showpost.php?p=11334202&postcount=2781

That's what we're up against.

smurfalarm said:

I don't think there is any direct evidence Kensil is necessarily the one doing the leaking here. Supposedly three separate sources "confirmed" the first story, and assuming Schefter is correct, that story wasn't technically factually incorrect but was so incredibly misleading about the culprit who introduced the unauthorized ball that it had to be either a grossly incompetent misinterpretation of facts or a deliberate attempt to malign the Patriots. That means one of two possibilities: either the leaks got completely misreported by an incompetent or unethical reporter who managed to spin information that factually might exculpate the Patriots as a story that seems to incriminate the Patriots, or there is a deliberate smear campaign against the Patriots that includes at least three league sources who have inside access to the ongoing league investigation. Either of those possibilities is really disheartening, isn't it?

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Three other sources did not confirm the story they confirmed McNally was employed

This is from Mike Freeman earlier today (I don't know if anyone posted this):

I continue to hear Wells wrapping up investigation into Deflategate. Yet he hasn't interviewed Belichick or Brady. So, anyway, thanks Obama.

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https://twitter.com/mikefreemanNFL/status/568114882408615937

If this is true, I think the league and maybe the Colts may have more to fear than the Patriots. If the Wells investigation closes without interviewing Brady and Belichick, it is clear that Ted Wells firmly believes the Pats are innocent. And if he does, he might be turning his attention elsewhere based on recent developments.

patfanken said:

Shmess, I never disagreed with anything you've written, and I love your optimism, but nothing you've written prove the Pats INNOCENT, just not guilty...and that's not a bad thing.....to start..

The perception of the Pats as cheaters will remain unless or until Kensil is fired for his part in a smear campaign, the Colts, Grigson and Irsay are punished because they were willing accomplices, ESPN issues a public apology for its poor journalism and their part in this passion play, AND Roger Goodel issues his apologies as well.. THEN, and only then would the stink of "deflategate" truly be removed.

BTW- have you checked out NYC's post of an article that lays out perfectly the whole "Camerplacegate" saga, and how clearly the Pats weren't cheating. It should be on everyone here's favorites so they can immediately link to any haters they encounter. Its really that well laid out.

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Face it most of that will never happen. What probably will happen though is the patriots continuing to kick the colts butts and running up the score, and Goodell being let go the first chance B Kraft has to do it.

AndyJohnson said:

Three other sources did not confirm the story they confirmed McNally was employed

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This is the actual wording in the article:

Three sources said that McNally has worked Patriots games for a decade, and has been in charge of the officials' locker room at Gillette Stadium since at least 2008. In the first half of the AFC Championship Game, the sources said, McNally tried to give the unapproved football to an alternate official who was in charge of the special-teams footballs. Those footballs are known as "kicking balls" or "K balls."

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I take that to mean that three sources said that McNally was responsible for the unapproved football.

Rob0729 said:

They don't even mention the most important part of the story that the unapproved football was given to Jim McNally by a NFL employee stealing footballs to sell.

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Exactly. And this fits the meme we have seen on the part of the media to report half-truths and innuendo which casts a shadow of doubt over the Patriots.

AndyJohnson said:

Three other sources did not confirm the story they confirmed McNally was employed

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Thanks, I forgot to address that part of it.

My guess is someone told Naqi this three weeks ago (possibly Kensil) and she has been investigating it without speaking to them again.

Rob0729 said:

This is from Mike Freeman earlier today (I don't know if anyone posted this):



https://twitter.com/mikefreemanNFL/status/568114882408615937

If this is true, I think the league and maybe the Colts may have more to fear than the Patriots. If the Wells investigation closes without interviewing Brady and Belichick, it is clear that Ted Wells firmly believes the Pats are innocent. And if he does, he might be turning his attention elsewhere based on recent developments.

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Well i hope thats whats happening, the focus is on Greg and Irsey.

Rob0729 said:

This is from Mike Freeman earlier today (I don't know if anyone posted this):



https://twitter.com/mikefreemanNFL/status/568114882408615937

If this is true, I think the league and maybe the Colts may have more to fear than the Patriots. If the Wells investigation closes without interviewing Brady and Belichick, it is clear that Ted Wells firmly believes the Pats are innocent. And if he does, he might be turning his attention elsewhere based on recent developments.

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If true.. (sore subject with me too)

I have to say it makes an incredible talking/counter point -Brady, Belichick and the Patriots were so off the investigation's radar from the very beginning that Wells didnt bother interviewing them.

That's amazing.

EDIT :

reflexblue said:

Well i hope thats whats happening, the focus is on Greg and Irsey.

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And plausibly Kensil as well.

smurfalarm said:

This is the actual wording in the article:



I take that to mean that three sources said that McNally was responsible for the unapproved football.

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We don't know that. We do not know what Naqi asked these other people. Did she could have just asked if McNally was in charge of giving the balls to the ref. They may not have confirmed the fact that one of the balls was unapproved.

Deus Irae said:

Here's a comment from another forum, after the Schefter report came out:



http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showpost.php?p=11334202&postcount=2781

That's what we're up against.

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Yeah, I've read similar takes I'm always stunned by how so many non-Pats fans look at Goodell as a protector of the Pats, while ALL Pats fans see Goodell as the archenemy and the cause of all our problems. But that's just some views. I've also seen people coming around (at least on deflategate), saying Goodell needs to apologize to Kraft.

BTW - Have you checked out NYC's link yet. Let me know what you think?

patfanken said:

Shmess, I never disagreed with anything you've written, and I love your optimism, but nothing you've written prove the Pats INNOCENT, just not guilty...and that's not a bad thing.....to start..

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Ken, with everything in this saga, it takes baby steps.

The "not guilty" part is a beginning.

The Schefter and Freeman tweets hint that Wells may have already checked that off his list and is turning in another direction - - THAT is what we are looking for. Obviously, Schefter's reporting today was with information he had been squirreling for awhile - - there is too much detail about "Employees #1, 2 and 3" for it to have been all told and confirmed to him in the hours immediately after Naqi's report.

To me, all this points to Wells heading for other directions in the affair. We now have culpability in the handling of the K-balls - - culpability carried out by a person or persons under Mike Kensil's supervision, with Mike kensil knowing about Employee #1's past history. This is a pomegranite that is opening.

Jamie Collins ate all the cupcakes.

patfanken said:

Yeah, I've read similar takes I'm always stunned by how so many non-Pats fans look at Goodell as a protector of the Pats, while ALL Pats fans see Goodell as the archenemy and the cause of all our problems. But that's just some views. I've also seen people coming around (at least on deflategate), saying Goodell needs to apologize to Kraft.

BTW - Have you checked out NYC's link yet. Let me know what you think?

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I didn't see the link.

SVN said:

I agree but the league is going to save face that these two stories are unrelated.

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They are NOT unrelated.

Both stories have a common thread - - Mike Kensil overseer.

Remember, the Naqi report states that alternate official Yette was handed a non-authorized K-ball by McNally. Yette then immediately notifies Kensil who comes down and at halftime inspects the Patriots footballs and finds 11 are under-inflated. This is proof that the K-ball story and the Deflategate story are intrinsically linked.

Here is Naqi stating they ARE related - - hear between 2:55-3:15
http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_...e-gave-unapproved-ball-official-lines-reports

Was Yette the only one who called up to Kensil in his box in the first half about football supplies - - or was he the SECOND to do so, along with what was earlier reported to be Grigson after the DQwell Jackson interception?

Seriously - - HOLY CRAP!


If it turns out that Kensil initiated the investigation while greenlighting a recidivist football selling official to work the very AFCCG game when he had notified reservations with the officials crew and the Colts sideline regarding the handling of footballs, then this is all going to blow up farther against the NFL.

RayClay said:

Jamie Collins ate all the cupcakes.

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...and then he took an arrow to the knee? ???

SVN said:

PFT's version of crap
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...ired-employee-who-sold-deflategate-footballs/
"This is, of course, a totally separate matter from the question of whether the Patriots deflated footballs in violation of league rules. But it’s relevant to Deflategate in that it shows just how little oversight there is on the footballs that are used on the field. So little oversight that it would be easy for a team to tamper with footballs — and hard for the league to conduct an investigation after the fact."

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Hey Florio, "So little oversight that it would be easy for NFL Officials to tamper with footballs"

Fixed it for ya.