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

shmessy said:

So Grigson said in public today that he was "just trying to level the playing field".

Is that NOT a libelous claim?

He basically accused them of cheating at this press conference.

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No. The Pats would have to prove they lost business directly because of those comments. It's the reason a lot of libel lawsuits go nowhere.

shmessy said:

Yup.

This shows that the Colts went into that game with a PLAN.

Has anyone interviewed Andrew Luck to ask how he might feel about that strategy?

What were his numbers in that game, btw?

HOLY CRAP!!!!

12-33 for 126 yards 0TD 2 INT

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One thing of which we can be pretty sure. If the Colts were in on this (and they were, by their own admission), they were going to make damned sure that their footballs weren't under inflated. Suddenly, the idea of the Colts inflating to the high end of the spectrum becomes more of an issue, and the referees didn't write down the numbers.


What a colossal blunder in a sting.

shmessy said:

Yup.

This shows that the Colts went into that game with a PLAN.

Has anyone interviewed Andrew Luck to ask how he might feel about that strategy?

What were his numbers in that game, btw?

HOLY CRAP!!!!

12-33 for 126 yards 0TD 2 INT

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Why would Luck be upset? They were just leveling the playing field.

Could it be that for the second time in 4 years, Ryan Grigson PURPOSELY put his team in a position to lose???????

shmessy said:

Yup.

This shows that the Colts went into that game with a PLAN.

Has anyone interviewed Andrew Luck to ask how he might feel about that strategy?

What were his numbers in that game, btw?

HOLY CRAP!!!!

12-33 for 126 yards 0TD 2 INT

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@shmessy & @Rob0729 - let's not make the same mistake as our detractors and give too much credence to PSI. Luck sucked that game because our defensive players played well. Same as the last several times he's played us.

This is looking so so bad for so many people... How can people be so messed up ? In theory, we are talking about successful people in high positions. Why did they let this get to the point we are at now ? Not one single person in the league office or the Colt's offices said "guys, this is gonna be a problem, cause..." ?!?

BradyManny said:

@shmessy & @Rob0729 - let's not make the same mistake as our detractors and give too much credence to PSI. Luck sucked that game because our defensive players played well. Same as the last several times he's played us.

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Has he ever gone 12-33 for 126 yards with 0 TD and 2 INT?

Tell me.

Mike Petraglia ‏@Trags 5m5 minutes ago
@PhilAPerry @tomecurran Very interesting that Dean Blandino insisted at Super Bowl that he wasn't aware of any complaints from Colts

shmessy said:

So:

The Colts went INTO the AFCCG with a plan.

Someone within the Colts contacts Kravitz after the game to give him the scoop that the Patriots would be investigated by the league.

The league is going to turn up NOTHING on the Patriots.

Can someone tell me HOW IN THE WORLD this is not a slanderous action by the Indianapolis Colts?

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I'm sure I could if I was Goodell or Kensil.

archstanton543 said:

No. The Pats would have to prove they lost business directly because of those comments. It's the reason a lot of libel lawsuits go nowhere.

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There is that one news guy that put out the article I'm a Patriots fan -- shame on me

Sounded more convincing he'd never buy Patriots merch for him or his kids again before he edited it the night before the Super Bowl.

Mike Kensil, Ryan Grigson, Roger Goodell. I would call them the 3 Stooges, but I wouldn't want to disparage Moe, Curly, & Shemp Howard, nor porcupine Larry Fine. When ever has there been such ado about air, AIR? Lots of disgruntled haters and people jealous of NEP success, who would stoop to any level to try to diminish the New England Patriots. Lots of very "little people" running around.....

I was positive after yesterdays report that we wouldn't hear anything else. Boy how wrong I was (and gladly so). Some more quick observations:

• Grigson is doing damage control. His name is going to show up on the Wells Report. He knows this. He is trying to get this information out there so that they won't be questioned later.
• If Grigson is doing this, this strengthens the opinion that Wells is no longer investigating the Patriots, but the NFL and the Colts.
• Did they overinflate their own footballs on purpose? All signs point to yes.
• If they did, you intentionally sabotaged your own star QB and team from a possible Super Bowl birth in order to catch the Patriots? Are you serious with this? Luck needs some questions answered by his own organization.
• The Colts have excellent culture and leadership. 7 arrests in the last year and a drug addict owner. Real classy.
• The league did not inform the Patriots that the K-1 ball would be removed from play. Isn't that SOP? If it's not then why wouldn't it be?
• The Patriots raised the issue of the improper ball. Why in God's name would the Patriots raise the issue if they had under-inflated their own footballs?
• I'm positive Goodell had no idea about any of this, but this shows his complete lack of competence.
• Goodell could have also just stopped this with something simple. No, he had to let it ride out. Now look at what happened.
• How are the owners going to be able to trust him if his employees are trying to frame a team?
• I knew the Colts were behind this and it's starting to come out. Kensil, Grigson, the Colts, all of them. They will all go down for this.
• If it's going where we all think it's going, the league and the sports media owe an apology to Kraft, Belichick, Brady, McNally, the Patriots players, the Patriots organization, and their fans.
• The NFL needs to apologize to it's fans for the gross incompetence they have shown in the past year.

shmessy said:

Has he ever gone 12-33 for 126 yards with 0 TD and 2 INT?

Tell me.

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Maybe not, but I think it undermines our own arguments and takes credit away from our players to insinuate his poor performance was b/c his balls were too inflated.

Our detractors have tried to trivialize our accomplishments and diminish what our players have done on the field by suggesting ball inflection impacts the game far, far, far more than it does. This whole mess and Goodell's misguided attempt to secure the integrity of the game has completely overshadowed what the players that play the game do out there. We shouldn't make that mistake.

The import of Grigson's comments and the 'fact' that balls were tested DURING THE GAME and found to be unacceptable:

NFL either ran a sting or ignored fair warning

If it's the latter, the NFL clearly screwed up.

If it's the former, the NFL KNOWINGLY ALLOWED for the possibility that the "integrity of the game" would be compromised in order to catch the Patriots in a bad act.

Either way, Rodger's got to go.

memento said:

There is that one news guy that put out the article I'm a Patriots fan -- shame on me

Sounded more convincing he'd never buy Patriots merch for him or his kids again before he edited it the night before the Super Bowl.

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The way it works is lets say you say something awful about me in the newspaper but it isn't true. Then I lose standing in my field even though I shouldn't have. If I go to get a job or contract but get denied that job/contract because of your false statements, I'd win the suit but I'd have to prove definitely that I would have lost income based solely on my tarnished reputation. Like I said, libel cases are really hard to win.

This is all shaping up like the end of the first karate kid.

Daniel is in the Semi-finals, and hes going up against one of the cobra Kai kids and the kid is all "I can take him, woooo yeah johnny yeaaaah!" and then his sensei pulls him aside and tells him to injure him, and the kid is like "why I can beat him, why dq myself" to embrass him!!! the crazy sensei shouts, and so he does, and well we all know how that ended.

Interesting tidbit from Bruce Allen at BSMW about ESPN internal reaction:

Bruce Allen said:

...then Adam Schefter unexpectedly called into the program and dropped a bomb, which essentially cleared McNally within 30 seconds.

After that, ESPN went into crisis mode. An internal alert went out directing all personnel that they were “holding off further reporting [on this story] temporarily until we resolve a few issues.” Despite Schefter’s report, the story was not updated on any ESPN site for a number of hours. The network later also directed staff to not attach the tag “deflategate” in rundowns on the story, preferring to use “NFL Ball” instead.

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So, we're at the point where the Pats are pretty much the only ones who haven't clearly lied/issued inconsistent statements/been sanctimonious douchebags.

I like it.

Does anyone with NFL game rewind have a copy of the all-22? I'd be real curious to see what the Colts did with that intercepted ball.

Also be real curious to watch their ball boys during the course of the game.