Grigson says they cried to the NFL the week leading up

Sicilian said:

Here's an alternative scenario:

1) Harbaugh tips off the Pagano about underinflated footballs, either because he doesn't understand weather or they want to intentionally make a bad situation for the Patriots.

2) Grigson reports it to the NFL. The NFL says, "Not a big deal, but we'll keep an eye on it."

3) The craziness with the league employee happens, he's caught stealing a football, there's some confusion about the kicking balls, and an investigation begins into THAT situation.

4) Grigson, assuming this investigation is about the underinflated footballs, tells Bob Kravitz that the Patriots are being investigated.

5) The media hysteria ensues, which forces the NFL to actually look into that or they appear to be ignoring what the masses has made into a big deal.

Unfortunately for the NFL, they never intended to look into the inflation of the footballs because for 8 years no one has ever cared. So they have no pre-game data, no halftime data, and have to hire Ted Wells to come up with SOMETHING so they don't look like idiots. Too late.

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To me, this also puts part of Mortensen's original report in a better context. His source was allegedly "angry" and "distraught" about an issue with the footballs in that game. I always thought it was odd that someone could be distraught about the air pressure in a football. It would make more sense if the source was talking about the league employee who had been stealing charitable items and was going to be fired in the near future.

Maybe Mortensen wasn't aware that there were 2 different issues or maybe his source was speaking in general about both events.

sb1 said:

And the NFL lied saying it wasn't a sting operation.

Enough is enough. Time to #FireGoodell

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It's all these leaks that are dragging out the investigation. Now they have to rewrite the section explaining "in no way was there any sort of sting investigation being undertaken by the NFL or anyone from the league offices..."

It was a rogue sting operation unknown to Goodell.
Therefore he can fire Kensil for going rogue and not admitting it and discipline the Colts for besmirching the league's premiere team.

A sting they didn't tell the officials about? Didn't do anything about? And under their watchful eye they missed a guy stealing balls until a ref mentioned it?

Something fishy here. Looks more like there was no sting, but somebody wants us to believe there was.

A PFT Comment (made me laugh out loud):

1. weepingjebus says:Feb 19, 2015 3:20 PM
   So, to recap, the Colts and the league set a trap for the Patriots, ended up catching Jerry Rice and an NFL game ball fraud ring instead. It reminds me of Wile E. Coyote, super genius, strapping himself onto a rocket and just sort of hoping for the best.
   
   
   

I don't think it was a sting operation -- the league just didn't care until the Colts cried about it during game time. If at first you don't succeed, cry cry again.

PatsWickedPissah said:

It was a rogue sting operation unknown to Goodell.
Therefore he can fire Kensil for going rogue and not admitting it and discipline the Colts for besmirching the league's premiere team.

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What I would like to know is whether or not Kensil or Grigson violated some NFL bylaws; I can't imagine that the correct protocol for logging a complaint is setting up a secret sting-operation between a team's GM and a like-minded (dumb) rogue league official, with both of them going into the game with the same secret plan and not informing anyone in the NFL, including the commissioner and the officials. There must be a very clear and concise reporting structure on rules violations, and I'm quite sure I've seen it come up time and time again with a team officially submitting a complaint to the NFL.

For one, I think that the Colts have in a way stolen the Patriots property by taking their football; I'm not sure exactly how it usually works; I mean, I know guys on defense can keep the ball sometimes, but it sure seems like the Colts took the Patriots' football. You may say it is a petty argument, but why not just let someone from the NFL intervene immediately, such as a game official, if that is your concern? At the very least, they are now tampering with the very evidence that they are trying to submit as proof. It would be like a defense attorney, unsupervised, going into the evidence bin to get the murder weapon that hasn't yet been examined. Word is they had it for quite some time.

I also wonder if Kensil had any authority whatsoever to "check" on the footballs personally. The story contradicts itself; first it was the refs, now it is Kensil. Since Kensil is instrumental in the sting operation and will now look bad if the balls are fine, he is automatically biased, regardless of whether or not he loves or hates the Patriots. Why not record the results? How employees does the NFL have? Why not bring members from both organizations to objectively confirm the results? Again, we have a rogue guy who is clearly putting his reputation on the line by trying to make a big, unprecedented, likely outside-the-protocol type of bust, and it sounds more and more like he is feeding the media the measurements of the balls based on what he "remembers."

If Grigson is found to have done something underhanded in the Wells Report, I think his punishment should be a lifetime contract with the Colts. There may not be a worse GM in the league. I mean other than drafting Andrew Luck which was a no brainer, he has thrown away all his first round draft picks. His other two first round draft picks were healthy scratches for the AFCCG in Trent Richardson (via trading a first rounder) and Bjoern Werner.

Perhaps the most interesting move here is the Patriots. The Patriots, outside of their strong denials of any wrongdoing have not done or said anything publicly (other than SB media commitments). Factions of the media, the NFL and NFL industry employees are cannibalising one another.

Excellent.

Douchebag tanguay still on the "pats did it" train.

JMC00 said:

Douchebag tanguay on still on the "pats did it" train.

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Felger also still hopeful

Deflategate dated back in that November game in Indianapolis, why is this news?

libra957 said:

Deflategate dated back in that November game in Indianapolis, why is this news?

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Because the Colts have literally said both things. That they first noticed in November and that they first noticed during the game. And the NFL has outright said they knew nothing prior to the game.

It's telling that the Colts cannot keep their story straight and continue to be caught in lies while the Patriots have been nothing but forthcoming and outright about everything they've said. But somehow it's only the Pats under suspicion. F**k this.

Simply put:

Grigson and the Colts should be fined by the league immediately for commenting on an open investigation that is supposed to be kept in house. (I would imagine that there is some bylaw covering this.)

Hey Stupid : It's called "No Comment !!!"

Roger - DO YOUR JOB. Announce the fine !!

Koma said:

To me, this also puts part of Mortensen's original report in a better context. His source was allegedly "angry" and "distraught" about an issue with the footballs in that game. I always thought it was odd that someone could be distraught about the air pressure in a football. It would make more sense if the source was talking about the league employee who had been stealing charitable items and was going to be fired in the near future.

Maybe Mortensen wasn't aware that there were 2 different issues or maybe his source was speaking in general about both events.

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Mortenson's clear implication though was that the League was angry and distraught with the Patriots and their cheating ways.

Here's my theory.

Wells: So you were informed of one of your officials may be stealing balls, then what did you do?

Kinsey: Took all the Patriot balls and measured the pressure.

Wells: That doesn't make any sense. Shouldn't you investigate your officials? You already had evidence he took ball.

Kinsey: I had been informed the Patriots were tampering with balls so I figured it was them, and that's what I checked first.

Wells: You had been informed? But you told nobody? None of the officials knew about the investigation into deflated balls. You should have been checking pre game, not half time.

Kinsey: Grigson told me like last week, so I totally planned on investigating them.

Wells: So despite knowing about Miller's shady dealings, and despite being informed by the ref he took a ball you thought the Patriots were behind it? This excuse sounds ad hoc, like you wanted to deflect blame onto the Patriots so the ball mishandling didn't get blamed on you for hiring Miller. The deflation excuse makes no sense. You knew they could be deflating footballs, but told nobody, and checked nothing pregame. And now at half time you check? Without even knowing what the pressure should read. Will Grigson back up this excuse that you were planning on investigating the Patriots the whole time, and it's not something you invented when Miller was busted? If not, it looks like a cover up for your incompetence of hiring Miller.

Kinsey on Phone with Grigson later: Hey buddy, say you informed me about deflated balls last week, I need a cover to explain why I investigated the Patriots instead of Miller. I'm going to say I had information they might have been the ones messing with the balls.

JMC00 said:

Douchebag tanguay still on the "pats did it" train.

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He still maintains that the Mortensen report of 11 balls being 2 PSI under the limit is the only report he believes.

Tanguay is an idiot though. Not because of what he "believes", but that he thinks anti-Patriots persona he has created is going to help his career. All these guys who do the contrarian personas don't realize that there is a fine line between contrarians people love to hate and contrarians people just hate. Even guys who are successful at it don't have a long shelf life.

Granted Tanguay was a horrible broadcaster before he adopted this contrarian persona. I have never seen someone get so far with just a great radio/TV voice and nothing else going for him as Tanguay has. He should have peaked at a voice over announcer.

JMC00 said:

Douchebag tanguay still on the "pats did it" train.

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Of course he does. He's Tanguay.

Rob0729 said:

He still maintains that the Mortensen report of 11 balls being 2 PSI under the limit is the only report he believes.

Tanguay is an idiot though. Not because of what he "believes", but that he thinks anti-Patriots persona he has created is going to help his career. All these guys who do the contrarian personas don't realize that there is a fine line between contrarians people love to hate and contrarians people just hate. Even guys who are successful at it don't have a long shelf life.

Granted Tanguay was a horrible broadcaster before he adopted this contrarian persona. I have never seen someone get so far with just a great radio/TV voice and nothing else going for him as Tanguay has. He should have peaked at a voice over announcer.

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Part of the reason why he thinks it is probably because his ass got canned from the pre and post Pats game shows. Which was more than likely because his " this team is no good and will go 1-5 in the 6 game stretch" rants he did every chance he got.

Rob0729 said:

He still maintains that the Mortensen report of 11 balls being 2 PSI under the limit is the only report he believes.

Tanguay is an idiot though. Not because of what he "believes", but that he thinks anti-Patriots persona he has created is going to help his career. All these guys who do the contrarian personas don't realize that there is a fine line between contrarians people love to hate and contrarians people just hate. Even guys who are successful at it don't have a long shelf life.

Granted Tanguay was a horrible broadcaster before he adopted this contrarian persona. I have never seen someone get so far with just a great radio/TV voice and nothing else going for him as Tanguay has. He should have peaked at a voice over announcer.

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Great head of hair, also. Of course, that's the expected result of having a head full of fertilizer.