Seriously...why is it taking so long?

tom.kordis said:

"... billable hours ..."
@ (my guess) $750 per.

Any competent engineer in the country would have had the answer in 5 minutes, and EXPERIMENTAL PROOF, in 2 days. Tops.

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If they are only investigating how the balls were under yes but if they are investigating how the whole sting came to pass, how the patriots ball in the Colts possession was so much more under than the others (if true) then there is a great deal to look at beyond a simple 8th grade science experiment and none of it involves the Patriots. Perhaps this is why not chat with Brady or Belichick because the investigation has moved beyond the naturally occurring PSI drop. The only team which should be assured of sanctions is the Packers because Rodgers said he sends balls in intentionally over-inflated and they get through. This is a willful violation of the rules.

I imagine there's many layers here that have to be peeled back. I don't think this is a simple did they or didn't they deflate balls, it's what prompted this in the first place, what is Kensil's role in this and Grigson. Like Collinsworth said the NFL opened a can of worms and they're probably finding a lot of worms.

It is taking so long, because the NFL wants to wait for bigger news that will overshadow its lack of findings in this investigation.. in the midst of some bigger NFL or even national news the findings will be released on page 3.c of your local paper...

Then ESPN and the rest of the mediots can continue their relentless diatribe about cheating or other such nonsense..

Either that or they need to find something, anything so they will keep digging.. and releasing snippets of info to lessen their ineptitude..

flasox27 said:

I hope you are right but doubt it. Goodell can not afford another disaster like Ricegate and the whole witch hunt including the leaks was created to allow him to act like a big man in punishing the evil Pats. If he lets the Pats off, the media which he has stirred will backfire against him.

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There is going to have to be evidence for you to be right. If this investigator is indeed independent, he isn't going to sit quietly while Goodell frames the Pats, nor is Kraft going to allow penalties without evidence presented to him.
Now we may not see it, but if Kraft allows Goodell to punish his team I'm going to believe it exists.
This whole deal is going to tell us a lot about the character of some people involved.

phil112 said:

There is going to have to be evidence for you to be right. If this investigator is indeed independent, he isn't going to sit quietly while Goodell frames the Pats, nor is Kraft going to allow penalties without evidence presented to him.
Now we may not see it, but if Kraft allows Goodell to punish his team I'm going to believe it exists.
This whole deal is going to tell us a lot about the character of some people involved.

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The owners including Kraft gave Goodell powers to determine punishment for teams that violate rules in his opinion. His decision does not have to be based on facts. I personally think that the investigator is working for Goodell's NFL and cannot be considered independent like Tagliabue was in the New Orleans investigation. His primary function now is to protect the NFL regardless of their incompetence and that includes a finding of something against the Patriots. Keep in mind that this whole matter could have been resolved in 24 hours based on the scientific explanation and it is still going on with no resolution in sight. While Kraft is no longer bosom buddies with Goodell, it is about eight years too late to protect the reputation of the Patriots which his unflinching support of the POS allowed to be ruined.

Mike Freeman said Wells was wrapping up his investigation but had not interviewed BB/Brady yet. Maybe Belichick told the league he's busy trying to put together a team for 2015 and to go screw until after free agency. Brady might also still be in Brazil or wherever he jet sets to once the season ends. While those guys might honestly be inconsequential to the investigation at this point given what Wells hopefully has learned, I would still think due diligence requires them to be investigated. At least for the league to appease the mob and look like they covered their bases.

BradyManny said:

Mike Freeman said Wells was wrapping up his investigation but had not interviewed BB/Brady yet. Maybe Belichick told the league he's busy trying to put together a team for 2015 and to go screw until after free agency. Brady might also still be in Brazil or wherever he jet sets to once the season ends. While those guys might honestly be inconsequential to the investigation at this point given what Wells hopefully has learned, I would still think due diligence requires them to be investigated. At least for the league to appease the mob and look like they covered their bases.

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They were both in NE and Arizona for the first 3 weeks of the investigation.

"Being busy" is not an impediment to the NFL interviewing someone prepping or just after a SB - - just ask BB and the staff who were interviewed by the league about the false Tomase story on the eve of SB 42.

Wells interviewed over 40 Patriots personnel in the first week alone. None of them were Brady or Belichick.

shmessy said:

They were both in NE and Arizona for the first 3 weeks of the investigation.

"Being busy" is not an impediment to the NFL interviewing someone prepping or just after a SB - - just ask BB and the staff who were interviewed by the league about the false Tomase story on the eve of SB 42.

Wells interviewed over 40 Patriots personnel in the first week alone. None of them were Brady or Belichick.

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Fair point - except I wondered if Belichick's experience with the Tomase story prompted him to demand the league give them time. Considering we lost a Super Bowl the next day, the league, as foolish as they are, might see the wisdom in waiting. And once the SB came and went, then it becomes hard to wrangle people.

If you are right, and if Brady/BB are truly not on the list of people to interview, then that is great news for us, and makes it seem like this investigation should be all but wrapped up as Freeman said.

Brady & BB were accessible back in Boston a short hop from NY right after the SB. So soon we forget.

Why do they need to be in the same room to be interviewed? They could just talk on the phone. This isn't CSI where they sweat them in a holding cell!

phil112 said:

There is going to have to be evidence for you to be right. If this investigator is indeed independent, he isn't going to sit quietly while Goodell frames the Pats, nor is Kraft going to allow penalties without evidence presented to him.
Now we may not see it, but if Kraft allows Goodell to punish his team I'm going to believe it exists.
This whole deal is going to tell us a lot about the character of some people involved.

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Sorry Phil but that's bullsh.t. if there is actual evidence,there is no reason whatsoever for us not to see it and I am definitely calling bullsh.t if they try to sanction the Patriots without showing absolute proof of wrongdoing.

Well, you can call BS if they did that, and you'd be right to do so, but calling BS isn't going to stop the NFL from doing it.

phil112 said:

There is going to have to be evidence for you to be right. If this investigator is indeed independent, he isn't going to sit quietly while Goodell frames the Pats, nor is Kraft going to allow penalties without evidence presented to him.
Now we may not see it, but if Kraft allows Goodell to punish his team I'm going to believe it exists.
This whole deal is going to tell us a lot about the character of some people involved.

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Goodel is not trying to frame the pats and he wishes this never occurred. His mishandling of the Rice case now causes the league to leave no stone unturned and necessitates a lengthy investigation.

rlcarr said:

Well, you can call BS if they did that, and you'd be right to do so, but calling BS isn't going to stop the NFL from doing it.

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If that happened it would be time for Patriot fans to boycott any and all NFL merchandise.

Ivan said:

If that happened it would be time for Patriot fans to boycott any and all NFL merchandise.

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One of my favorite things in life is to Boycott ********.

patman52 said:

Goodel is not trying to frame the pats and he wishes this never occurred. His mishandling of the Rice case now causes the league to leave no stone unturned and necessitates a lengthy investigation.

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Unlike some others on the forum I don't believe Goodell went into this looking to frame NE. However, he now needs to appease the self-righteous mediots that he spun up himself. So I will be in (in a realpolitik sense) completely shocked if NE is explicitly exonerated. He needs to make himself look good and that (easily) takes precedence over treating NE fairly.

As I've said before, this is what I expect (yes, it's bogus, but that's irrelevant):

• Goodell will say (and he'll intentionally say it this way) that the NFL "was unable to find evidence" that NE deflated the balls. He will not say "NE did not deflate the balls". He will not say "there is no evidence that NE deflated the balls".
• Because there was at least one ball below 12.5 PSI (and even the leaks most favorable to NE say there were multiple balls under 12.5 PSI, even if just by a little bit) he will fine NE for providing balls that were outside the 12.5-13.5 PSI spec called for in the rulebook. Might even fine as much as $25K per ball. He will say something like "this fine should not *cough* be taken to mean that we believe NE deflated the balls. However, since the ball pressure was in violation of the rules, a fine is appropriate. How the balls got out of specifications is irrelevant. The rule was violated."
• The Wells report will be loaded with verbiage about how hard they tried to find evidence but were unable to.
• The report will say that while nothing was written down, Walt Anderson certifies from his recollection that all balls were 12.5-13.5 PSI at pre-game checkin and that when he checked the balls at halftime at least one ball was under.

Again, this will be a well-tuned thing that will be neutral at first glance but will trumpet from between the lines that the league believes NE is guilty but that NE covered things up too well.

I think this is total BS, of course, but it's the corner Goodell has painted himself into.

rlcarr said:

Unlike some others on the forum I don't believe Goodell went into this looking to frame NE. However, he now needs to appease the self-righteous mediots that he spun up himself. So I will be in (in a realpolitik sense) completely shocked if NE is explicitly exonerated. He needs to make himself look good and that (easily) takes precedence over treating NE fairly.

As I've said before, this is what I expect (yes, it's bogus, but that's irrelevant):

• Goodell will say (and he'll intentionally say it this way) that the NFL "was unable to find evidence" that NE deflated the balls. He will not say "NE did not deflate the balls". He will not say "there is no evidence that NE deflated the balls".
• Because there was at least one ball below 12.5 PSI (and even the leaks most favorable to NE say there were multiple balls under 12.5 PSI, even if just by a little bit) he will fine NE for providing balls that were outside the 12.5-13.5 PSI spec called for in the rulebook. Might even fine as much as $25K per ball. He will say something like "this fine should not *cough* be taken to mean that we believe NE deflated the balls. However, since the ball pressure was in violation of the rules, a fine is appropriate. How the balls got out of specifications is irrelevant. The rule was violated."
• The Wells report will be loaded with verbiage about how hard they tried to find evidence but were unable to.
• The report will say that while nothing was written down, Walt Anderson certifies from his recollection that all balls were 12.5-13.5 PSI at pre-game checkin and that when he checked the balls at halftime at least one ball was under.

Again, this will be a well-tuned thing that will be neutral at first glance but will trumpet from between the lines that the league believes NE is guilty but that NE covered things up too well.

I think this is total BS, of course, but it's the corner Goodell has painted himself into.

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Pretty plausible prediction, rl.

rlcarr said:

• Because there was at least one ball below 12.5 PSI (and even the leaks most favorable to NE say there were multiple balls under 12.5 PSI, even if just by a little bit) he will fine NE for providing balls that were outside the 12.5-13.5 PSI spec called for in the rulebook. Might even fine as much as $25K per ball. He will say something like "this fine should not *cough* be taken to mean that we believe NE deflated the balls. However, since the ball pressure was in violation of the rules, a fine is appropriate. How the balls got out of specifications is irrelevant. The rule was violated."

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This won't happen as there are no rules for the PSI to be maintained during the game. Imagine an 18 degree game like the one vs the Ravens. That is a minimum 2 PSI drop there just from the cold from indoors to out. Blame the reffs for measuring outside of the game environment. This will not happen.

Dr Pain said:

This won't happen as there are no rules for the PSI to be maintained during the game. Imagine an 18 degree game like the one vs the Ravens. That is a minimum 2 PSI drop there just from the cold from indoors to out. Blame the reffs for measuring outside of the game environment. This will not happen.

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Keep in mind that we are talking about Goodell's NFL where science does not matter and he makes up rules as he sees fit regardless of facts to appeal to the mediots and the masses who hate the Pats. He may not have started the witch hunt but it is to his advantage to protect his fellow Jets alumnus Kensil to avoid another publicity disaster. The only miscalculation that Goodell has made is that he thought Kraft would rollover and serve up BB like he did in 2007.

Dr Pain said:

This won't happen as there are no rules for the PSI to be maintained during the game

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Says who?

One of the first rules in the actual rulebook (not some operations manual but the same Official Rulebook that says what touchdowns and catches and penalties are) says that the ball is to be between 12.5 and 13.5 PSI. Given that everything else in the rulebook applies to stuff during the game, Goodell has a not-crazy rationale to claim the pressure requirement does as well.