The Published Wells Report.

Ohh BTW everyone is pretending that Brady lied about knowing McNally, seems pretty clear to me that he only spoke with Jastremski...so how exactly does this mean Brady lied???

OhExaulted1 said:

If you read the first paragraph, I find something very strange and disconcerning. They measured 11 of the Patriots balls (apperantly the only one NOT measured was the intercepted ball), but only measured 4 of the Colts balls.

Why would you only measure 4 balls from the opposing team?

Maybe because it was a setup?

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NFL claims that they ran out of time and the 2nd half was starting.

But according to wells apparently a guy can deflate 12 balls in 1:40 but two refs can't measure 23 balls in 12-15 minutes.

Those texts messages could be easily explained. McNally makes claim that the refs inflated a game ball to 16 psi (funny how no one is talking about another issue with an NFL employee messing with game balls). Brady finds out, gets pissed at McNally for, in Toms opinion, not dong his job. So maybe a conversation go likes this.

Tom: "McNally, what the F*** happened to the balls in yesterdays game? They were way overflated?"
McNally: "Tom, the refs found out in the pregame check some of the balls we underinflated, so they overinflated them, but never re-checked them."
Tom: "And you let them? You know I like the balls a certain way. Do your bleeping job!"
McNally: "What am I supposed to do if the refs inflate the balls?"
Tom: "I don't give a bleep. Get them to the way I like it. (12.5 psi). Bring a needle if you have to, to get them right". (by that meaning do it in the presence of the refs). Hence the "bring a needle" joke.

That's obviously just a guess on my part. But in no way does those texts ever say the McNally says Tom wants him to deflate the balls after he leaves the refs room.

Interception said:

McNally says "don't worry... I'm not going to ESPN... Yet."

Now why would he threaten something like that if they were doing nothing illegal?

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It's called a joke.

JMC00 said:

It gave evidence that this whole thing was a farce and a set-up

If Brady has people deflating balls how the hell did they get to 16 lbs?

If Brady likes them under 12.5 why is Jastremski saying they are supposed to be at 13 lbs? Wouldn't that insinuate that Brady likes them at 13.

How come there isn't an investigation into the Colts seeing is how 3 of the 4 balls checked were under.

How come the refs only checked 4 of the Colts balls because according to Wells 1:40 is more than enough time to deflate 12 footballs. Then 12-15 minutes should have been more than enough time to check 24 balls twice.

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Because we were never going to get a fair shake with this, which is what some of us said from day one. It wasn't a negative perception--it was the truth.

There was never any doubt that things were going to be swayed, which is what I was trying to say in my response to you re: the possible suspension of Brady.

Interception said:

McNally says "don't worry... I'm not going to ESPN... Yet."

Now why would he threaten something like that if they were doing nothing illegal?

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A joke? You can't take texts out of context. No one knows. I'd guess it's a joke, so much as making an accusation against the Pats will blow up the media, especially if it's from the equipment guy. He's probably joking about not getting enough credit for what he does and deals with. Coworkers and I have made plenty of comments about going to the state about ****ty work conditions/etc when we were pissed... but we don't, it's just venting or joking and nothing illegal.

JMC00 said:

It gave evidence that this whole thing was a farce and a set-up

If Brady has people deflating balls how the hell did they get to 16 lbs?

If Brady likes them under 12.5 why is Jastremski saying they are supposed to be at 13 lbs? Wouldn't that insinuate that Brady likes them at 13.

How come there isn't an investigation into the Colts seeing is how 3 of the 4 balls checked were under.

How come the refs only checked 4 of the Colts balls because according to Wells 1:40 is more than enough time to deflate 12 footballs. Then 12-15 minutes should have been more than enough time to check 24 balls twice.

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Exactly. Wells insinuates that in early 2014 McNally is already known as the "deflator", implying this is a long-running conspiracy, yet here is evidence showing "Tom was right" about the balls in the Jets game being way over-inflated, lending credence to the fact that he was just then learning about the rules of acceptable PSI and where it should be at.

I don't see how you can say McNally is deflating balls before 2014 but then provide evidence that Brady is just learning about PSI in October.

ViperGTS said:

Lol. What. A. Loser.

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Has anyone pointed out to Shannon the part where Belichick is exonerated 100 percent?

ViperGTS said:

Lol. What. A. Loser.

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Read the 3rd tweet listed: http://m.tmi.me/1f3Rvl

What a f'n hypocrite...

supafly said:

Because we were never going to get a fair shake with this, which is what some of us said from day one. It wasn't a negative perception--it was the truth.

There was never any doubt that things were going to be swayed, which is what I was trying to say in my response to you re: the possible suspension of Brady.

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Supa, I suggest you put that one on ignore. I've done it. I don't miss his nonsense. You won't either.

I read over the report briefly, I mean it's like a Tolkien book long. My main take aways:
1. The science report agrees that the pressure in the ball should have dropped, their contention is that the Pats balls dropped more than the Colts balls so that had to be done manually. In their testing they could not replicate the pressure drop differences between the two team balls. Still, the range of drop to me seems reasonable due to variation in how teams prep their balls.
2. The Wells report give full and complete credibility to any statements by the NFL officials and little to no weight to any statements by Patriots personnel. Case in point, when McNally took the balls out to the field without a referee ok and or referee walking with him McNally says he does that most of the time and two Patriot security guards corroborate his story. Yet the NFL ref says that never happens and Wells takes him at his word 100% merely saying other evidence backs up the NFL stance though they don't share that information. I mean what NFL ref is going to say "yeah, we basically break protocol every game" to an investigator? To me too much weight is given to NFL officials.
3. Wells seems very pissed off that Brady would not relent to having his phone searched. I wonder how much this added to the Brady angle of the findings. Seems Wells was very mad about this and it shows in the report.
4. The report says 1 minute 40 seconds is ample time to deflate 13 balls with a needle, stating that even after 1 practice run this was easily done. I would like to see a video of this, I don't think you can get a needle into the little black air hole that fast and get all the balls out of the bag then back in that fast. I find this suspect.

Basically it's a reasonable report that has quite a bit of extrapolation and opinion. They cannot replicate the data that they had to work with, but they also have no real evidence that the balls were manually deflated. Hence the funny "more likely than not" language.

I think the Pats balls were right at 12.5, then deflated naturally during the game as shown by the tests. I think maybe the Pats stress their balls quite a bit in order to game the pressure drop hoping their will leak more.

In the end this made no difference to anything and it's so blown out of proportion it's sad. I think it would have been better for the league to just come out and say "guys, we know a bunch of you are messing with balls and that stops right now. We are going to check so you are on notice." I am 100% sure this kind of thing goes on all the time across the NFL.

Everything I've seen in the texts leads me to believe that in October Tom was pissed about way over-inflated footballs after the Jets game and learned the rulebook, then told Jastremski to make sure they are at 12.5 when they go to the refs in the future because the hard footballs suck. Jastremski then trickles that information down to McNally who is the one really doing most of the work on it. McNally is grumpy from time to time about having to work harder at his job to satisfy Brady and wants kickbacks for his hard work. This allows for references to gifts, needles, pumps, etc...

Nowhere in here does it show that Brady really has any kind of contact with McNally outside of incidental communication in person from time to time.

i find all of this amusing

if they do make him sit a couple games, then all of us true patriot fans need to rally behind jimmy garoppolo

If brady is suspended even 1 practice then I'm out for the season.

I can't take the product seriously if that happened.

JMC00 said:

NFL claims that they ran out of time and the 2nd half was starting.

But according to wells apparently a guy can deflate 12 balls in 1:40 but two refs can't measure 23 balls in 12-15 minutes.

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Ross12 said:

Exactly. Wells insinuates that in early 2014 McNally is already known as the "deflator", implying this is a long-running conspiracy, yet here is evidence showing "Tom was right" about the balls in the Jets game being way over-inflated, lending credence to the fact that he was just then learning about the rules of acceptable PSI and where it should be at.

I don't see how you can say McNally is deflating balls before 2014 but then provide evidence that Brady is just learning about PSI in October.

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I make no claims of objectivity, but these - along with the fact that the Colts balls didn't lose as much pressure as the report itself indicates they should - are serious gaps in the narrative. No matter how alarming the texts appear to be, if you cannot account for these discrepancies you have no business levying any punishment. If the NFL has satisfactory explanations, then I've have to begrudgingly accept that Tom did have a hand in it....

Which wouldn't alter my opinion that the whole thing is nonsense, but it is what it is.

scott99 said:

One major thing is missing from the Wells Report, and that is the word "proof". His report is all based on circumstantial evidence and opinion. He hasn't proven that the Pats and Brady have done ANYTHING wrong. It's all written with the words probably and phrases like "more likely than not". Not one smoking gun comment.

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What's missing is the term "evidence". So far, I haven't seen any

Hahaha Doyel thinks the suspension should be 8 games.

Jlaff said:

Also consider, they were testing Patriots balls FIRST. So, they bring all the balls inside, and since they only had time to test 4 Colt's balls, because the 3rd quarter was starting, then those balls were measured last. It is entirely plausible those balls were warming up in the room for the entire time, while the Pat's balls were measured immediately after being brought inside.

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I haven't gotten to Exponent's appendix yet to see the full report from the engineering company, but the text of the report says Exponent took that into account in their calculations. You can argue about how well/correctly did so, but they knew about this issue and knew they had to adjust for it.

james87654 said:

i find all of this amusing

if they do make him sit a couple games, then all of us true patriot fans need to rally behind jimmy garoppolo

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The Brady hating troll returns, finally, after having to slink into his hole following Tom's 4th ring.

Perfect timing. So predictable.

rlcarr said:

Welp. There goes reading any football-related site other than here or the Planet for the next year.

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Strokes should spike today - I look at some of the other football forums and this is what I see:



One might think this is a reaction to the 1919 BlackSox Scandal.