The Published Wells Report.

Ivan said:

Is there anything in the Wells Report that indicates that Brady asked the ball attendants to get him balls below 12.5?

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Nope. The only talk of air pressure comes from the two boneheads speaking about the ball(s) from the Jets home game. Ball(s) measured 16 psi day after the game, which implies the refs over inflated the balls by a large amount. They mention that the ball(s) should be 13 psi. 13 psi being completely legal. You can probably guess why this bit is ignored though.

From Jeff Howe's piece


For starters, referee Walt Anderson, who worked the AFC Championship Game between the Patriots and Colts, was revered by Wells for his attention to detail during his preparation for each game.

“Anderson is one of the few referees who personally tests the inflation levels of game balls prior to the game, rather than delegating that responsibility to another member of his officiating crew,” the report stated.

So, it sounds like most refs don’t handle these checks, which validates the belief there is no universal system in place to measure the air pressure. Also, for such a diligent referee, Anderson doesn’t remember whether he tested the Patriots or Colts footballs first, and Anderson couldn’t recall if he properly initialed kicking ball No. 1 prior to the game.

Also, though Anderson didn’t record the pressure measurements before the game, he claimed to remember all but two of the Patriots’ balls were at least 12.5 psi, and “most of the Colts game balls tested by Anderson prior to the game measured 13.0 or 13.1 psi, although one or two footballs may have registered 12.8 or 12.9 psi.”

Most? One or two? May have? That was apparently good enough for Wells.

Walt sounds senile....

supafly said:

I don't want to make any assumptions, but the fact that you brought up the last step (Judge Doty) of the appeals process may suggest that you're expecting something of a substantial punishment? Is this true?

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I don't know what they'll come up with. Putting myself in Brady's shoes, though, I don't see any reason not to take this all the way to Doty, if there's a suspension involved. Personally, I'd take it all the way even over a fine, but I can see some valid reasons why Brady might not want to go that far.

Sticky Caulk said:

Nope. The only talk of air pressure comes form the two boneheads speaking about the ball(s) from the Jets home game. Ball(s) measured 16 psi day after the game, which implies the refs over inflated the balls by a large amount. They mention that the ball(s) should be 13 psi. 13 psi being completely legal. You can probably guess why this bit is ignored though.

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To me at least that's the salient point. The interviews are in the barn and Wells can't cite any evidenceof any kind circumstantial or otherwise that Brady even wanted the balls lower than 12.5. And that's all that matters. There plenty of discussion he wants them 12.5, but nothing that says he wants them below that.

Brewskies said:

Proves what? Thanks. For the idiot remark. How many games will he be suspended for his actions? Did you read the text messages?

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I read the text messages, over and over again, considering the context. It was the after a home game where the refs had way over inflated the ball. They mentioned they wanted the ball at 13 psi. Brady is on record for being pissed about that situation. The text about "stress" makes complete sense in how demanding Brady is about getting the balls how he wants them pregame (he's a control freak) and then deal with his temper when the refs alter the balls. If they were tampering with the balls why would the play with 16 PSI balls during a home game? Are we supposed to just assume that must have started after this game? The texts don't suggest that anyone tampered with balls beyond the standard pre-game preparations. I also believe, after reviewing all the texts, that they support the statement that Brady didn't know McNally. There were no direct texts/calls between the two, nor were there even any hints that the two had direct contact. Of course Well's failed to see that, but somehow was able to determine that the texts must be incriminating...

RecoveringCowboy said:

...back to Brady, can anyone think of a QB suspension for not reporting a possible violation?

This is unprecedented.

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Remember, this is a guy who wants massive punishments with low standards of proof. While I see that as being an immediate disqualifier for the job, it's what the owners have bought into. Thirty two theoretically intelligent men were too stupid to see this coming, while goodness knows how many thousands of us saw it from just about day one.

supafly said:

To me, it looks like Brady liked his footballs a bit on the underinflated side (something that we've all known for awhile now), and made that desire known to the ball boys. Much like Aaron Rodgers, Brady had a preference that was well known. This most likely happened in a "Tom Brady-like" way where he *****ed and moaned about it, getting on them when the balls weren't right. As we know, Tom is a perfectionist, and does not allow anything to get in between him and winning.

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As far as I can read, Brady *****ed to those guys once and once only.. after a game in which he played with footballs that were 16 psi. The ball boys themselves measured them the next day and gave Brady begrudging nods that he was in fact correct about this.

Everything those two were *****ing about, appeared to have stemmed from that Jet's game and Brady's subsequent complaints.

But what qb wouldn't ***** to his ballboys about 16 psi footballs? Even Aaron Rodgers probably doesn't want to throw 16 psi footballs.

So I guess its okay for the NFL (or the Jets own ballboys) to inflate footballs 2.5 psi over regulations.

Gamesmanship and a lack of rigidly adhering to every rule is all perfectly allowed and normal across the League... except when it helps the Patriots..

Satchboogie3 said:

I read the text messages, over and over again, considering the context. It was the after a home game where the refs had way over inflated the ball. They mentioned they wanted the ball at 13 psi. Brady is on record for being pissed about that situation. The text about "stress" makes complete sense in how demanding Brady is about getting the balls how he wants them pregame (he's a control freak) and then deal with his temper when the refs alter the balls. If they were tampering with the balls why would the play with 16 PSI balls during a home game? Are we supposed to just assume that must have started after this game? The texts don't suggest that anyone tampered with balls beyond the standard pre-game preparations. I also believe, after reviewing all the texts, that they support the statement that Brady didn't know McNally. There were no direct texts/calls between the two, nor were there even any hints that the two had direct contact. Of course Well's failed to see that, but somehow was able to determine that the texts must be incriminating...

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I understand your point but Brady refusing to turn over electronic documents didn't help his case and could suggest a different story about McNally.

Brewskies said:

I understand your point but Brady refusing to turn over electronic documents didn't help his case and could suggest a different story about McNally.

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Yes, for idiots who equate a refusal to allow a violation of privacy with an admission of guilt, Brady's decision can be taken to mean whatever the hell such simple minds can dream up.

Deus Irae said:

Yes, for idiots who equate a refusal to allow a violation of privacy with an admission of guilt, Brady's decision can be taken to mean whatever the hell such simple minds can dream up.

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It's all perception. Read today's USA report and how far they want the punishment to go based on past NFL history. Belicheck, Kraft, Team and Brady.

There isn't anything in the report that says the ball guy's were going for anything less than 12.5, or doing it after referee inspection. It is purely conjecture and inference, coupled with a paid for scientific study that left no doubt that the nfl's process of recording and testing left no conclusion per the results.

Funny enough, the more I think of it, the more I think Columbia laughed in their face and Exponent was the only "scientific firm" left who would provide any opinion.

Brewskies said:

It's all perception. Read today's USA report and how far they want the punishment to go based on past NFL history. Belicheck, Kraft, Team and Brady.

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Yes, it's largely about perception at this time. That doesn't change my point out people who use the "Well, if you've got nothing to hide...." argument.

Deus Irae said:

Yes, it's largely about perception at this time. That doesn't change my point out people who use the "Well, if you've got nothing to hide...." argument.

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Exactly. So Brewskies, I'm worried you have terrorist ties. Could I look at your cell phone? No? Uh oh, we might have a terrorist here!!!!

Deus Irae said:

Remember, this is a guy who wants massive punishments with low standards of proof. While I see that as being an immediate disqualifier for the job, it's what the owners have bought into. Thirty two theoretically intelligent men were too stupid to see this coming, while goodness knows how many thousands of us saw it from just about day one.

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It's 31. Irsay doesn't count.

If interested from Peter King

Did Tom Brady Cheat? NFL Has a Big Decision to Make
http://mmqb.si.com/2015/05/07/ted-wells-deflategate-tom-brady-patriots-nfl/

I still don't understand how air from footballs can show high profiled people's true colors a lot of bitter salty jealous individuals. I also don't understand how deflated footballs is suddenly cheating when you still have to throw catch run and tackle

I still don't get how Brady is at all implicated. Because of text msgs between 2 knuckle-heads? Because 1 of them said Brady told him something? Has either one of them received a text from Brady saying anything?
Because one said to the other that Brady said something, we are to assume that Brady actually said something? If I wanted to scare mcanally to get off his ass I would make up a story that Brady wants it so, or to impress him ..I would say >> yea Brady was talking about you.

Wells wanted to have a 5th interview with Mac? Who seems to me to be the least credible witness. So that's all there is from texts? seems like very few. More likely that there will be an investigation about inflategate starting soon.

The importance of psi and balls is shown by the procedure, prep for game. Balls aren't guarded, because its no big deal !!

A day after the report came out, and I'm still fuming. There is NOTHING to implicate the Patriots or TB with regard to deliberately underinflating footballs - there is the intimation that if the balls have been pumped above the level that Brady wants, that he'll want them deflated to that level, but nothing more than that..?
There is also the intimation that the ballboy wasn't happy with Brady as he wasn't getting the trinkets he expected and was threatening to OVER inflate his footballs? Furthermore, it reads as though the footballs were grossly overinflated for the Jets game? Why isn't this being discussed?

There is a significant difference between deflating footballs and deliberately underinflating them - the former can be done to keep the balls at the desired pressure for the QB (right? Or are referees pumping them up deliberately higher than QBs are asking for - which would be a bigger scandal in my eyes?), whereas the latter contravenes the NFL ruling re: pressure limits.
This report hints at the former but shows nothing to suggest the latter.

What is also clear from this report is that Wells and co have done a bang up job in not pointing any fingers towards the officials and the NFL in general in highlighting what was clearly a haphazard and not fit for purpose process in governing football pressure. Given that Wells was hired by the NFL, this doesn't surprise me - but is anyone mentioning it?

If Goodell is serious about his intentions to uphold the integrity of the league, he needs to resign immediately. Oh, and how about reducing the clear NY based bias within the upper echelons of the game while we're at it...

PatsFanInLondon said:

There is a significant difference between deflating footballs and deliberately underinflating them - the former can be done to keep the balls at the desired pressure for the QB (right? Or are referees pumping them up deliberately higher than QBs are asking for - which would be a bigger scandal in my eyes?), whereas the latter contravenes the NFL ruling re: pressure limits.

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The way I understand all of this is that the entire matter is not about football pressure but about tampering with the balls after official inspection. While I get the point it is just infuriating that the NFL tries to make it over a rule where there are no checks or papertrail and that has been, essentially, totally ignored and violated by their own referees (16 PSI balls against Jets) until now.

Hell, I don't see how people can be angry about a violation of competition in this case but then applaud the gamesmanship when the Dolphins build their stadium to only keep the opponents burning in the nice Florida sun (http://www.sportsgrid.com/nfl/dolph...designed-to-cook-opposing-team-with-sunlight/).