Hi--I thought the same. In addition, there are several more things getting overlooked in the lamebrain media's reporting of this:
They keep pointing to references to needles, the deflator nickname, gifts of shoes, etc. What people have not mentioned AT ALL is that deflation etc. BEFORE they are given to the refs is perfectly permissible. If their job is to get balls ready, and a lot of work goes into it, then of course Brady might give them little gifts, etc. (Indeed, it is not clear from the texts that these references to gifts were not completely sarcastic--but even if serious, that would not be any more inappropriate than someone giving a gift certificate to a secretary or something like that for a job well done).
In addition, it is said that one ball before the Jets game in the Fall tested at 16 (this was their report, not officials). It seems entirely possible to me that the attendants had learned to not trust the refs measurements, and had taken it upon themselves to take a bit of air out to avoid them being unfairly overinflated. This would still be a violation, BUT it would be a violation that occurred because people were try to compensate for officials' error. There is NOTHING ANYWHERE in the report that every has them saying they aimed to go below 12.5--in fact, they claim that is what they aimed for. It is possible they DID amper, BUT only because they had learned that the NFL carelessly overinflates balls, and tthey wanted to be sure that they were at the minimum (and perhaps went a little below in the process). This would be a violation, BUT it would put a much different context on it.
Finally, the claim that it is suspicious because of all of Brady;s texts in the 2 days after the event after months of no contact-well no DUH, of course he might contact them to find out what might have happened after the accusation was made. If one was innocent they might just as easily contact the attendant to seek an explanation, as much as if they were guilty.
