Tom Brady! Where are you?

Can you imagine what would be going threw TB's head if he gets suspended? He hates QB's taking his reps, let alone for 4+ games. Yes he's mild mannered but the thought of missing games will make him go ape sh@#$% for sure.

Bobsyouruncle said:

Smart and cunning is overrated. For one, people don't trust smart people, and they don't trust people that hide their emotions. It's human nature, dumb people are less threatening, they can't trick you. And hiding your emotions is deceit. There's something genuine about a person who gets pissed off and shows it. He does that in games anyway.

But most importantly, people are rarely as smart or cunning as they think so all that waiting for the perfect plan usually results in an imperfect plan that is executed by someone who appears to be attempting to deceive, or thinks they're clever.

If Brady came out day one, pissed off and told everyone it's ******** because he didn't do anything then he likely would have far more public support and that could have swayed the whole process since.

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I think whoever were giving him advice during the SB week did a bad job. When asked did he cheat he says "i dont believe so". Someone shouldve coached him to show anger and spit fire there. Those 2 weeks before the SB he never really came out strongly in a presser and put it to test.

I don't care how he handles it. The whole thing is bunch of crap to begin with. The NFL never cared what the psi of the footballs were throughout the history of the game. The Ice Bowl had footballs that were potentially 4 psi deflated during the game. Any game played in weather below 30 deg F were 2 psi deflated. The NFL's standard of procedure regarding footballs is bull crap. Inflate the balls indoors and play with them outdoors will always lead to inflation on hot days and deflation on cold days. Now all of a sudden they are looking to see if the footballs were tampered with and their conclusion is "possibly"?? Possibly means that their scientific testing showed that although it is possible that weather had something to do with it and that it is also possible someone tampered with the footballs. Does that mean that if they found an additional 0.3 psi in those footballs they would have let it go? They are going to wreck a guys legacy over .3 psi?

Even if McNally snuck into the bathroom to check the air pressure of those footballs I am convinced that it was to make sure that they were at 12.5 - 13 psi. If he did it it was because they found footballs during the Jets game inflated to 16 psi the day after the game.

Tom Brady's legacy will be fine in New England no matter how he responds to this.

Consider this:
- if the Wells report is a bunch of lies, most people would be shouting from the rooftops and swearing on a stack of bibles that they didn't do it, and the report was wrong. Yet we hear nothing from TFB

- if the Wells reports figured something out in general (with lots of shoddy slanted writing), Tom would be well to keep quiet and take his punishment, vs pulling a Roger Clemens, Lance Armstrong. After the punishment, he will deflect, never admit nor deny. let it go into the night....

I'm basically agreeing with the OP. If you are innocent TB, where are you?
That makes me think he is not 100% innocent. (sorry)

Whatever, I will be there on banner night in september. lets win another. eft them

One angle that really hasn't be considered is that perhaps Brady hasn't been in full denial mode because all that he can say is that he never instructed balls to be underinflated, but it is impossible for him to know for sure that the attendants didn't do it on their own. Everyone says there is no way they would take the liberty to do this, but here's the thing: they WOULDN'T do something he didn't want, BUT if what he wanted was a particular "feel" for the ball, without necessarily knowing this was below 12.5, they might have learned to tweak it a bit to get to the right "feel," ESPECIALLY since they knew from experience that the refs sometimes overinflate (see Jets game). The record shows that he at times said he wanted it at "12.5," but he might not have been certain as to exactly whether or not 12.5 fit the "feel" he wanted. They might have known it was hard to have that feel at 12.5, and tweaked it for him--and it is possibly they tweaked it without even knowing whether it was under 12.5, perhaps assuming that the refs had likely overinflated (I remember one report way back saying refs could set it anywhere between 12.5 and 13.5 they wanted--and that is in cases where they made sure to stay within specs, which apparently isn't always the case-- though they generally try to respect QB preferences as requested).

Now, if this is the scenario, he can't say for sure nothing happened, but he can say that HE hasn't cheated, or ordered it to be done. But he can't really give the scenario I describe above without throwing two little guys under the bus, which would look very, very bad. It is true that if this is what happened, they should have all explained it early on, and while it would have been a violation, it would have seemed more minor, especially since it would be coupled with information that the refs themselves were not always on top of keeping balls inflated to specs (overinflated ball). But, there might have been a fear that any degree of admission before the SB would be risky, and once the SB passed, it seemed best to let the league process play out.

I don't think the above scenario can be ruled out.

wolverinejoe80 said:

2 GAMES - suck it up and move on
4 GAMES - go apesh!!T on youtube and express feeling
6+ GAMES - law and order. plain and simple

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No Games=just about right.

It's a wait and see approach. When NFL Lynch Mob makes their decision (one way or other) then Brady can counter with a Presser or through his attorney. Right now it's wise to wait for outcome and take it from there. Why throw something out there that can be twisted and give public opinion haters, Mediots etc a platform to bash him selling news papers, radio, TV and most importantly drag his good name through mud.

Does anyone else envision that during Goodell's formative years, he ran his smack on his classmates and repeatedly got crammed into his locker?

If they suspend him, he should go home and tell the Pats to blank off. They have been saying blank you we don't have your back all week. Don't come back. It will make everyone happy. And all the pink hats will get their wish. They will finally get Garoppolo.

Wordsmyth said:

Does anyone else envision that during Goodell's formative years, he ran his smack on his classmates and repeatedly got crammed into his locker?

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There is a reason on this board that I call Goodell,"Goody". It has been written that Goodell ratted out on players on the football team for underage drinking and violating team rules. I really don't know if its accurate but the story seemed very legit and not satirical in nature.

What an ass.

Tom Brady is doing what he should be doing he is getting his ducks in a row prepping for what is to come.

BlitzFritz said:

Consider this:
- if the Wells report is a bunch of lies, most people would be shouting from the rooftops and swearing on a stack of bibles that they didn't do it, and the report was wrong. Yet we hear nothing from TFB

- if the Wells reports figured something out in general (with lots of shoddy slanted writing), Tom would be well to keep quiet and take his punishment, vs pulling a Roger Clemens, Lance Armstrong. After the punishment, he will deflect, never admit nor deny. let it go into the night....

I'm basically agreeing with the OP. If you are innocent TB, where are you?
That makes me think he is not 100% innocent. (sorry)

Whatever, I will be there on banner night in september. lets win another. eft them

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If you read the text messages there is one series of messages that discusses the footballs after a Jets game. Tom Brady complains about the footballs being to hard. The Ball attendants check the balls a day after the game and find out they were all close to 16 psi. They then message 'the refs F***** us' and then state ' they should have been at 13'. That tells me two things. One that Tom wanted those footballs between 12.5 and 13 psi and two the ball attendants did not tamper with those balls during that game.

From page 86:

John Jastremski
Ugh...Tom was right.

(508) 265-xxxx
I just measured some of the balls. They supposed to
be 13 lbs... They were like 16. Felt like bricks

Actually most of the text messages refer to pregame preparation of the footballs and how to make sure to inform the referees of Tom's preference.

Question: Why would McNally tell say to referees 'remember Tom likes them at 12.5' if he was going to deflate them anyways?

If you put all the data together found in the report: Weather ( Ideal gas law) + Gauge Calibration issues + wetness of the footballs etc..... you will realize that they are actually saying that McNally went into those bathrooms to release and average of 0.3 psi.

So did McNally go into the bathroom and check the air pressure of those footballs to make sure they were at 12.5 and not 16? He might have. Did Tom tell him to do it? No where in the text messages does it state that he did. Either way it wasn't to get the footballs below regulation.

Oh and one little goofy side note about all this BS: The NFL NEVER CARED ABOUT PSI OF A FOOTBALL. Never. The ice bowl was played with footballs potentially 4 psi deflated. Any game played in weather below 30 deg F had footballs 2 psi deflated. Any game played in hot weather were played with footballs over inflated. So NOW we are going to wreck a guys legacy over 0.3 psi. Integrity of the game my ass.

Worse case scenario is that McNally went into those bathrooms to ensure those footballs were between 12.5 and 13 psi and that Tom was aware of that. Balls would have been still in regulation for the game.

So, Julian Edelman posted something odd on Twitter:

Andrew_Kuhl: @Edelman11 is a bro (this was in reference to Edelman changing his profile pic)

Julian Edelman @Edelman11 Have to try but not looking like what I would do #goflashes


"Have to try but not looking like what I would do". What the hell does that even mean?

Brady needs to lay low until the NFL makes the next move.

Yee has been laying ground work and putting markers down after the Wells hatchet job was release the ball in is Goodell's court, after his punishment is announced out Brady through Yee appeals, after he is cleared he sues the NFL.

This is a process like pre season that has to be played out Brady understands following theprocess quite well that is why he is the most consistent winner in the history of the NFL. One day at a time.

Eric Manchester said:

One angle that really hasn't be considered is that perhaps Brady hasn't been in full denial mode because all that he can say is that he never instructed balls to be underinflated, but it is impossible for him to know for sure that the attendants didn't do it on their own. Everyone says there is no way they would take the liberty to do this, but here's the thing: they WOULDN'T do something he didn't want, BUT if what he wanted was a particular "feel" for the ball, without necessarily knowing this was below 12.5, they might have learned to tweak it a bit to get to the right "feel," ESPECIALLY since they knew from experience that the refs sometimes overinflate (see Jets game). The record shows that he at times said he wanted it at "12.5,"

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Could be even simpler than that -- Brady told the flunkies he wanted the ball at 12.5 and they, on their own, decided that they would start trying to check balls after the refs were done with them and deflating them to 12.5. (Why? Who knows. They wanted to be helpful. They were tired of Brady chewing their posteriors off. Whatever.) They wouldn't have any need to ask themselves "hmmm -- is this going to be a pressure Brady wants?" because they know it's the pressure Brady wants. So there's no reason for them to check with Brady before doing it.

And yeah - watching his language may well make sense. Think how much worse he'd look if he went into full denial mode and then McNally comes out and says he was messing with the balls "because he knew Tom wanted them at 12.5."

I'll also throw out the ironic possibility that the flunkies may well have occasionally been lowering balls to 12.5 but didn't do it in the one game they were actually accused of doing it in. (Since the NE balls ended up precisely where science said they would.)

(And before someone brings it up, yes, it is illegal for the balls to be touched after checkin. It would be illegal even if the refs had set them out-of-spec (like, say, at 16 PSI). See Curran's latest column (the one mocking the stupid mediot demands) where he quotes the NFL Game Operations Manual which says in black and white that the balls can't be touched: Once the balls have left the locker room, no one, including players, equipment managers, ball boys, and coaches, is allowed to alter the footballs in any way.)

Another thought on this--the two gauges consistently read .3-.4 apart. It has never been established how much of this was due to difference in the gauges, and how much was the result of pressure being released at the test (from what I saw, the higher PSI was always with the first gauge). If McNally did check to verify 12.5, it might indeed have put it down into the low 12s just from the test. yes, this would be illegal, but it is frustrating because the intent, as you say, would be to stay within specs, and it would largely reflect gross errors on refs in the past for checking PSI (Jets game).