I don't know what McNally did and I don't know what Jastremski did. I know nothing about either of these guys.
Way back when I posted an alternate theory to the "crime": that Brady was putting the heat of Jastremski and so he and McNally popped a pin in the balls when they could to take a little off the top, so to speak...in this scenario, two or even just the one, low-level guys didn't want to take any crap from the big guys up top.
Given the way the balls are handled, with refs over-inflating or giving squeeze tests, or whatever, they probably didn't think it was a big deal. And hey, Brady wouldn't freak out at them after games, right?
It's just an alternate theory - it's nothing that's proven AT ALL in the report.
Which is exactly what the NFL is doing, concocting a theory based on supposition, their understanding of human nature, their BIAS against the Patriots, or whatever.
But consider this: to believe that McNally was doing what the NFL said, you have to believe that he went into the bathroom and stuck a needle into 12 footballs in 100 seconds WITH ONLY A MODICUM OF PRECISION.
Aren't we told that Brady is "meticulous" and even obsessive over the balls? But then we're to believe that Brady would want a guy sticking a pin into 12 balls to partially deflate them without a gauge? Without a pump to put some air back in in case he screwed up? In that scenario, popping a pin into twelve balls in short order, under duress, the variances of the psi would not come out even, maybe not even close.
So we are to believe that Brady wants them a certain way, then has a role in making sure they can't be a certain way, because of the inexact manner of the secretive and illegal deflation.
That doesn't make much sense.
I'm more convinced than ever that Brady was leaning on Jastremski to make sure the balls were at 12.5 by making sure the refs put them at 12.5.