Patriots Legal Counsel Rebuttal of Wells Report

JackBauer said:

Albert Breer @AlbertBreer · 3m3 minutes ago
The Patriots accusing others of leaks in this rebuttal is rich though, considering we've heard much of what's in the rebuttal already.

Is this guy an actual idiot?

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Breer's comment forever disqualifies him (as if he weren't already) from having anything to say about the Patriots.

Hey, Breer, the NFL lied in a letter about the balls, and then allowed those laws to proliferate in the media.

Now shut up.

KontradictioN said:

Eh, I've been on the Pats' side through all of this but the weight loss explanation sounds EXTREMELY made up. I would call ******** on that if I were on the other side of this.

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Did you even read the whole report. There was a text sent about deflating so he could get rid of a jacket. What does that have to do with air pressure, it's because he was a fat ass.

Deus Irae said:

I think the report was aimed at the other owners, but I'm just spitballing at this point.

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...and not just the current owners either. It also includes prospective owners of any future expansion. In particular this will negatively impact any thoughts of a team in London. The Guardian has already written an article on the lack of integrity in the NFL office, this will only amplify the perception.

Finished it...this rebuttal is incredible. It's detailed, thorough, it absolutely ROCKS. It hits on everything 'major' in the report, it hits on everything the Wells talked about in his conference call, it hits...on...everything.

One thing is clear: the Patriots did nothing wrong. This is the nail in the coffin, it's been pretty obvious to those of us (almost exclusively Pats fans) who dug into the Wells report and actually critically examined it. Now it should be clear to everyone else.

God help Wells and Goodell after this starts making the rounds. The balls back in the NFL's court and I don't think they're gonna like it being there. Time to shift focus back on the sting, on the leaks, on the biased Wells report, and re-examine penalties for something the Patriots didn't do but were fully cooperative in investigating it.

NashuaPats said:

I just finished reading it. What agreat rebuttal.

The one thing the media and haters are going to slam them for is the explanation for the term "the deflator"

I may be reaching here, but a big part of Jastremski's job is constantly inflating and deflating dozens of balls at a time. When you do something so much as part of your job, terms from those tasks can be come part of your vocabulary when referring to other things. It would not be weird for him to start using inflate and deflate when referring to things such as gaining or losing weight. Nor would it be unusual for McNally to also adopt those terms when conversing with Jastremski.

Regardless, you can't prosecute someone based on circumstantial evidence when no crime occurred. Having a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry disagree with Exponent's conclusion and say the psi levels were reasonable should be a slam dunk.

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Exactly. It's a phenomenon where folks everyday job duties, equipment, etc. become part of his or her vernacular amongst themselves and extends to other instances beyond their normal function.

Somewhat surprised the village mediots have not picked up on this... or am I?

Well, members of the media who recognize that sound bites are ruling the day, you have a voice too. Change the dialogue instead of bleating with the other sheep.

Deus Irae said:

"Doritos Dink"


Seriously, do people not get where these two were coming from with their banter?

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Considering people were clutching their pearls and going full "think of the children" mode over a percentage of air pressure in a football, no, people don't get where this banter may come from.

Deus Irae said:

"Doritos Dink"


Seriously, do people not get where these two were coming from with their banter?

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Agree completely. He's a 40 year old man who calls his friends "dorito dink" and says "omg spaz." Him referring to himself as "the deflator" isn't really a stretch

sevengables_2207 said:

Exactly. It's a phenomenon where folks everyday job duties, equipment, etc. become part of his or her vernacular amongst themselves and extends to other instances beyond their normal function.

Somewhat surprised the village mediots have not picked up on this... or am I?

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I think it's appropriately humorous to call himself the deflator. If your whole job and much of your life the sole task was to beg the refs to lower the balls to 12.5 and constantly monitor air pressure of the balls you're handing to them, you'd quite aptly be called the deflator. It's also humorous because it's such a trivial amount of air, but it's very important to the quarterback that he be berated if it's not 100% to his liking. It's funny, it really is, but I don't think this is the right approach to take for legal recourse.

Edit:
Conceding this to the NFL would give them a case that McNally so pressured by Brady, felt he had to take it upon himself to lower the air on his own initiative, but the NFL's defense may concede Brady had no awareness. I don't think they want to give them any ground.

wpdougie2180 said:

8 Simple Ways to Get Rid of Belly Bloat

Surprising reasons your belly can balloon, and how to deflate it fast.


http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/weight-loss/tips/advice/get-rid-of-belly-bloat/

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I can't see the date. When was this term used?

Field Yates @FieldYates
This morning's football/scouting term is: Deflator



Loved the Pats answer. Ted WELL$$ report is a joke ...

wpdougie2180 said:

https://twitter.com/BlendahTom/status/598910336792657921/photo/1

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Word.

Alright I'm out for now.

Gotta go hit the gym and put the jacket on cuz' my pecs, lats, and glutes are deflated.

Tom E. Curran ‏@tomecurran 6m6 minutes ago
Tom E. Curran retweeted Steven

I understand that. I'm not convinced this was their best course of action or public will respond to it as Pats hope

Tom E. Curran added,

Steven @ICmonManI
@tomecurran just shows what Wells did. He said that's a joke and this is not. Patriots did it vice versa now.

DefenseRules said:

People don't believe the "deflater" explanation. That's their right of course. I also don't believe lawyers made that up either. Someone gave them that explanation.

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The problem is that this was a well written hard hitting rebuttal.

The media has little time for nuance.

What are they going to lead with?

"Patriots claim deflator refers to weight loss..."

(i.e. this could have been handled during the actual appeal and/or court cases).

ChoWZa said:

I think it's appropriately humorous to call himself the deflator.

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ChoWZa said:

I think it's appropriately humorous to call himself the deflator. If your whole job and much of your life the sole task was to beg the refs to lower the balls to 12.5 and constantly monitor air pressure of the balls you're handing to them, you'd quite aptly be called the deflator. It's also humorous because it's such a trivial amount of air, but it's very important to the quarterback that he be berated if it's not 100% to his liking. It's funny, it really is, but I don't think this is the right approach to take for legal recourse.
.

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They had to address the texts. They've dominated the discussion.

my favorite

The Patriots also questioned how the Wells report could conclude that the 1 minute, 40 seconds McNally spent in the Gillette Stadium bathroom before the Colts game was used to deflate the game balls
"The report does not address whether one minute and 40 is consistent with the time that it takes a gentleman to enter a bathroom, relieve himself, wash his hands, and leave," the team said. "In fact, it is."

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I can't stress strongly enough that the 'deflator' comment makes real sense when you think about 1. what these two guys do for hours on end every week, and 2. Jastremski's text referencing deflating (“deflate and give somebody that jacket.”).

This is something the McNally and Jastremski encountered every day with the Patriots--and everyone has some example where their job spills over to their personal life, whether it be habits or vocabulary. And it ties in PERFECTLY with the other text that clearly had nothing to do with footballs or needles or gauges.

Add in the other major, major rebuttals this report contains and I can't see how any objective, unbiased person can still believe the Patriots did anything wrong.

Chiuba E. Obele said:

I can't see the date. When was this term used?

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If I were to guess, I'd say between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I do not know him but I always feel inflated at these times .

7 hours being grilled in an interview? Geez, I would admit to shooting JFK under that hassle just so I could get a beer, unreal.

I cannot possibly rehash all the parts of the rebuttal. I read the whole thing and I think it's solid. If you started out as Wells did IMO (the rebuttal makes this clear, good point) the Patriots deflated the balls then some of the text stuff can be seen as maybe something. If you started out thinking they did not, or you just had no idea (how you are supposed to start) there is nothing anywhere in the Wells report to convince you other wise. Nothing.

A funny point that I brought up a while ago, which the rebuttal touches on again, is Walt Anderson's statement that not in 20 years or whatever had a ball handler ever left the officials room without an escort, or maybe he said explicit permission (I have to check but I think it was escort). McNally said he does this plenty of times and this was backed up by Patriots security. The rebuttal states McNally again walked out unattended in the second half of the AFC title game. So it never, ever happens, or it happens more often than not? Bizarre.