Why did Brady seem nervous?

aluminum seats · May 18, 2015

As Pats fans, we naturally want to believe positive things about our team. And, compared to other fan bases that have been blindly shrieking about this, I think we do a pretty good job at being objective: what’s the evidence here? What do the reports actually say?

I personally always want to try and be objective, because otherwise, what’s the point? You never want to be the ones defending Paterno. So you approach it objectively, with the natural desire as a fan to see positive things.

I, like many, was taken aback by the text messages. My initial feeling was that McNally may have in fact messed with the footballs in order to get them down to the correct levels, as in the past they apparently were as high as 16 psi. And it didn’t seem unreasonable that Brady knew about that (note: I’m not talking here about proof, penalties, the silliness of the whole thing, bias, the shoddiness of the Wells report, the media, or anything other than what may have happened with the footballs.)

After reading the Pats’ response, including the admittedly somewhat comic explanation for the deflator texts, I believe the Pats, and Brady.

Sorry, this is getting long…but anyway, the only thing now that really sticks out to me is Brady’s press conference. He looked nervous, entirely unlike himself. He was asked, “Is Tom Brady a cheater?” and his response was “I don’t believe so.” That’s not the answer I would give.

Maybe he had a fight with his wife. Maybe he really was furious, but he’s been so smooth and polished for 15 years that he swallowed his anger and it came out weird. Thoughts? Anyone else puzzle over this?

oldrover · May 18, 2015

hwc · May 18, 2015

Brady was operating under the false information given to him by the NFL that all of the Pats balls had measured below 10.5 PSI and one had measured 10.1 PSI. That was the information that the NFL had given the Pats and the media. The NFL refused to give the Pats the real halftime inflation numbers until 2 months later on May 23rd. So, all of the Pats early responses came from a standpoint of having no idea how the balls had measured what they were told.

NashuaPats · May 18, 2015

It's perfectly natural for an innocent person to be nervous when accused, investigated, and questioned for an alleged crime.

Haley · May 18, 2015

Did you not see the rabid crowd of pitchfork-wielding 'reporters' hurling horrible accusations with absolutely no proof?

I'd be nervous in front of a lynch mob too!

ctpatsfan77 · May 18, 2015

NashuaPats said:
It's perfectly natural for an innocent person to be nervous when accused, investigated, and questioned for an alleged crime.

Especially if he has no idea what the hell is going on.

neuronet · May 18, 2015

If he hadn't seemed nervous we'd have a thread suspiciously asking why he didn't seem nervous.

Sicilian · May 18, 2015

I don't want this to come across snarky or overly critical, but it seems to me like you're not being objective, you're just afraid that you AREN'T objective so you went looking for something (anything) with which to play devil's advocate. And as we've seen by this whole debacle, you can twist anything into doubt if you start with a conclusion and go looking for something to support it.

Palm Beach Pats Fan · May 18, 2015

A person can be 100% calm and composed on the field in front of screaming fans, but not be comfortable at all at a podium, in a spotlight, answering questions about his integrity that he personally finds offensive, while wanting to keep his composure. I think he was also not grasping fully how seriously people were taking this, so the attitude "This is completely stupid anyway, to even think that I would do something like that" ended up hurting him in terms of public opinion.

aluminum seats · May 18, 2015

neuronet said:
If he hadn't seemed nervous we'd have a thread suspiciously asking why he didn't seem nervous.

No, I was surprised that he was, as I didn't expect him to be.

skspikex2 · May 18, 2015

He sure wasn't nervous at the Kentucky Derby, the Mayweather vs paq, and the Salem state seminar.
The only time he should be nervous is when the adult friend finder hit his monitor and Giselle walks in.

aluminum seats · May 18, 2015

Sicilian said:
I don't want this to come across snarky or overly critical, but it seems to me like you're not being objective, you're just afraid that you AREN'T objective so you went looking for something (anything) with which to play devil's advocate. And as we've seen by this whole debacle, you can twist anything into doubt if you start with a conclusion and go looking for something to support it.

I honestly don't know what you mean here. This is something that I've wondered about.

aluminum seats · May 18, 2015

Palm Beach Pats Fan said:
A person can be 100% calm and composed on the field in front of screaming fans, but not be comfortable at all at a podium, in a spotlight, answering questions about his integrity that he personally finds offensive, while wanting to keep his composure. I think he was also not grasping fully how seriously people were taking this, so the attitude "This is completely stupid anyway, to even think that I would do something like that" ended up hurting him in terms of public opinion.

I think what you're describing is how he was on the radio initially, but not the press conference.

dannydyn · May 18, 2015

I don't know about level of nervousness.... but I would really like to know why TB hasn't summoned the media and flat out make a public announcement in which he denounces any wrongdoing, just like he did with Chris Collinsworth before the superbowl. His lack of comment doesn't come across right.

upstater1 · May 18, 2015

aluminum seats said:
As Pats fans, we naturally want to believe positive things about our team. And, compared to other fan bases that have been blindly shrieking about this, I think we do a pretty good job at being objective: what’s the evidence here? What do the reports actually say?

I personally always want to try and be objective, because otherwise, what’s the point? You never want to be the ones defending Paterno. So you approach it objectively, with the natural desire as a fan to see positive things.

I, like many, was taken aback by the text messages. My initial feeling was that McNally may have in fact messed with the footballs in order to get them down to the correct levels, as in the past they apparently were as high as 16 psi. And it didn’t seem unreasonable that Brady knew about that (note: I’m not talking here about proof, penalties, the silliness of the whole thing, bias, the shoddiness of the Wells report, the media, or anything other than what may have happened with the footballs.)

After reading the Pats’ response, including the admittedly somewhat comic explanation for the deflator texts, I believe the Pats, and Brady.

Sorry, this is getting long…but anyway, the only thing now that really sticks out to me is Brady’s press conference. He looked nervous, entirely unlike himself. He was asked, “Is Tom Brady a cheater?” and his response was “I don’t believe so.” That’s not the answer I would give.

Maybe he had a fight with his wife. Maybe he really was furious, but he’s been so smooth and polished for 15 years that he swallowed his anger and it came out weird. Thoughts? Anyone else puzzle over this?

He had never been attacked before in that fashion. One of first question was on the order of, "Apologize!!!!"

First Q: "When and how did you alter the balls?
Second Q: "Is Tom Brady a cheater?"

His immediate response to that (i.e. wasn't equivocal, didn't give it a second) was, "I don't believe so. I play within the rules. I respect the rules."

Third Q: Asked about natural deflation/air pressure as Belichick maintained.

Brady: "I've been trying to figure out what happened over the last few days."

This answer coincides with his 10 minute phone call to Jastremski that the NFL is so hot about.

And by the way, his press conference was immediately taken out of context.

For instance, he said he is very particular about balls. 12.5 PSI is perfect. That's before the game. He was asked by Borges whether he noticed a difference during the game (since D'Quell Jackson did). He said no, he has other things to worry about during the game.

Immediately, this was read as a lie. Brunell said how could he possibly not tell the difference? All QBs do.

Completely dismissed was Brady saying he CAN tell the difference before the game.

upstater1 · May 18, 2015

dannydyn said:
I don't know about level of nervousness.... but I would really like to know why TB hasn't summoned the media and flat out make a public announcement in which he denounces any wrongdoing, just like he did with Chris Collinsworth before the superbowl. His lack of comment doesn't come across right.

Because he's already done that twice and been called a liar.

Mr. Plow · May 18, 2015

If a man burst into your office and identified himself as an IRS agent, and said: "You cheated on your 2012 taxes. Yeah, you did. You're getting a bill for $21,363.28. Get ready!"

What would your reaction be? You would want to know where that number came from, and you would be wondering what the hell was going on. You'd be scouring your copy of your 2012 Form 1040. You would be wondering if maybe you made a mistake on your end, or maybe your accountant screwed you.

Blanket denials are great, but it sure helps to know what exactly you're being asked to deny.

Sicilian · May 18, 2015

aluminum seats said:
I honestly don't know what you mean here. This is something that I've wondered about.

Which is fine, I'm just saying that I didn't perceive Brady's nervousness (if that's what I would even call it) to be in any way a sign of guilt. My opinion is that in your quest to remain objective, you've nitpicked on something that true objectivity would have seen as the natural behavior of anyone (guilty or innocent) under scrutiny.

JJC · May 18, 2015

When I was 8 yrs old, we were playing football in my friend's back yard. We saw smoke billowing in the distance behind the pond and ran inside to tell his mom, who called the fire department. We got on our bikes and rode down the street and watch the flames across the pond. We were there when the fire department arrived. The police also arrived. They took our names and addresses. We were proud to have identified the fire and helped to get the FD there quickly, so the woods wouldn't all burn down.

Well, two days later two officers arrive at my house and put me in the back seat of a cruiser and take me downtown. I was brought in for questioning - as were three of my friends. We were each accused of setting the fire. I was terrified - no, horrified - by the experience. All of us were good kids who had never gotten in trouble. We had done the right thing and now we were being accused unfairly. I remember sitting at the station and shaking in fear. No matter what I said, the officer said he didn't believe me. I told the truth, but was told it couldn't be true.

Their theory of it was that we had set the fire and waited for the FD to show up and put it out. It was all ********. This harassment went on for nearly a week. In the end, they found the kid that did it - he was six years older than us and it wasn't the first time he had done it. Why did they go after us? It fit a narrative that was easy. Sure, Brady is a grown man, but was put in an untenable position.

Lesson learned: When questioned by authorities, just shut up. Let an attorney do the talking. You don't win by saying anything. Even if you are innocent.

Wax Frog · May 18, 2015

I was once falsely accused of something somewhat serious, the result of innocent unconnected events that looked bad to a pair of paranoid eyes. When I was first notified of it, I got nervous as hell, largely because it came out of the blue and made no sense, so looking back I could 100% identify with Tom at that moment. I was cleared, the other person eventually sent packing (due to this and other incidents I believe), and all was well. I hope TB gets the same result.

Edit: Now that I think of it, the reason this came to mind at all is that when I read of Bob Kraft doing the eye-contact truth test, it brought back the moment when my own supervisor did the same with me. That was a turning point in my favor.

Why did Brady seem nervous?

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