It's all still so confusing.
You have intelligent people like BB and TB12 say they did not know about IGL until they were told what it is. You also have Brady saying that he "likes" the ball at 12.5 PSI. I can guess that BB and TB12 knew what happens to balls in hot/cold but may not know IGL. TB12 has never said that he knew what IGL is BEFORE this mess. I'd kinda like to know what his answer is. I do think that the 12.5 PSI preference is based on his feel for the ball as opposed to his foresight in allowing atmospheric conditions deflate the ball naturally. He may be manipulating the spirit of the rule, but he is not breaking the rule.
In fairness to Kensil-****, the Colts and the rest of those McJetsLuvin' idiots in the NFL office, I tend to think that they fell into that camp as well. The game temp was 49 deg so I assume they didn't think there would be much atmospheric deflating going on thus allowing them to have confidence in pouncing on poor Jaz and the Pats.
I hate all of this.
Re: the bolded, that's the conclusion you can draw from both the Wells report (texts and conversations that show Brady didn't know the 12.5-13.5 until it was pointed out to him after the Jets game, then him telling Jastremski to keep the balls on the low end), and his press conference (where he said he goes by feel, the texture of the ball). I think it's nuanced and you can spin what he said to imply he lied about knowing the rule, but the timeline actually backs his story up:
--no idea about psi before the Jets/16 psi game. The rule change in 2006 had nothing to do with psi, it was about QB's prepping balls the way they liked them, i.e. the 'feel' of the footballs. This is well documented.
--alerted to the 12.5-13.5 rule after the Jets/16 psi game, at which point he asks where the balls are generally pumped up to. When told 12.8-12.9 (or thereabouts), he said to start putting them at 12.5, the low end of the spectrum, and make sure the refs know the rule.
--none of the above implies a knowledge of the IGL, what game-time temps would do to the football. Brady wanted them at the low end of legal and there are multiple pieces of evidence point to this, there is nothing that implies he wanted them
below the legal limit, nothing.
re: Kensil/Colts/NFL officials/refs, I agree completely (and just posted something to that effect). This all started because they, like Brady and Belichick, had no idea what a halftime football would read when it was outside in 49 degree, rainy weather for 2 hours. No one. They jumped to conclusions and ran with them. The leaks afterward belie a level of corruption since they were never corrected, but on gameday it's simple: no one knew their science.
