Embracing my inner Joker - could most of us be missing the full context here?

Reading comments from other posts, notably:

DarrylS:

I have been saying this for a while now, when Kensil so eloquently said to the Pats Equipment Manager during the Colts game.. "you're f..ed", he literally meant it. Initially they envisioned that the penalty, as BB had to be behind it, would be very "Bountygateesque" and BB would be suspended for at least a year.. then Kraft might have had to fire him, and level the playing field.

and Robertweathers' response:

I'm with you. The NFL thought it in their souls that the Pats were deflating footballs. I'm starting to think that the Oct Jets game ball at16psi was a sting. At this point, is it out of the realm of possibility that the NFL would stoop to that?

Was Deflategate set up to begin at the Jets 16 PSI game, to lure the Pats into a rules violation to reduce the PSI of intentionally overinflated balls? Could the Pats, once again, be the target of a sting that started with a setup at a Jets game? Could we be missing the even bigger reality of what's happening here? That this is more than just reactionary Pats hatred out of Goodell and the front office, but is instead actually schemed hatred? And if there is discovery in a future lawsuit, that's what will become evident?

FWIW, I'm on vacation on the Cape and my wife thinks I've gone off the deep end here.

I just imagine it like that scene in "Goodfellas" when Henry Hill and Joe Pesci walk into the airport and steal the cash and Frenchy just looks the other way.

Levy is in the locker room, goes to the bathroom just as Mike Kensil comes in with an air pump....

..and Levy is prnalized for his crappy job with a cushy front office job .

I really believe that up until the Colts game that refs paid little or no attention to the "between 12.5 - 13.5 psi" rule. At best they squeezed the balls to make sure they felt "right" and added/reduced air if they wanted. I'll bet every equipment guy knew this about the refs and perhaps the Colts felt that they might catch them at something because who knows what exactly the balls are going to be at.

That might even explain why there was no warning given to anybody at the game. They did not want the refs to actually make sure the balls were precisely set. Perhaps it might also explain why not a single ref has stepped up to say "Yeah, everyone knows that the balls deflate in the cold", except for the recent blunder on balls leaking. They don't want a light shined on their generally hap hazard ball inspection process.

I would also add that I think that the intention of this was mainly to serve as a distraction during the run up to the SuperBowl to enable a narrative of Russell Wilson back to back rings making the Seahawks the new team to beat. Then Butler killed that plan!!!

That pushed the NFL front office into a blind rage and they doubled down to try and find something, anything to punish the Patriots for foiling their plan. That's when they really went over the edge. Had the Patriots followed the script and lost, there would have been a quick resolution to the investigation and a fine.

Enjoy your vacation. Yes you've gone off the deep end, vacation will help with that

The simplest and most plausible explanation is almost surely what happened. The NFL isn't nearly smart enough, as an entity, to play the long game like that. And frankly, I don't think they're that corrupt. I think there's a few bad apples (certainly Kensil) but most are just incompetent (Goodell, Vincent) or not involved.

I do not see this as going off the deep end. As someone who lived thru the Border Wars between Jets & Pats the animosity predates BB. When BB said GFY to the Jets HC position & came to NE and then won SBs the ex-Jets who run the league office went ballistic and began to work with their former team and scheme ways to oust BB from the NFL. I think it entirely possible that the 16 psi at the Jets game was bait in the trap.

Bill Leavvy, the ref in the jets game was effectively fired

TommyBrady12 said:

Bill Leavvy, the ref in the jets game was effectively fired

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If you want to call it that. He's now a supervisor. He did playoff games last year as well.

I would never ever ever put anything past the Jetf***s. Especially now.

TommyBrady12 said:

Bill Leavvy, the ref in the jets game was effectively fired

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thought he got promoted?

betterthanthealternative said:

Reading comments from other posts, notably:

DarrylS:

I have been saying this for a while now, when Kensil so eloquently said to the Pats Equipment Manager during the Colts game.. "you're f..ed", he literally meant it.

Click to expand...

let's hope not

eom said:

thought he got promoted?

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yup, "promoted".

they demoted him and al riveron to the front office.

eom said:

let's hope not

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I was sooooo tempted to make a crack

robertweathers said:

If you want to call it that. He's now a supervisor. He did playoff games last year as well.

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See, this is the kind of thing that fuels the theory. He participated in the scheme, and then as a reward for compromising himself, and to keep him quiet, he gets promoted and is allowed to cherry pick the playoff games he wants to work going forward.

Kensil's "you're f...ed" comment perfectly captures the mindset of the NFL, its toadies, and the teams that NE makes it's *****es. Despite 15 years of beat downs, teams like Baltimore, Jets, and Colts don't subscribe to the reality that NE is superior on the field. In their minds, NE has always resorted to nefarious tactics. Think about some of NE's contests verses both the Jets and Ravens. The Patriots looking less than impressive, giving up tons of yardage, and the offense out of sync......and yet NE manages to eke out the victory. Imagine the conversations going on in the opposition locker room and owner's sky box..."What just happened, how did we lose." And how might an insecure coach or GM deflect responsibility for the loss when explaining the loss to their superior? "The Patriots must have been cheating"
And on that cold wet January day, Kensil was charged with acting as a proxy for the NFL given his job title, but a decade plus of Belichick ghosts haunting his nightmares was too much for Kensil to perform his duties with impartiality and protocol. A decade in the waiting..... Kensil finally had his "GOTCHA" moment.
Now think about what transpired in the NFL's executive sky box that afternoon. The Colts GM is screaming cheating. The league's man on the field, Kensil, is screaming cheating. Next thing you know, we have a run away locmotive with no Denzel Washington to climb on board and pull the emergency brake. Roger Goodell should have been the hero in this story, controlling the situation, taking complete charge, and bringing critical thinking and sanity into the process. Instead the NFL Commissioner chose to be a different kind of hero, a hero to the nearly "full 32" and their populist fan bases that despise too much Patriots excellence. The Commissioner chose the easier path....and that's why Goodell needs to be replaced.
As Bill Simmons so eloquently tweeted..."If you're a sports commissioner, isn't it your ENTIRE JOB to prevent something like this DeflateGate fiasco from happening?"
Apparently not.

betterthanthealternative said:

See, this is the kind of thing that fuels the theory. He participated in the scheme, and then as a reward for compromising himself, and to keep him quiet, he gets promoted and is allowed to cherry pick the playoff games he wants to work going forward.

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isn't selling offices how goodell does business?
isn't that how vincent got his job?
isn't what that saints guy mentioned about a couple saints players who helped league out on bountygate?

eom said:

isn't selling offices how goodell does business?
isn't that how vincent got his job?
isn't what that saints guy mentioned about a couple saints players who helped league out on bountygate?

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Goodellfellas: I hear that a small handful of influential owners are having a ceremony to make Goodell a “made man”. Troy Vincent will be anxiously waiting at a nearby pay phone for word when the ceremony is completed because if Roger is “made” then no one can f#@$ with them... not even Belichick.

It's not that all weird to think that the Jets game was the start of all of this BS. It forced Brady to find out what is wrong with the footballs and tell his equipment manager to make sure they follow the rule book.

Fast forward to the AFCCG and the Nfl front office is besides themselves as they are still winning.

So the sting is in place from the Colts and here we are.

Was deflategate a sting? Yes, 100% without any reservation.

Was it set up months in advance through clever cunning? Fu.ck no

I always felt like there's something I'm missing on that 16 lb ball.
they couldn't know ahead of time pats would be going to sb, so if this was some long con why wouldn't they do their big reveal in the balt game, prior to the colts.
balls would be low due to cold in that game, too, if they bothered to check them.

unless maybe they needed a club partner in grigson to make a complaint, as ozzie wouldn't have gone along with it.

that 16 lb ball is strange, though --- how long would it take to overinflate a ball 3 lbs?
and you couldn't do it randomly --- if it really was an attempt to fix the game, for whatever reason, you'd have to not only overinflate but specifically hand that ball to brady, rather than leave things to chance, and I'd find it hard to believe they got to all the balls, so how could you even do that?
all the balls get thrown in a bag together, right?
if this was deliberate, you'd have to not only overinflate, but mark your ball and pick it out when the game started.