Deflate-Gate: Here We Go Again

[Delicate Genius]

Still laughing at that Ravens report. What a bunch of ****ing clowns.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

I think the fact that it's completely dominating all media outlets and has been since about 200 mins following our AFCCG victory is what's got people pissed off and frustrated.

Instead of finally being excited and looking forward to the game, this is the focus. That's more than a damn shame, it's a feeling that is hard to put into words.

If "all's well that ends well" rings true in the end--then fine. If we have to endure another 7+ years of hearing about how everyone here cheats, that will suck ass on a monumental level.

Sup, let me pose a question to you. A poster comes here to Patsfans frequently. This poster ranges from occasionally outright wrong, to omitting facts, certainly and frequently posting unsubstantiated information. The poster often will not speak the truth due to things ranging from political correctness to checking which way the proverbial wind blows. This poster almost always likes to frame their posts with someone, somehow being the villain (rightly or wrongly). This poster also has a website and is trying to garner hits to this website. This poster is well known for their past "spygate" exaggerations and outright falsehoods.
I'm curious how much interest or credence you would put into this poster's repeating of the same themed posts that are based on an idea that at it's core is approaching silly?

(I'm sure you 'cracked the code' and put together this poster is the media itself). Look, I get there will be interest in a subject that is being bandied about within a blathering media. However, the breadth and emotion of the reaction here is approaching surreal considering it's 10 days from the big game. I personally don't get it when, at least to me, this story will obviously fade into irrelevance very quickly.
With that said, anyone who likes or wants to dive head first into media/ESPN stuff like this? Hey, have at it. I just don't get it and decided to plainly state that via my post.

 

[ATippett56]

This is wrong for so many different reasons. I can't believe that the media has somehow managed to convince me that there's some undercover operation where the ballboys on the sidelines are letting air out of the footballs on purpose.

Spygate must have really taken a toll on us. Oddly enough, it feels as though I'm dreaming.

"So, it was all a dream."

"No dear, this is the dream. You're still in the cell."

 

[tombonneau]

If we altered the balls after the refs checked them, we're losing our 1st round pick and getting a massive fine.

If we just handed them in at 10 and the refs didn't check, that's on the refs and the league may be more angry with the refs than us.

This succinctly sums it up.

 

[NJPatsfan26]

This succinctly sums it up.

still think this is why the NFL is soo "distraught" about all of this. The refs didnt do their job properly and now are going to take a hit and so will their creditability.

 

[catent]

It's my understanding that the footballs only could've been deflated after having been provided to the ball-boy several minutes before the start of the game. I'll work under the assumption that the footballs are on the field at that stage and do not have time to be removed from the field of play.

With that in mind, the only possible way these footballs could have been deflated is if the ball-boy himself (or someone else on the sideline) removed air from the balls. This would have been undoubtedly been caught on camera, and unless they had a pressure gauge, there's no chance whatsoever that they would've been able to hit a precise, uniform number with each ball. And the idea of them having a gauge on the sideline whilst deflating the footballs would be all the more conspicuous, and would absolutely have been caught via video.

So with all that said, I'd imagine New England had their footballs inflated somewhere in the 11.0-12.0 PSI range prior to the game, hoping to get a slight edge and assuming the officials wouldn't formally measure the pressure in each football. To me this is great gamesmanship and something I have zero issue with. Rodgers has essentially admitted as much. At that point it's on the officials/league.

I suppose it's possible New England doctored the balls after their inspection, but given the very short amount of time they'd have to do that (along with other variables), it doesn't seem terribly plausible.

I'm sure the NFL is "distraught, disappointed and angry"....
at their own officials.

 

[tombonneau]

still think this is why the NFL is soo "distraught" about all of this. The refs didnt do their job properly and now are going to take a hit and so will their creditability.

They should just get rid if the stupid arbitrary range. Let each team decide how it wants it's footballs inflated. Too much over regulation.

 

[tombonneau]

It's my understanding that the footballs only could've been deflated after having been provided to the ball-boy several minutes before the start of the game. I'll work under the assumption that the footballs are on the field at that stage and do not have time to be removed from the field of play.

With that in mind, the only possible way these footballs could have been deflated is if the ball-boy himself (or someone else on the sideline) removed air from the balls. This would have been undoubtedly been caught on camera, and unless they had a pressure gauge, there's no chance whatsoever that they would've been able to hit a precise, uniform number with each ball. And the idea of them having a gauge on the sideline whilst deflating the footballs would be all the more conspicuous, and would absolutely have been caught via video.

So with all that said, I'm imagine New England had their footballs inflated somewhere in the 11.0-12.0 PSI range prior to the game, hoping to get a slight edge and assuming the officials wouldn't formally measure the pressure in each football. To me this is great gamesmanship and something I have zero issue with. Rodgers has essentially admitted as much. At that point it's on the officials/league.

I suppose it's possible New England doctored the balls after their inspection, but given the very short amount of time they'd have to do that (along with other variables), it doesn't seem terribly plausible.

I'm sure the NFL is "distraught, disappointed and angry"....
at their own officials.

That college football article on the heels of the usc scandal makes it seem like it was pretty easy to do on the sideline but that's not NFL where I'd imagine it's much more difficult.

 

[catent]

That college football article on the heels of the usc scandal makes it seem like it was pretty easy to do on the sideline but that's not NFL where I'd imagine it's much more difficult.

Right, but would you be able to hit a precise PSI, and have said PSI uniform from football to football?

That seems fairly unlikely to me.

 

[NSPF]

Here's another mystery: Why does the NFL always release info at like 1 am? Why are they even awake?

 

[josh24]

In case anyone, like me, missed what Aaron Rodgers had to say about this:

"I have a major problem with the way it goes down, to be honest with you," Rodgers said Tuesday on his ESPN Milwaukee radio show. "The majority of the time, they take air out of the football. I think that, for me, is a disadvantage."

Rodgers said he likes the ball to be inflated because of his strong grip pressure and large hand size but doesn't believe that's the norm.

"The majority of quarterbacks, I would say more than half, are maybe on the other end of the spectrum and like it on the flatter side," he said on his show. "My belief is that there should be a minimum air-pressure requirement but not a maximum. There's no advantage, in my opinion -- we're not kicking the football -- there's no advantage in having a pumped-up football.

"There is, if you don't have strong grip pressure or smaller hands, an advantage to having a flat football, though, because that is easier to throw. So I think that is something they need to look at. There should be a minimum on the air pressure but not a maximum. Every game they're taking air out of the footballs I'm throwing, and I think that's a disadvantage for the way that I like them prepped."

http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/201...bay-packers-upset-referees-take-air-footballs

 

[josh24]

FYI, none of the recent news and reports (11/12 deflated footballs) has been released by NFL.com (4:40 a.m. ET)

For our own psychological well-being, I think I'd be safe for us to save our final judgments on this issue after the results of the investigation are officially released. No need to be asking for the head of Belichick, speculating about draft picks' losses, year-long suspensions, or such things.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

For the pat sake I hope the officials let air out of the pats' balls after inspection like rodgers said. if deflating the footballs by the refs is common practice it shouldn't be a big deal. If the pats did it, they deserve to lose the SB.

 

[Gronkowski123]

If we altered the balls after the refs checked them, we're losing our 1st round pick and getting a massive fine.

If we just handed them in at 10 and the refs didn't check, that's on the refs and the league may be more angry with the refs than us.

losing a 1st round pick? come on now..

 

[migman33]

How ever small or big this thing really is, why does BB feel the need to do these things when he doesn't have to?

 

[slash83]

For the pat sake I hope the officials let air out of the pats' balls after inspection like rodgers said. if deflating the footballs by the refs is common practice it shouldn't be a big deal. If the pats did it, they deserve to lose the SB.

Deserve to lose the SB? GTFO of here man. True fan you are, team has put in countless hours of blood, sweat and tears, time away from their families and you think they don't deserve to win the SB cause of balls that don't way the exact amount their supposed to be? GTFO

 

[NSPF]

Well, everyone is saying no matter what the investigation turns up, the Patriots are already screwed in terms of public perception. I think it's not over yet, if the Patriots are innocent and the NFL gets their investigation results out by late-morning we should still be okay. Everyone thought the story was stupid up until this most recent update, and since the story broke at like 11:30 pm (east coast anyway) when most people were already asleep or otherwise not watching ESPN. So if they can come out with "Patriots are innocent" in time for morning, we'll be good to go, I think. Of course, this hinges on the Patriots being innocent.

This could also even end up working in our favor potentially, if they turn out innocent the story will become about how quickly they were thrown under the bus, and how unfairly they were treated by the media. And then hey, maybe spygate was overblown too. Then suddenly we're back to being the good guys playing against this Seattle team that nobody wants to see win.

Hey, never quit on your team until it's over, they can still "win" this!

 

[Guts]

Whatever happens this team worked hard to earn a Superbowl trip everyone can suck it and hopefully our team hoist the 4th

 

[HawaiianPatsfan]

Well, everyone is saying no matter what the investigation turns up, the Patriots are already screwed in terms of public perception. I think it's not over yet, if the Patriots are innocent and the NFL gets their investigation results out by late-morning we should still be okay. Everyone thought the story was stupid up until this most recent update, and since the story broke at like 11:30 pm (east coast anyway) when most people were already asleep or otherwise not watching ESPN. So if they can come out with "Patriots are innocent" in time for morning, we'll be good to go, I think. Of course, this hinges on the Patriots being innocent.

This could also even end up working in our favor potentially, if they turn out innocent the story will become about how quickly they were thrown under the bus, and how unfairly they were treated by the media. And then hey, maybe spygate was overblown too. Then suddenly we're back to being the good guys playing against this Seattle team that nobody wants to see win.

Hey, never quit on your team until it's over, they can still "win" this!

Half of this is the NFL's fault. They need to get a tighter grip on their public relations. Regardless of what the result is, I think the Patriots should contest anything, and fight the NFL till the very end. Unless the NFL has concrete evidence (video of them letting out air) they can't accuse, and punish you for it. Its their problem for having stupid rules and ball policies like this that allow things like this to happen. If you took the NFL to court over it, the NFL would lose on a "he said, she said" pretense 100x over (Even if it were Reff's "word" was being brought into account). There are so many variables (i.e Pressure/temp at time, accuracy of gauges, place pressure was taken. What temperature of air was pumped into balls, and when it was pumped it, etc etc) All of these would have to be accounted for, which would make it almost impossible to prove them guilty.
Regardless of NE being guilty or not, this in reality is not that big of a deal, everyone is said to do it. Its the NFL's fault for letting this become a **** storm, and now with the Rodgers comments, and the fact that they caught the vikings warming balls earlier this season (Yes multiple balls) They can't just punish the Patriots. This goes back to their horrible leadership leaving so many things like this open to scrutiny. The NFL is a multi-Billion dollar a year organization. They need to stop acting like everyone in the league is friends and expect they'll just play by the rules. This isn't the 70's, were talking differences in hundreds of millions of dollars that teams seek to gain with success. They need to create a "ZERO TOLERANCE FOR EARLY LEAKS POLICY " Just like any other major billion dollar company in the world has (ex. Apple, Google, Walmart, etc.)

 

[luuked]

i hope i'm wrong but I am preparing for the worst possible scenario - pats did this deliberately and will lose draft pick and pay a fine. Unfortunately if the league finds the pats took air out after the initial inspection by the refs, it's going to cost them the super bowl. It will be too much of a distraction for the players.

Nothing will happen. Nothing.

If there was video evidence of anyone tampering with the balls on the sideline it would have come to light already. Without evidence that anyone vaguely connected to the team did something to the balls there can't be any punishment.

The only thing to come out of this debacle is that the NFL will tidy up the rules and hopefully pay for the scrimmage ball attendants out of their own pocket. This way there is no access to said balls for either team post inspection.

This thread reads as hysterical as the game threads. Chicken littles..