NFL Knew To Change Football Rules in January

[PatSunday]

Update: The NFL waited on purpose, declaring the investigation into the Patriots more important than fixing the rule. Reiss reports the Patriots got the half-time measurements in March but were not allowed to share or defend themselves by the NFL.

Back in January, the NFL screwed up by allowing referees to bring broken gauges and not writing down the starting values (and corresponding gauges) for the game questions about air pressure were raised ahead of time.

The head referee believes they were set to 12.5 with a broken gauge, meaning the Patriots balls were never set right to begin with. Even the non-broken one was still +/- 1% accuracy, which means it could read 12.5 but actually be 12.25 or 12.3.

Finally, even if they used a $1,000 gauge required to be within 0.01% accuracy, all of the footballs, even many of the Colts 13 psi ones were under 12.5 by the time the game started. They were brought outside!

Whether the referees wrote down the starting values or not, whether they used broken gauges or not, whether they used expensive super-accurate gauges or not, the balls were guaranteed below the minimum before the start of the game.

When did the NFL realize the rule should be updated?

Upon measuring the footballs at half-time, the NFL knew right away that both team footballs "deflate" regardless of which gauge is used. Yet, they never supplied this information to the Patriots to help them defend themselves to the media. Belichick had to do his own study and press conferences during the week before the Super Bowl. Seriously?

The NFL should have started addressing the rule immediately in January, not starting in May, doing a separate investigation on the rule and it's effects.

The NFL should have started a separate committee and investigation into updating the rule in January to present to the owners. And Goodell should have explained the reasons the rule needs to change and why in January. The Patriots would never be roasted by the media.

Instead, the Patriots were doing their own investigations, a "neutral" party was looking into the Patriots game-day activities, and what were the NFL doing? Nothing? That's it? You learned the footballs of both teams were deflated but you didn't correct the media or start a task force to fix the rule? For four months?

The rule had nothing to do with the Patriots, you had the measurements at half-time that gauges are not consistent, the referees do not write down the starting air pressure even if it makes sense to do so, and both team footballs respond to weather conditions the same way. A rule-change should have been proposed back in January.

 

[The Gr8est]

The NFL screwed up by allowing referees to bring broken gauges and not writing down the starting values (and corresponding gauges) for the game questions about air pressure were raised ahead of time.

The head referee believes they were set to 12.5 with a broken gauge, meaning the Patriots balls were never set right to begin with. Even the non-broken one was still +/- 1% accuracy, which means it could read 12.5 but actually be 12.25 or 12.3.

Finally, even if they used a $1,000 gauge required to be within 0.01% accuracy, all of the footballs, even many of the Colts 13 psi ones were under 12.5 by the time the game started. They were brought outside!

Whether the referees wrote down the starting values or not, whether they used broken gauges or not, whether they used expensive super-accurate gauges or not, the balls were guaranteed below the minimum before the start of the game.

When did the NFL realize the rule should be updated?

Upon measuring the footballs at half-time, the NFL knew right away that both team footballs "deflate" regardless of which gauge is used. Yet, they never supplied this information to the Patriots to help them defend themselves to the media. Belichick had to do his own study and press conferences during the week before the Super Bowl. Seriously?

The NFL should have started addressing the rule immediately in January, not starting in May, doing a separate investigation on the rule and it's effects.

The NFL should have started a separate committee and investigation into updating the rule in January to present to the owners. And Goodell should have explained the reasons the rule needs to change and why in January. The Patriots would never be roasted by the media.

Instead, the Patriots were doing their own investigations, a "neutral" party was looking into the Patriots game-day activities, and what were the NFL doing? Nothing? That's it? You learned the footballs of both teams were deflated but you didn't correct the media or start a task force to fix the rule? For four months?

The rule had nothing to do with the Patriots, you had the measurements at half-time that gauges are not consistent, the referees do not write down the starting air pressure even if it makes sense to do so, and both team footballs respond to weather conditions the same way. A rule-change should have been proposed back in January.

Well the Pats had nothing better to spend their time on anyway.

All they had on their scheduled was to try and get ready to win a SuperBowl.

 

[flasox27]

Lets face it the whole thing was a sting set up by people who did not know how the ideal gas law worked. Then the league got a sham investigation to support the conclusion which they chose. It was obvious from the beginning that the League was out to get them and if not for this then some other contrived violation. Unfortunately it required a truck load of two by fours to hit Kraft on the head for him to realize it.

 

[blackglass3]

AND it was the worst sting ever! Write down the f'ing PSI next time you try to catch someone without warning them.

Dear God this whole thing is stupid, and I cannot believe how dumb the media and public are. Science blows the whole thing out of the water, incompetency ruins the sting operation even if the Pats were doing something wrong, and outright lying about it while crowing "integrity" makes the NFL look like a joke. Yet Tom Brady is suspended? If the Pats rip off another Super Bowl this year I hope Brady and Belichick retire so I can stop watching. Its such a joke with this ****head in charge.

Sorry, needed to vent.

 

[Ross12]

Writing down the starting PSI and which gauge was used would've undermined the whole thing, as it would've shown the Patriots' balls to likely be a bit low when factoring in how artificially high the Logo gauge was. The league couldn't say "well the pats submitted low psi balls", because it's the ref's job to reinflate them to within spec.

Using guesswork to determine intial PSI and which gauge was used to measure them, allows Ted Wells to freely manipulate his probabilities to find the worst possible scenario for New England, and then determine that was also the most likely scenario, based on his own work.

 

[Fencer]

What's weird about all the ignorance about the effect of temperature is -- they wrist-slapped a couple of teams for heating the balls.

 

[1960Pats]

Well the Pats had nothing better to spend their time on anyway.

All they had on their scheduled was to try and get ready to win a SuperBowl.

Which they did, with help from the greatest defensive play in NFL history.

 

[The Gr8est]

So the Colts equipment manager said that it was common knowledge that the Pats lowered the pressure on their balls, and that is what initiated this whole fustercluck.

Apparently that is common knowledge, but the affect of cold and wet weather on footballs isn't common knowledge.

Mike Kensil thinks weighing the balls can determine if a ball is underinflated.

Maybe Pats balls are softer than other teams since, rather than spending most of their time in trash bags isolated from the elements, the Pats balls are spending a lot more exposed since we are whipping up on other teams.

This witch hunt came about due to the ignorance and stupidity of other teams.

So aggravating being limited by the stupidity of others.

 

[ScottMac]

From my trusted, anonymous source who is always more often than not, probably correct, the NFL, as reported will be changing the way they handle footballs in 2015. Again, from my source, the newly proposed rules will allow for a PSI challenge after every completed pass. Coaches will have, if passed, 5 PSI challenges per quarter, win or lose. If a football, as a result of a challenge, is found to be below 12.5 PSI, it will be pumped up to 16 PSI and remain in the game. The offending QB will have $25K deducted from an NFL registered credit/debit card.

In an effort to educate our youth, every half-time will feature a local elementary school providing their brightest to take to the field and test all game balls for PSI. The numbers will be displayed for the fans. If the measurements are found to be out-of-range, the children will be given the option of assessing suspensions or fines and may base their findings on the applause meter, monitored by officials from ESPN. Of course (due to children), all punishment will still have to be approved by the commissioner. That's only fair!

Personally, I'd prefer a PSI test after every pass completion, no challenge required. An NFL PSI team could be assembled in every city, ready to go into action at a moment's notice.

And if the NFL is really looking to increase profits, well, "NFL LA-PSI" would be a great start! Season one could concentrate on the PSI team searching to find a local franchise. In season two, the team actually finds a team that will probably, more often than not, play in L.A. in season three. In season three, the Colts & the Ravens, "surprising" everyone, arrive in Los Angeles at 3:00AM PST on the same date. Stay tuned for season four as my source has limitations...

 

[Canuck]

Goodell when informed about the Ideal Gas Law found that Mother Nature was not an owner or employee of an NFL Team and could not issue a punishment against Mother Nature. Goodell then pressed his little minion Wells to find a another target to punish. It was deemed that Mother Nature had gifted Tom Brady with footballs with reduced PSI and that she showed favoritism towards the Patriots as she did not gift the Colts equally. Goodell and his minions in a fit of rage declared that Mother Nature had given the Patriots an unfair advantage and should be punished. Knowing that punishing the Patriots might cause Mother Nature to go irate, Goodell held off the punishment until after the draft knowing that Mother Nature just might unleash her fury and drown out the proceedings.

 

[RunAmok]

And the clowns left the stadium without the balls!! They had to ask the Pats for them.

 

[Gumby]

AND it was the worst sting ever! Write down the f'ing PSI next time you try to catch someone without warning them.

Dear God this whole thing is stupid, and I cannot believe how dumb the media and public are. Science blows the whole thing out of the water, incompetency ruins the sting operation even if the Pats were doing something wrong, and outright lying about it while crowing "integrity" makes the NFL look like a joke. Yet Tom Brady is suspended? If the Pats rip off another Super Bowl this year I hope Brady and Belichick retire so I can stop watching. Its such a joke with this ****head in charge.

Sorry, needed to vent.

I tend to believe it is plausible that they didn't actually take the dolts accusation seriously, and it wasn't necessarily a " pre-planned" (or at least well-planned) sting.

It could be that they passed along the accusation and said, he'll they'd not be so stupid to do something in a playoff game. Then when dolts tested the int, all the ex-jest NFL execs got HUGE WOODYS thinking this is the day they sink the Bismarck or something. So they test the balls and then those same ex-jesters CREAM IN THEIR PANTS at the low pats psis. They probably didn't even care what the dolts were.


BUT I think they had absolutely no clue about the ideal gas law UNTIL AFTER BB'S PRESSER. By then it was too late, they could either tell the world they don't know 7th grade science and were predisposed to get pats OR they could use their control over whole process and willing media idiots and fully expect Kraft to roll over for them again ('hell, it worked last time') to double down on their stupid hatred. And doubling down protects their jobs. Apologizing (by go-to-hell) when they should would have likely meant firings for some of them.

And to top it off, it's house money they get to play with. They were able to spend millions on wells to rig the report; [but remember the NFL doesn't have enough money to buy 8 end zone cameras (say ~ $500ea, or $4,000 per stadium, $128K for the league] in order to cover for THE CRIME THEOSE NFL EXECS ARE COMMITTING BY JUST DRAWING A SALARY in addition to the setup crime.

 

[The Gr8est]

And the clowns left the stadium without the balls!! They had to ask the Pats for them.

Be very afraid when the Keystone Cops are given actual power over you.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

From my trusted, anonymous source who is always more often than not, probably correct, the NFL, as reported will be changing the way they handle footballs in 2015. Again, from my source, the newly proposed rules will allow for a PSI challenge after every completed pass. Coaches will have, if passed, 5 PSI challenges per quarter, win or lose. If a football, as a result of a challenge, is found to be below 12.5 PSI, it will be pumped up to 16 PSI and remain in the game. The offending QB will have $25K deducted from an NFL registered credit/debit card.

In an effort to educate our youth, every half-time will feature a local elementary school providing their brightest to take to the field and test all game balls for PSI. The numbers will be displayed for the fans. If the measurements are found to be out-of-range, the children will be given the option of assessing suspensions or fines and may base their findings on the applause meter, monitored by officials from ESPN. Of course (due to children), all punishment will still have to be approved by the commissioner. That's only fair!

Personally, I'd prefer a PSI test after every pass completion, no challenge required. An NFL PSI team could be assembled in every city, ready to go into action at a moment's notice.

And if the NFL is really looking to increase profits, well, "NFL LA-PSI" would be a great start! Season one could concentrate on the PSI team searching to find a local franchise. In season two, the team actually finds a team that will probably, more often than not, play in L.A. in season three. In season three, the Colts & the Ravens, "surprising" everyone, arrive in Los Angeles at 3:00AM PST on the same date. Stay tuned for season four as my source has limitations...

Amazing post!

 

[PatSunday]

I tend to believe it is plausible that they didn't actually take the dolts accusation seriously... Then when dolts tested the int, all the ex-jest NFL execs got HUGE WOODYS thinking this is the day they sink the Bismarck or something. So they test the balls and then those same ex-jesters CREAM IN THEIR PANTS at the low pats psis. They probably didn't even care what the dolts were.
BUT I think they had absolutely no clue about the ideal gas law UNTIL AFTER BB'S PRESSER.

Exactly correct. I wrote half-a-dozen posts the first day to explain that it's totally reasonable for the footballs to lose 1 - 2 psi air pressure without losing air, as well as to explain it could be even worse than that due to sports gauges being inaccurate.

The fact is, most Patriots fans condemned the team just like non-fans the first several days because all the reports stated that only the Patriots balls lost air pressure, the amount was by 2 PSI each while the Colts footballs stayed at 13 PSI, the the footballs were so soft and strange that the defenders who intercepted the footballs complained they were soft, and that the interceptions triggered the NFL to take a look.

The Patriots fans and non-fans who started reading these threads and sharing information started realizing the media was stating impossible things and there would be many ways to explain unless the report has serious evidence.

The NFL does not correct misconceptions, waiting for the report to come out.

The report comes out. The NFL does NOT release a press release stating that the media speculation of the initial days and months were shown to be false.

Instead, they take new statements by the report at face value.

So what evidence remains? The only remaining "fact" is that a guy who once called himself the Deflater took footballs to the field without waiting for approval, and stopped for a bathroom break for 90 seconds as part of his job.

Bathroom breaks:

Companies cannot fire a 40+ year old man for going to the bathroom just because their job is to secure an object. That is part of age discrimination, and the NFL is forcing the Patriots into age discrimination, in favor of twenty year old healthy individuals that do not need to go to the bathroom from point A to point B.

Secondly, I imagine labor laws also protect the human right to take bathroom breaks, as needed, at any age.

Thirdly, he took the objects he was securing with him, so he was still doing his job. Fourth, there was no NFL rule that the guy had to be on-camera with the footballs at all times. There may have been miscommunication, but he still did his job of bringing the footballs from point A to point B without letting them out of his sight.

Calling himself a Deflater:

He texted Brady's ball preparer the minute he appeared on the live broadcast against the Packers carrying a jacket like he was going to hand it to someone. The text said, "Deflate yourself and give up the jacket", which sounds like the meaning #2 in the dictionary of "deflate" - to reduce the size of importance.

It sounded like this 40+ year old man was talking down to the 20-30's guy preparing Tom Brady's footballs to control his ego. That's why he called himself the Deflater at the start of the season, telling him he should be the one getting signed jerseys and shoes. In other words, don't be hogging them.

Without Evidence:

Having no evidence against Tom Brady or Patriots employees, the NFL and the media are still trying to save face. The explanation behind the reason the Patriots got punished is now:

1) the Patriots did not want Mr. Deflater to have to leave his out-of-state job for a fifth interview, since he already spent a day with Wells, and even without a lawyer right after the game ended, and the NFL leaked information to the media that got him harassed in the spring.
2) Brady did not want to provide his phone, which may have evidence and any quotes even vaguely related to balls or footballs, all mentions of which, even in jest, will definitely be leaked or used in the report.
3) The Pats had previously been found guilty of videotaping from the wrong place on the field, which was a consideration mentioned in the punishment.

But don't forget, the Patriots were vindicated!

Imagine, a multi-million dollar investigation finds that the Patriots did not attempt or succeed at affecting the outcome of a football against the spirit of the rules. That's way better than the Patriots having to deny the haters. The conclusion is biased towards the company that paid for the report, but the evidence shows there is no cheating culture or attempt to cheat by the Patriots. The report destroyed the media rumors way better than the Patriots simply denying it would.