Talking Points

[Ring 6]

One of the frustrations with this issue is that the media is focussed on sound bites, and the answers in response to the soundbites (Balls were tamepered with, why didn't Brady turn over the phone, the texts prove it) all require more than a sound bite to answer. To me there are a few main talking points that are being butchered. The first is the science.

The science says:
1) WITHOUT ANY EFFECT OF RAIN, the laws of nature predict the footballs would have measured between 11.32 and 11.52.
22 measurements were taken. The average was 11.30.
The measurements of the Patriots footballs were under by 0.17% from what the laws of nature predict IF THEY WERE DRY.

Factors that could account for the 0.17% violation:
-Accuracy of gauges (2 gauges used had a margin of error of .35 to .40, or 3.1% to 3.5%)
-Rain
-Pressure lost from first measurement to second
-Human error
-Any difference in the assumptions used in the computation of temp in the room at either measurement or the exact original measurement

2) If we only use the gauge that Anderson says he used, then the average Patriot football measured 11.49, perfectly within the range and just 0.26% below the top of the range.

3) 3 of the balls were below the IGL prediction. It is more probable than not that the balls that measured the lowest were the ones that absorbed to most moisture (since that reduces psi) so that explains the fact that a few of the footballs measured a little bit low.

4) The 3 balls that were under the DRY IGL prediction were under by:
3.7%
2.8%
1.9%

Considering that the 2 approved gauges varied by somewhere between 3.1% and 3.5% from each other, these difference would be explained by tolerances the league considers acceptable in their own instruments,as well as pressure lost form first measurement to second, human error, any difference in the assumptions used in the computations before we even consider the effect of these balls more probably than not being the balls that were most wet and had the largest decrease in psi due to the wet weather.

 

[Ring 6]

The second is If Brady is innocent why not turn his phone over.

There are myriad reasons and explanations for this. Unfortunately the standard seems to be that people who don't understand those reasons are honest, and those that do are not.

Here are a few, I'm sure others can add more.
-Brady is a prolific member of the NFLPA and the NFLPA staunchly has fought to deny the right of subpoena to the NFL. Handing over his phone goes against his unions position that they have collectively bargained. Those that say an innocent man wouldn't care about protecting others when he is on the line,are placing their values and character into the equation and assuming Tom Brady should stoop to that level.
-According to Yee the feeling all along was that this was not an independent investigation. It makes no sense to hand something to an biased investigator with a penchant and history of calling his interpretation of it to be fact and the authors to be not credible.
-Brady read the Incognito report and saw abuse of the info found on phones
-Brady believed personal information would be leaked
-Another point here. When Wells says he told Tom to keep the phone and print out messages, that was not the initial request, that was the response to Brady's unwillingness to hand the phone over. As Yee says, by that point they were aware that Wells would not take the material seriously and still write the report that information was more probably than not withheld. Note that other cell phones were sent to a forensic lab.
-Brady realized that if he divulged an email that said "I'm pumped up" Wells would conclude that this is proof that he instructed McNally to deflate the football, or something to that effect.

 

[IllegalContact]

the only point I'd like to address is Brady and his phone......it would appear to me that based on how the league has handled this from the moment the colts complained was not upfront and transparent.....take that along with the manner in which the report cherry picks factors in order to come up with the desired conclusion, presenting the phone at that time is not in Brady's best interest since he would not be able to introduce it as 'new evidence' upon appeal.

I believe we would still be in this very spot if brady had presented his phone and they found nothing.....because the absence of something doesn't mean anything to Goodell and his henchmen

say for an instance he has repeated messages saying he wants the balls at 12.5psi...if he presented them now, the league would ignore it.....they would say it doesn't mean anything just like they dismiss anything that doesn't move the issue to their desired conclusion.

the league needs to be questioned about not bringing the issue straight to the pats when the colts complained.......

 

[Ring 6]

the only point I'd like to address is Brady and his phone......it would appear to me that based on how the league has handled this from the moment the colts complained was not upfront and transparent.....take that along with the manner in which the report cherry picks factors in order to come up with the desired conclusion, presenting the phone at that time is not in Brady's best interest since he would not be able to introduce it as 'new evidence' upon appeal.

I believe we would still be in this very spot if brady had presented his phone and they found nothing.....because the absence of something doesn't mean anything to Goodell and his henchmen

say for an instance he has repeated messages saying he wants the balls at 12.5psi...if he presented them now, the league would ignore it.....they would say it doesn't mean anything just like they dismiss anything that doesn't move the issue to their desired conclusion.

the league needs to be questioned about not bringing the issue straight to the pats when the colts complained.......

A very good point that Brady may well have felt that no matter what happened he was being disciplined and would have to appeal. Considering that everyone in Goodells scope gets found guilty, and then it gets overturned on appeal, that would be very rational.

 

[YOUGOTMOSSED]

A very good point that Brady may well have felt that no matter what happened he was being disciplined and would have to appeal. Considering that everyone in Goodells scope gets found guilty, and then it gets overturned on appeal, that would be very rational.

On another thread, I raised the point that somebody really screwed the pooch by allowing the commissioner to have this much authority (ESPECIALLY this commissioner). It's mind boggling that a commissioner can just pull draft picks away from a team this arbitrarily without the team having any recourse (other than convincing the tyrant to change his mind-good luck with that).

 

[mgteich]

1) Wells is punishing the patriots and Brady for not fully cooperating with the investigation.

2) Brady refused to provide access electronic information to Wells. This time of request is normal in civil and criminal cases, and these requests will be made again if Brady goes to court. Wells was fishing. Brady took the bait. It is very unlikely that anything incriminating is on the phone records.

3) Wells was clearly biased. However, Kraft could have requested a more impartial investigator when Wells was named, or before.

4) The team is being punished for not fully cooperating. There are at least two instances, Brady's failure to provide electronic records and the team's not providing McNally for follow-up questions.

5) The underlying case is very, very weak. That is what the team and Brady will stand on.

 

[hwc]

The Wells Report investigators realized from their very first temperature study that the measured PSI of the Pats balls showed that they were just as expected given a 12.5 psi starting point. No evidence of tampering.

To address this unexpected problem, they came up with curves showing that footballs very quickly increased in temperature and PSI when taken from outdoors to indoor conditions -- quickly as in a matter of seconds or several minutes. With this new "study" they were able to show that the Pats balls were ("gothcha") a few tenths of a PSI under expected pressures IF they weren't measured until four minutes after being brought inside, when they "should" be at much higher PSIs. They still would have been legal at 2 minutes. To get these curves, they manipulated the tests, using single balls, not 12 balls brought inside in a large duffle heavy duffle bag. They also intentionally misrepresented the effect of rain. For their "wet ball" tests, they spritzed the ball with a household spray bottle and wiped it off, once every 15 minutes. This hardly approximates the wetness of a half played in intermittent rain following torrential pregame downpours. This was a wet game with officials and ballboys swapping balls on every play and constantly towelling the balls to keep them from being soaked.

All of this is absurd as it is suggest a degree of precision that is simply not valid when you have different gauges producing readings that differ by 0.4 psi.

Ironically, one ball was measured outside and thus not subject to this "instantaneous warming". That was the ball that started it all -- the ball Indy intercepted. it was measured three times, with the three readings written on athletic tape placed on the ball on the Colts sideline. All three measurements were at or above the expected PSI based solely on temperature outdoors. Even these three measurements differed by 0.4 PSI, showing the lack of precision and the insignificance of half-PSI differences.

 

[BTTA]

4) The team is being punished for not fully cooperating. There are at least two instances, Brady's failure to provide electronic records and the team's not providing McNally for follow-up questions.

To be more accurate, it is "the team's not providing McNally in person for a fifth time for questions.

And on that issue, at some point, McNally's rights as a citizen are violated here. They can't continue to keep him from his chosen life's activities with perpetual appointment requirements. Most of us would agree that four interviews are an indication of extraordinary cooperation. Heck, the second time they called, he had the right to push back. Their incompetence at getting it right the first time is not a crisis for him, it is a crisis for them.

 

[hwc]

To be more accurate, it is "the team's not providing McNally in person for a fifth time for questions.

And on that issue, at some point, McNally's rights as a citizen are violated here. They can't continue to keep him from his chosen life's activities with perpetual appointment requirements. Most of us would agree that four interviews are an indication of extraordinary cooperation. Heck, the second time they called, he had the right to push back. Their incompetence at getting it right the first time is not a crisis for him, it is a crisis for them.

Plus, somebody in the NFL provided his name and home address and the accusation that he cheated to the media.

 

[IllegalContact]

the other possibility is that the pats are savvy and they played rope a dope during the entire process until the punishment was handed out and then upon appeal basically hit the accuser in the head with a sledge hammer

basically, if you're going to accuse the pats of something, you better have something or a ****storm is going to hit