The Published Wells Report.

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

Why doesn't the report mention that the four Colts' balls both had mostly also fallen below spec, and also did not lose as much pressure as science would suggest?

Wells' conclusion is essentially: "Science says X amount of pressure loss should occur. The Pats experienced >X, the Colts experienced <X. The Pats probably tampered, don't worry about the Colts."

From my reading of Wells thus far:

PREGAME:
All balls verified by Walt Anderson to be within range. Patriots target 12.5-12.6 psi, Colts more like 12.9-13.1
HALFTIME:
All 12 N.E. balls were measured below 12.5 psi. 11 of them were measured (twice each) with the 2 gauges that Walt Anderson had with him, one of which he used pre-game (the one left out was apparently the interception ball). That table is in this thread already, and has been tweeted. The Colts' balls were lower, but did not drop below 12.5, and did not drop as much as the Patriots'... 4 of the Colts' balls were measured to reach this conclusion. The Patriots balls were reinflated and returned to the game just afer the start of the 3rd Q.

POSTGAME:
4 Patriots balls picked randomly remained above 12.5 after halftime reinflation. 4 Colts balls had deflated or whatever the #'s were.

So at Postgame, there were apples and oranges in terms of comparison - the Colts balls hadn't been reinflated at halftime.

 

[Tony Cahncuhd]

Right, but according to the numbers Wells is supplying, the Patriots' balls experienced greater pressure loss than he expected scientifically, yet it is never stated that the Colts' balls experienced a fair deal less pressure loss than should have happened scientifically.

If you are going to look at the Patriots' balls losing too much pressure and draw the conclusion "they probably deflated them", then should you not draw the conclusion with the Colts' balls not losing enough pressure that "they probably inflated them"?

Except that ONE of the gauges showed that the average Patriots ball lost 1.01psi, LESS than expected from basic natural laws (1.13 according to their own squirrely calculations). Deflation beyond natural expectations depended on which gauge was used.

Regardless of gauge, the Colts balls loss less pressure than would be natural (-1.15 psi expected, -0.45-1.01 psi observed).

What a mess. I don't know how anyone could draw any conclusions from this crock.

 

[rochrist]

I'm the biggest Brady fan there is and I'm just bringing this up to be fair. This whole thing pisses me off as much as anyone.

Right. And you've posted two whole messages.

 

[Mountain_Commando]

News is now out on NFL.com.

As expected, majority of comments are treating this as a 100% guilty report. Talks about stripping the SB, etc.

 

[Kdo5]

I officially no longer give a rats azz about this investigation or the people who will eternally condemn Tom Brady and the organization. While it has been disappointing I cant allow myself to care anymore.

So long as Tom isn't handed down a big punishment such as a suspension I can live with it. **** it, just go out and win. Haters and pundits be damned.

 

[Triumph]

Here we go again.

I would expect suspension and fines for BB and Brady. Kraft must be livid for hanging himself out to dry.

 

[ctsports]

Here's the key paragraph of the Exponent report:
"Overall, we determined that there was a small window in which it was theoretically possible to combine the factors listed in 7a through 7d above to achieve pressure levels that matched those recorded for both the Colts and the Patriots on Game Day, regardless of which gauge was used to measure the footballs pre-game, test them at halftime, or set them prior to our experiments. However, as described below, the precise combination of factors required for the Patriots halftime measurements to fall within the range predicted by the transient experiments while also matching the Colts halftime measurements to the predicted range required setting certain parameters—particularly the timing of the halftime testing and the surface condition of the footballs—at levels believed to be unrealistic and unlikely to have been present on Game Day. "

In short, even their own science can't definitively say that the test results weren't the result of environmental and preparation factors, but they don't think it happened that way. Hence the weasel words used by Wells.............

 

[SHOWTIME15]

My question is this. Why if Brady, Gostkowski et al refused to provide text messages did McNally agree to it? I assume he was perfectly within his rights to do the same?

exactly, tell wells to get a fricken warrant.....unless mcnally really doesn't like brady and wanted to get him in trouble

 

[Afam]

I said this was a big deal when it happened, and I got called all names in the book. Whatever. I'm just disappointed in everyone involed. From the Patriots to Tom Brady, Roger Goodell. Especially the Patriots. Why put yourself in the position to be screwed. Roger Godell is a joke. Maybe be needs to resign.

 

[BradyManny]

Some thoughts:

1. Almost all of the texts I find not at all damning, and I find the Wells interpretation of them so absurd that it makes me question his judgement. However, I cannot explain the deflator and needle references.
2. The balls are just barely below what the science expects them to be. What sense does it make to deflate a ball by a trivial amount?
3. I am surprised by the boldness of the claims by their scientific consultants given the tremendous amount of uncertainty. I wonder if they had to go outside of academia to find someone who would be willing to give them what they wanted. What happened to Columbia? I still think the scientific evidence is on our side.
4. That said, I'm not sure what to think of the whole thing anymore.
5. If the two ball guys were doing anything wrong, I would've thought they would've admitted to it and said Brady had nothing to do with it. The fact that they didn't tells me they likely didn't. Yet I still can't explain #1.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

Was there ANY look at the league?

Doesn't look that way so far.. I plan to go through this entire report page by page, line by line and that is one of the things I'll be looking for

 

[rochrist]

The report seems to be solely based on text messages between two low level employees. Your view on the report will be based on how much credibility you put in those messages. Does it make me personally suspicious? Yes - but I'm not writing a report that will do irrevocable damage to the reputations of Tom Brady and the Patriots. If you have that responsibility, I think you need to choose your words very carefully. But either way, there is no direct evidence that Tom Brady was involved or knew anything about the deflating footballs.

I think until you have evidence, your suspicions should remain private.

I think what they're using for evidence is a) his denying that he knew who Mcnally was, a b) his refusal to hand over his phone. There are perfectly fine possible explanations for both, but it doesn't matter.

 

[scott99]

That damn Brady. Trying to gain an unfair advantage by deflating the balls, even though he played better with the properly inflated balls in the second half and in the SB.

This whole thing is absurd. Hopefully they don't suspend him for such a silly thing.

The fact that this is a big deal is a disgrace. The Atlanta thing is way worse than this, the Cleveland texting is worse (all kind of info could be texted giving a team an edge), and let's face it, the tampering is worse too, because who knows how much that affected the Revis negotiations ? The fact that air in a football, is more important than the things I mentioned above as well as the Rice/Peterson beatings, is an embarrassment. Also, why aren't the Colts being investigated for 4 months for having footballs under inflated ? I'm so close being done with the NFL if things turn really sour punishment wise.

 

[bradybunch321]

Perhaps there should be a moratorium on new members for a week or so to avoid the worst of the trolls.

Lol so pointing out something in the report that no one has mentioned makes me a troll.

Again, I'm the biggest Brady fan there is and this whole thing is so stupid since we clearly didn't need deflated balls to win the superbowl. But considering the Brady/Pats haters there are and the joke the NFL has become in terms of suspensions I can easily see them suspending Brady just because of this and the court of public opinion.

 

[BradyManny]

Doesn't look that way so far.. I plan to go through this entire report page by page, line by line and that is one of the things I'll be looking for

There's not.

 

[FourierSeries]

Are people just going to ignore this? I'm not saying Brady's guilty, but it definitely doesn't help and in the court of public opinion he pretty much is guilty

Why would you care about public opinion when the majority of people are unintelligent and uneducated fools who barely pass the minimum requirements to be considered human beings.

F&ck public opinion. This is what I say to the haters:

 

[juny]

so those texts between the two ball boys only complain about tom being a PITA about how the footballs are prepared. I haven't seen anything about them talking about doing anything to footballs after ref check. does anyone see that anywhere?

 

[QuantumMechanic]

I've finally had the chance to start reading the actual report. Here is something I think they will use to hang team penalties on NE:

The investigative process would have benefited from further questioning of McNally on certain topics, and we believe that the actions of the Patriots and their counsel in this regard are inconsistent both with the club's public pronouncements of full cooperation with the investigation and its obligations under Section 2 of the Policy on Integrity of the Game & Enforcement of Competitive Rules.

(that's with respect to the report's claim that NE refused to produce McNally after the initial interview.)

 

[RxJock1120]

One fact no one seems to be discussing is why were only 4 Colts footballs measured??? I just don't get it, they decided to measure the Colts balls for a frame of reference, but only measured some of them...as with many things this does not make sense. Was there something with the other 8 footballs the report did not to explain...food for thought.

 

[RI Patriots fan]

Can you imagine being judged by interpreting what two guys at work text about you?