Deflate-Gate: Here We Go Again

[The Gr8est]

This ****ing sucks for many reasons, but mainly is this:

If we lose the super bowl everyone is gonna say how cheaters never win and that it's karma.

If we win, everyone is gonna say there's an asterisk next to it because we cheated blah blah

And even if the league says we didn't know or it wasn't deliberate, you know the damage has already been done. Fools are gonna say godell gave us a free pass and sweeped it under the rug.

It's a lose-lose any possible way you spin it

I'd like to see the Pats win and then they can say "up yours" to the league.

If they hammer the Pats for this like they did for Cameragate I am done with the NFL; I've been leaning in that direction for a while now.

Put an asterisk next to it or whatever they like it won't matter.

Sure hope BB resigns and writes that tell-all though.

 

[Ring 6]

Adam Schefter seems to be on our side. Hasn't tweeted anything against us, and retweeted Matt Leinarts tweet defending us in this.

If we are searching for reasons to be hopeful, Schefter not passing along the leaked rumors would be the most likely scenario that they are inaccurate. Mortensen and King have a long running history of spewing incorrect news, while Schefter seems to have more reliable sources (or only reports double checked news).

 

[shmessy]

And La Canfora was a former NFL Network reporter. Hopefully he still has connections to the Shield that are pushing that line of thinking.

Wow. Everyone should read that piece:

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/writer...e-find-doctoring-nfl-footballs-is-nothing-new

This is quite the opus by LaConfora. And it truly helps the Patriots' cause here.

After talking with many NAMED players, present and former, he has literally done a 180 turn on this towards leniency in the past several hours. Remember, he was the guy who wrote about the Ravens kickers complaining about their deflated footballs in the AFC Divisional. originally, he was making that out to be damning to the Patriots, but was later called on it becuase the kicking balls are the domain of NFL officials only.

Now, he is writing that what the Pats may have been working with is nothing out of the ordinary - - - basically 'everybody does it' and he lists many publicly willing sources on it.

Minds are being changed.

 

[Pat Riot]

why would belichick do this?? lol

and now brady looks like a fool for laughing this off.

LOL Yourself. What has been proven? Your post is stupid.

 

[fnordcircle]

Without a smoking gun there's only going to be so much that the league can do. Without someone from the Pats spilling the beans or footage somewhere we'll never know exactly what happened and how.

That's the grey area the NFL is going to have to issue a ruling from and, in a self-serving way that's oddly comforting to me. Kinda like a wife who just doesn't want to know about her husband banging the secretary I'd prefer that to finding out that this was some BS that Belichick authorized.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

If Brady paid $7,500 to have the ball boys deflate....

Oh, wait. That's happened already in the past. My bad.

 

[Ivan]

I'm actually starting to wonder if the reason for the delay is that the Patriots are fighting back and not simply Accepting the NFL's position on this. It could be that the NFL is saying the football's alone Are proof and the Patriots in the absence of any guilty party within the organization are saying there was no wrongdoing and aren't going to accept anything more than a warning or minimal fine. If the Vikes got a warning then that's the most the Patriots should receive,.and they should threaten legal action if they get more than that.

That could be wishful thinking but for some reason I don't see the Krafts letting them ruin this season And their reputation over this.

 

[Dr Pain]

If the Patriots played with balls too low in PSI in the 1st half then the 17 points from that half should be taken away then.

 

[King Brady]

Most people with real football knowledge know how blown out of proportion this is..

 

[Delicate Genius]

Mark Brunnell is talking the same crap Steve Young and company did during 2007 . Creating stories and how it benefits without thinking.

Keep in mind this is a guy that willingly signed with the Jets a few years ago. There's something wrong with him.

 

[Mark12]

I'd like to see the Pats win and then they can say "up yours" to the league.

If they hammer the Pats for this like they did for Cameragate I am done with the NFL; I've been leaning in that direction for a while now.

Put an asterisk next to it or whatever they like it won't matter.

Sure hope BB resigns and writes that tell-all though.

Of course I'd like to win. In fact, anything else would be depressing and unacceptable even suicidal.

It would also be a resounding '**** YOU' to the NFL and the ****ing ****y ass Colts. I can't wait to blow them out AGAIN next year for f*cks sakes

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

Simple. Because the league probably doesn't think it is a big deal. QB's have probably been roughing up balls for decades. This would be a non story if it didn't involve the pats.

Oh it's a big deal! Just look at all the media and the throngs of posters here. They know, they know it's a BFD! Just because the referees aren't capable of noticing an issue with a football they handle over and over and over and over, just because the league was and has been aware of inflation customizing by QBs for (likely) many many years, it's a BFD! Just ask Shannon Sharpe, Gladys Kravitz, and others......the Patriots should be kicked out of the league....because they all know, all of them, it's a B!F!D! (the sometimes dumbness of the masses -- cue the episode of Star Trek 'Errand of Mercy': "The mere presence of beings like yourselves is intensely painful to us").

 

[SVN]

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-...-esiason-see-deflated-ball-story-as-overblown

GANNON
"Ask any quarterback, and this is a non-issue. Everybody does something, to them. It's like a pitcher, he wants the ball a certain way. Take Tiger Woods, you wouldn't tell him after he's been hitting a 10.5 degree loft all week with a certain ball that, 'Hey, now we're going to switch your ball out.' That's his thing, and it's that specific feel that you want. That football is how we make our living and it sounds crazy, but it's a sacred thing. It's got to be a certain way."

ESIASON
"It really does seem totally ridiculous that this story has been blown so far out of proportion. If you look at the footballs that the quarterbacks are playing with and throwing for the last six or seven years, just realize that everybody is doing the same thing."

Meanwhile ESPN's Mark Brunell sees it a little differently.

In this video from SportsCenter, he explains how throwing a deflated football was easier for him in inclement weather.

"This is a huge advantage for a quarterback if he gets an opportunity to throw a ball like this because of the grip," Brunell said. "In cold, wet conditions, much like the AFC Championship Game, when you have a tough time as a quarterback gripping the ball, if you can have a ball like this, you can grip it and throw it further and with more ease. I could throw this ball 10 yards further because I can get more hand on the ball, I can squeeze it a little more. It makes a huge difference."

 

[james87654]

If the Pats did mess with it, the most likely method that I have seen posed would be filling the balls with hot air just prior to the refs testing it. By game time, the PSI would drop a predictable amount.

i like this theory

it would explain the precision of the drop in psi

it would also not be against the letter of the law......even if against the spirit of the law

i dont want to believe that they had a ball boy on the sideline deflating all the balls......hiding from the cameras and league personnel

i want to know the exact psi of all the balls before the game.......and the exact psi after deflated

any science types want to chime in on whether this is plausible

 

[catent]

Via the BDC fellow, just a moment ago:

http://www.boston.com/community/for...er/pats-will-be-exonerated/100/7784519?page=7

it is not my stance, it is the info given to me from a source with pretty good connections. until he tells me otherwise, yes, the Pats will be exonerated. the league will find no wrong doing by anyone affiliated with the Pats.

Again, take it for what it's worth. Don't take it as fact, but it's probably worth a bit more than the average person's opinion.

FWIW, this guy has routinely criticized Belichick for Spygate, his handling of the Hernandez situation, and his GM'ing skills, so I doubt he's pushing an agenda that sheds a positive light on Belichick.

 

[obgod3]

If we are searching for reasons to be hopeful, Schefter not passing along the leaked rumors would be the most likely scenario that they are inaccurate. Mortensen and King have a long running history of spewing incorrect news, while Schefter seems to have more reliable sources (or only reports double checked news).

Yeh my thoughts exactly but with Mort reporting it? I dont care for Mort but Im not sure I can find a time when he was wrong lately. But nothing headlining NFL.COM. Would the NFL or an insider really tell Mort something that the know might come back as 100% inaccurate?

 

[SunsOutGunsOut]

https://twitter.com/espnnfl/status/557968541039603713

 

[Dr Pain]

Let's hope that BB has blinded us with SCIENCE!

http://www.boston.com/sports/footba...ut-the-ball/Eocm5m29nIlh0HRBjFWsYO/story.html

I love how this BU Professor in the Globe says the exact opposite of what the BC Professor said in John Tomasi's Herald.

 

[Patstopia]

Mark Brunnell is a tool, he has 2 balls, one at 13 one at 11. He said he would have much better control of the ball with the 11 psi. He could throw it farther and jump tall buildings. Then when asked what way he liked the ball, he said with the higher pressure? Huh, 11 psi makes you throw better, but you prefer higher pressure? Tool....

 

[Delicate Genius]

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-...-esiason-see-deflated-ball-story-as-overblown

Someone should point out to Mark that Brady and the Pats dominated the second half after the footballs were apparently reinflated. What a goof.

Brady 1st half: 11/21, 95 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
Brady 2nd half: 12/14, 131 yards, 2 TDs

Oops.