The Published Wells Report.

IcyPatriot said:

Searching for some Ted Wells material ... the paragraph below is so rich.

Here's one from 1998 : http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/counsels/stories/espy100298.htm

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It's his job to say things like that.

You really don't have to search much. The result was preordained, as are most corporate "investigations." They have nothing to do with finding the truth. It's all about spinning, shielding and advancing the client's interest.

Big firm, big money, big client, big payday. Wells' firm made more money on this 103 day "investigation" than most of us will make over the next decade.

The Gr8est said:

Did Goodell ever find out who leaked the CameraPlacementGate tapes to Jay Glazer who works at the same network as Goodell's wife did?

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I guess after conducting his exhaustive investigation, he looked in the mirror and found the culprit.

Kraft has been a huge disappointment on this report so far. It's as if he's okay as long as the ax isn't falling in him. He owes more to Brady and his weak response after previously stating that Brady has never been lied to him can only lead me to think that he thinks Brady is lying or he doesn't care about it as long as the focus isn't on his brand directly. Either Brady is lying or Kraft is allowing Brady to be thrown under the bus. I hope Neither is the case

So, after now two days reflection, I have less clear thoughts on the matter.

On the one hand, the "scientific" analysis done by the hired guns, Exponent, is flawed and easily debunked. I actually think the scientific evidence is still in our favor. The fact that they landed on this Exponent group is telling, and indicting against the league. We know they weren't the league's first pick, and I would encourage a Curran or Reiss to find out if the reason they ended up with Exponent was because they weren't getting the answer they wanted from a more reputable source. Exponent really mangled the data, and was willing to use assumptions and come to conclusions that I do not think academic sources would feel comfortable doing so.

If there was deflation, it was rather clearly a very small amount, and probably not even done to all balls. Hard to believe they would do that.

There's also a tremendous amount of problems in the report, and an overwhelming bias throughout. Anything the Patriots say is questioned, anything the officials or NFL say is accepted and used as an assumption in the scientific analysis. That is ridiculous. The officials made several mistakes, and they are excused every time, and no harm is done to their credibility in the eyes of Wells. Amazingly, they take Walt Anderson at his word for almost everything, but when its convenient for their data to think he mis-remembered which gauge he used, they assume so. It's BS.

However, after reading through the texts of the two ball fellows again, it is equally hard to believe that they are telling the truth about just about anything. Their testimonies are inconsistent, illogical, and indicting, even when the texts themselves are open for different and far more innocuous interpretation.

That leaves Tom Brady's role in this. I am extremely reluctant to say he is lying because I feel like we know him well enough after all this time, and because I would be shocked he would risk his integrity and legacy over something so stupid. The good news: there's no evidence that Brady was aware of any wrong-doing, specifically any deflation past 12.5. I'd say there are two texts that are potentially bad news for him("knows you couldn't do it yourself", "lot of stress to get it done") but both are clearly open to a different interpretation. What I don't get is why the ball folks had to seemingly lie about those interpretations. If they are just protecting themselves, it's time to throw those guys under the bus. Of course, the irony is, there should be no bus because the science doesn't point to much, if any, deflation. I do NOT know what to think.

In short, I'm more confused now than when Sharks of Vegas was tweeting stuff months ago. I wouldn't have cared if the Pats were doing some gamesmanship, but I detest lying, and in particular in this case, as it would be just so stupid, and I hate stupidity. I want to believe Brady, and I think the science actually says we didn't do anything before the game, but these two ball guys are just so dumb and inconsistent - I don't know what to think.

I'll be away from patsfans for some time starting next week. I enjoyed seeing this process through with many of you, and appreciate the great efforts made by many posters here to try and elucidate this whole fiasco. I'm sorry it hasn't ended well for us, but hopefully this is not the end.

goheels22002 said:

This is a very significant discovery. If the Vikings and Panthers were not punished for manipulating the game balls during a game by the NFL, whatever they do to Brady can be cast as as arbitrary and capricious before a mediator by the NFLPA.

If Bridgewater or Cassell and Cam Newton get no punishment when they, too, were generally aware that the balls were being heated during the game, then Brady should be told to knock it off and go unsanctioned.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...rs-vikings-produced-a-far-different-reaction/

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Yes and it kills me to say this but the fact that TB12 didn't fully cooperate w/investigators and the Pats denied access to McNally, this can (and IMO will) be used as justification that the investigation was inconclusive b/c Brady and the Pats did not fully cooperate. Thats the warped logic Goody has. "We found nothing wrong but the fact that you didn't cooperate makes you guilty.". Such BS.

Gawd...I'm starting to sound like Felger.

TBR said:

Page 40 of the Wells report:

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On THIS ALONE, why are we having a conversation? Seriously, if this isn't exculpatory, then what is?

50-yard-line said:

On THIS ALONE, why are we having a conversation? Seriously, if this isn't exculpatory, then what is?

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Now you are being way too logical.

DarrylS said:

It is more probable than not after last nights Brady performance in Salem State, that #12 shall evermore be known as the "Zen Master"...

Bill Walton and Phil Jackson move over..

You all might want to review Tom Yee's response to the brouhaha about not releasing his phone, Tom has a right to privacy..

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-england...king-for-why-brady-didnt-turn-over-cell-phone

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florio critcizes his take
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...ns-bradys-refusal-to-provide-texts-and-email/

Matt Chatham ‏@chatham58 18m18 minutes ago
Lotta news publications LOVE to fudge on "deflator" thing. They give time & date for most texts, but say "at 1 point" for all the May stuff

Matt Chatham ‏@chatham58 2m2 minutes ago
Footnotes in Wells Report state clearly that everything here hinges on assumptions he proves unreliable in his own text. #CliffNotesMedia

Wells report "evidence" undermines certainty of any reading. Halftime ones are diff w/ each gauge. Then this (p52)...

robertweathers said:

Yes and it kills me to say this but the fact that TB12 didn't fully cooperate w/investigators and the Pats denied access to McNally, this can (and IMO will) be used as justification that the investigation was inconclusive b/c Brady and the Pats did not fully cooperate. Thats the warped logic Goody has. "We found nothing wrong but the fact that you didn't cooperate makes you guilty.". Such BS.

Gawd...I'm starting to sound like Felger.

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How did TB and the Pats not cooperate with the investigation? Tom spent a full day with them and answered all of the questions. Mcnally met with them FOUR times. Its a friggin investigation over a football being one psi under inflated not a capital murder case. Just because the NFL didn't get the confessions they wanted doesn't mean they did not cooperate. If they didn't do anything, they didn't do anything and they have no obligation to confess to something they didn't do just to fulfill the agenda of the NFL.

If this is not a witch hunt I don't know what else is.

It's pretty obvious that any player of any ball game likes the ball in a certain way, and this can vary depending on the weather, field, etc.

NFL should just admit they were incompetent in this matter leaving the door open for this sort of thing and that now they will close it and from now on there will be NFL people in charge of the game balls and the balls are gonna be new ones and not rubbed or beaten up balls like the majority of QB's prefer.

Brady and Yee would be wise to release the text messages to the public sooner rather than later. I understand why they would hold them back during the investigation but to not release them at some point does say quite a bit.

Sfpat said:

How did TB and the not cooperate with the investigation.

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TB12 didn't turn over his phone/text records to investigators. Yee stated why he didn't and to me, is perfectly acceptable. The NFL does not have subpoena power over members of the NFLPA so it was a chess move by Yee and TB12 which was fine. The problem is that NFL views it as uncooperative.

Sfpat said:

Tom spent a full day with them and answered all of the questions. Mcnally met with them FOUR times. Its a friggin investigation over a football being one psi under inflated not a capital murder case. Just because the NFL didn't get the confessions they wanted doesn't mean they did not cooperate. If they didn't do anything, they didn't do anything and they have no obligation to confess to something they didn't do just to fulfill the agenda of the NFL.

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McNally met with NFL Security four times and Wells brown shirts once. When they wanted to talk to him again after the texts were provided, Patriots Council denied the request.

crafty213 said:

Brady and Yee would be wise to release the text messages to the public sooner rather than later. I understand why they would hold them back during the investigation but to not release them at some point does say quite a bit.

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So the Wells Brown Shirts can go back to 2004 and review 8,743 text messages sent by TB12 and create a fictional narrative that shows messages sent to deflate footballs?

That was Yee's beef with there request. There was no scope. When he asked for clarification, Wells said, "just gimme.." and Yee said go F yourself.

SVN said:

of course felger

http://www.csnne.com/new-england-pa...lichick-got-relatively-easy-in-wells-report-0

only in boston the local media hates its teams and players as much

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The Boston media costs us players. A lot of guys won't play under that spotlight, because it's all negative all the time.

True story: I was at a convention in Anaheim. Half-asleep, I get on the elevator and a bellman comes on with a rack full of bags.

He says: You look tired.
Me: I'm still on East Coast time.
Him: Oh, you're with the Sox?

Okay, so now I'm awake - I'm in the hotel with the Red Sox. I go grab a shower and head downstairs to meet some friends from New York, who are huge baseball fans (we would hit whatever stadium we were at during our conventions).

Get down in the bar/restaurant and Danny Darwin walks by. I look over at a table and there's Frank Viola and a couple of other guys I didn't know. I loved Viola's pitching before he came to the Sox.

So I went over and said hello - didn't want to bother them, just wanted to wish them luck and such.

Viola was open and gracious - asked me to sit down and have a drink. I didn't want to intrude, but it was clear I wasn't. As I'm pulling out a chair, he asked me what I did. I said I was a writer.

Boom. The mood changed immediately - smiles to frowns. I didn't catch it completely. I asked the guy across from Viola if he was with the Sox. He scowled at me and said, "You know I am."

I apologized and said I didn't - this was before the internet and the only time I saw any of these guys was on tv in uniform.

"I'm the only one on the team!" he shouted at me (it was Herm Winningham, the only black player on the Sox at that time).

Again, I tried to explain that I thought so but didn't want to assume.

"You knew!"

I was confused by this point, obviously, as the hostility got very real. I apologized for bothering them and started to leave, and Viola says, "You just said you were a sportswriter from Boston!"

"I said "No, I'm not a sportswriter. I'm a novelist. I'm out here for ABA."

Boom! Mood changed again. As soon as they knew I wasn't a sportswriter. They bought me a drink and we had a good laugh.

robertweathers said:

So the Wells Brown Shirts can go back to 2004 and review 8,743 text messages sent by TB12 and create a fictional narrative that shows messages sent to deflate footballs?

That was Yee's beef with there request. There was no scope. When he asked for clarification, Wells said, "just gimme.." and Yee said go F yourself.

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Which is why I said I understand holding them back from the investigators. Brady and Yee can control the narrative of the messages in the public which is why not releasing them now or in the near future leads to suspicion. They can provide the message and the context. Why would they not do that?

SVN said:

florio critcizes his take
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...ns-bradys-refusal-to-provide-texts-and-email/

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Florio is a ****wit. There's nothing new there.

crafty213 said:

Which is why I said I understand holding them back from the investigators. Brady and Yee can control the narrative of the messages in the public which is why not releasing them now or in the near future leads to suspicion. They can provide the message and the context. Why would they not do that?

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OK but you said they would be wise to release the text messages. Which ones? Who determines which ones? Sure Yee and TB12 can provide the context but unless you are Hillary Clinton, in the court of public opinion thats not good enough.

I can't wait for Mythbusters to do this.