Koma
In the Starting Line-Up
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(I don't start a lot of threads, so, Mods, if you feel this should be merged or practice squad'd, I'll defer to your judgement. I felt strongly enough about this topic that I felt it needed it's own thread.)
The thread title doesn't refer to the allegedly nefarious Patriots, but rather to the NFL's actions since January 18th. I read Dan Wetzel's column today and the more I think about it, the harder it is for me to believe what the league has been doing.
From the Wells report, we know that the officials checked and document the PSI of the Patriots footballs at halftime of the AFCCG. We know that Bob Kravitz got the story started by tweeting out that the league was investigating the Patriots later that night. And we know, as Wetzel's article states, that the story really exploded with Chris Mortensens "11 out of 12 balls 2 lbs under" story on the evening of January 20. From there, the Patriots were guilty via public opinion and the story became national news.
Here's what the league was up to:
On January 19, SVP of Football Operations David Gardi sent a letter to the Patriots stating that none of their footballs were at the required specifications, with one was at 10.1 PSI and the Colts balls were with specification. None of the measurements by the officials came up with that air pressure. The league never sent a follow up communication with the correct information, so, when the Mortensen story came out, as far as the Patriots knew, it was at least partly true.
Mortensen wrote that his sources were "league sources involved and familiar with the investigation." Except these sources provided him with incorrect information. The only people who knew the PSI of the footballs were the officials who checked the balls and NFL employees.
Regardless of who exactly Mortensen's source was, people at the NFL office knew the correct PSI numbers and did nothing to correct the story. As a result, the Patriots had to take time away from their Super Bowl preparation to hold press conferences and run science experiments with footballs
Then Dean Blandino stated in a press conference before the Super Bowl that the league was made aware of the issue during the first half of the AFCCG. We know this is untrue because the Wells report states that Mike Kensil forwarded the email from the Colts to Blandino during the week before the game. Blandino's lie was to defuse the notion that the league has staged a sting during the AFCCG.
None of the events above are exaggerated or speculation. The league gathered information on January 18th, then sent the Patriots a letter with incorrect information. When someone from the league leaked false information to Mortensen, the NFL, who was in possession of the correct information, did nothing to dispel the report. And when questioned about a possible sting operation, the VP of Officiating lied about the league's involvement.
Based on the preponderance of evidence standard, it's clear that the NFL has not exhibited "fairness and integrity" when dealing with the Patriots. In fact, the league went out out of their way to smear and unfairly treat the team. This is what people like Tom Curran, Michael Hurley and Jeff Howe should be looking into. This is an actual scandal, not a percentage of air pressure.
This part is just my opinion, but let's say the Patriots had a longstanding practice of lower the air pressure in footballs after the referees checked them. The Colts alerted the league of their suspicions, the league looked into the matter and found evidence of wrongdoing. The Wells investigation would fill in the details of who was involved and what they were doing. Under this scenario, the league had won and it was only a matter of time before the report was made public and the Patriots were punished. So what would be the point of leaking negative stories about the Patriots except to be malicious? Just catching them and punishing them wasn't good enough. People in the NFL office needed to smear them, for good measure.
The thread title doesn't refer to the allegedly nefarious Patriots, but rather to the NFL's actions since January 18th. I read Dan Wetzel's column today and the more I think about it, the harder it is for me to believe what the league has been doing.
From the Wells report, we know that the officials checked and document the PSI of the Patriots footballs at halftime of the AFCCG. We know that Bob Kravitz got the story started by tweeting out that the league was investigating the Patriots later that night. And we know, as Wetzel's article states, that the story really exploded with Chris Mortensens "11 out of 12 balls 2 lbs under" story on the evening of January 20. From there, the Patriots were guilty via public opinion and the story became national news.
Here's what the league was up to:
On January 19, SVP of Football Operations David Gardi sent a letter to the Patriots stating that none of their footballs were at the required specifications, with one was at 10.1 PSI and the Colts balls were with specification. None of the measurements by the officials came up with that air pressure. The league never sent a follow up communication with the correct information, so, when the Mortensen story came out, as far as the Patriots knew, it was at least partly true.
Mortensen wrote that his sources were "league sources involved and familiar with the investigation." Except these sources provided him with incorrect information. The only people who knew the PSI of the footballs were the officials who checked the balls and NFL employees.
Regardless of who exactly Mortensen's source was, people at the NFL office knew the correct PSI numbers and did nothing to correct the story. As a result, the Patriots had to take time away from their Super Bowl preparation to hold press conferences and run science experiments with footballs
Then Dean Blandino stated in a press conference before the Super Bowl that the league was made aware of the issue during the first half of the AFCCG. We know this is untrue because the Wells report states that Mike Kensil forwarded the email from the Colts to Blandino during the week before the game. Blandino's lie was to defuse the notion that the league has staged a sting during the AFCCG.
None of the events above are exaggerated or speculation. The league gathered information on January 18th, then sent the Patriots a letter with incorrect information. When someone from the league leaked false information to Mortensen, the NFL, who was in possession of the correct information, did nothing to dispel the report. And when questioned about a possible sting operation, the VP of Officiating lied about the league's involvement.
Based on the preponderance of evidence standard, it's clear that the NFL has not exhibited "fairness and integrity" when dealing with the Patriots. In fact, the league went out out of their way to smear and unfairly treat the team. This is what people like Tom Curran, Michael Hurley and Jeff Howe should be looking into. This is an actual scandal, not a percentage of air pressure.
This part is just my opinion, but let's say the Patriots had a longstanding practice of lower the air pressure in footballs after the referees checked them. The Colts alerted the league of their suspicions, the league looked into the matter and found evidence of wrongdoing. The Wells investigation would fill in the details of who was involved and what they were doing. Under this scenario, the league had won and it was only a matter of time before the report was made public and the Patriots were punished. So what would be the point of leaking negative stories about the Patriots except to be malicious? Just catching them and punishing them wasn't good enough. People in the NFL office needed to smear them, for good measure.
