ESPN: 11 of 12 footballs under inflated by 2 pounds of air.

[vyrago]

I'm starting to feel the same. This entire thing has worn me out. Love the Pats but they are never going to be able to win a game in peace.

As am I.

 

[Bella*chick]

Actually basic science says weather would've reduced the pressure of the balls since pressure is related to temperature. If a ball is 12.5 psi at room temperature (~70 degrees), it will drop approx. 1.0 - 1.5psi based on a game temperature of (40 - 45 degrees).

The Patriots (and most every other team in the league) aren't stupid. They realize that if you want a ball to be under the 12.5psi during a cold weather game, you fill it up to the 12.5psi required for the pre-game check by the referees and then let the weather do its "magic" over the course of the game.

If you took the Colts game balls and measured them, I bet they'd come in with a similar variance in pressure.

What you just wrote here is exactly what I think happened. I think the balls were put in at minimum psi and let the weather do what it will.

 

[Galeb]

Given mortensen's disdain for the Pats, he probably used 13.5 PSI as the measurement from which he subtracted the PSI.

 

[IcyPatriot]

http://www.csnne.com/blog/patriots-talk/ex-ref-deflategate-non-issue?p=ya5nbcs&ocid=yahoo

previous supervisor of officials calls it a non-issue........says ref check the ball and if it doesn't feel good, they send it out

This is what I have been saying....

 

[tasmlab]

This makes it sound like the refs checked the footballs before the game and they were fine but then someone got to them and took the air out of them after they were checked.

The Patriots used deflated footballs during the AFC Championship game. "11 balls were under inflated by 2 lbs each." Those balls were used solely by the Patriots during the game. "Additionally the officials before the game checked the Patriots game balls and found them to be within the proper range."

Why do teams get to only use their own footballs anyway? The league should just select the footballs and both teams use the same ones.

If there was one that was not underinflated was that the one used for kicking? You definately wouldn't want an under inflated football for kickoffs and FGs.

IIRC, a few years ago Brady and Manning led a drive to use their own balls so they could rough them up the way the QB liked them.

 

[50-yard-line]

**** got real.

My mind is spinning over this - there are a lot of questions that need to be answered.

1. If you read what Aaron Rodgers said, it sounds like he's over-inflating the balls BEFORE the game (to see if the refs would take the air out). If true, this is a very different thing than tampering after the signatures.

2. That said, is it possible that Brady under-inflates them before the game and Anderson's crew didn't catch it? If so, then this is nothing. Period. Maybe the balls went in at 12psi, pushing the boundary, Anderson didn't object, and the balls then lost more during the game. Again, on the refs.

3. The article someone (not going back to check, sorry) posted from January, 2013 about the USC "scandal" makes it sound like tampering with balls to get them the way the QB wants is commonplace. If this is true in the NFL, everyone in the NFL would know it...in which case Pagano, who I believe made the call to the league, is a piece of **** right up there with Mangini.

4. If that's the case and it is commonplace, then the NFL handled this atrociously (now that's not hard to believe, is it?).

5. How is it that the Colts found this and the refs didn't? That just doesn't make sense to me, at all. So Anderson likely looked the other way, either way. In which case, the league needs to not make the Pats the scapegoat, but we know they will.

6. This whole ball issue is stupid and has been since the advent of the Brady-Manning rule. I hate that rule and always have. They should all use the same footballs, which should be in the control of the referees from start to finish.

The rule, however, is an admission by the NFL that they WANT the QBs personalizing the balls - they want points, points, points!!!!!

7. And finally...both IF condition needs to be met:

IF the Pats tampered with the footballs AFTER the signatures...
IF this is not commonplace...

then they cheated. At that point, it's not bending rules, it's breaking them, systematically.

If that is the case, I doubt I'll be around here much longer. It would be an insult to Patriots' fans, who, fairly or unfairly, are the face of the franchise.

 

[ZoisKing]

Can we just play football without all the other ********? This is like being back in high school and every nobody trying to make a name for themselves. Mike Reiss has even joined the bandwagon. He and the rest of them can go to hell.

 

[Patriots1364life]

When will this investigation end?

I wanna win a game where I dont have to see controversy.I also wanna know if the coach knew

 

[Fixit]

Can't tell if trolling or that stupid.

Be the first person to explain how taping plays gives an advantage or effects the outcome of the game. I'll wait.

 

[Hazy]

My guess is that the only team that would get caught for this is the Patriots, that or any other slight infraction. As other teams are looking to catch the Patriots for anything. Especially since Aaron Rodgers was quoted on national TV in front of millions saying he does basically the same thing and nobody batted an eyelid. Do you think if Brady made the same comments they would have just flown under the radar?

I was watching the rundown show on BarstoolSports.com last night where they said they had a source say that the Ravens players had told the Colts players about the deflated balls and the Colts players planned to complain the second they had their hands on the ball. They didn't publish the story because their source wouldn't reveal the names of the Colts players. That would make perfect sense since when D'well Jackson made the biggest interception of his career, he didn't celebrate and hand the ball back to the refs, he legged it off the field and handed the ball straight to the Colts VP. A little strange that a LB who rarely touches the ball, noticed that the ball was slightly deflated and during such a big moment of the game/his career, the slight deflation was his main concern. I guess rightly or wrongly, there was a conspiracy from more than one team to catch the Patriots out.

So if it wasn't deflategate, we would have been caught for some other slight infraction, it was inevitable. There was an NFL investigation into the legality of our formations against the Ravens ffs!!

 

[QuantumMechanic]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...linger-regarding-deflategate/#comment-3953341

wow.....Florio produces a fairly decent article about it....

Holy cow! That's a frighteningly sane article from Florio.

 

[Mark.]

I turned on Mike & Mike for a minute and they had Jerry Austin on. According to him, they checked both the Colts balls and Patriots balls at 1/2 time. Patriots balls were underweight and Colts were not. Since he is no longer involved in officiating games, why was he given this information?

 

[Patriots1364life]

I dont care what rodgers said.This team is under a microscope and are hated by the league.I am just tired of being called cheaters.This is all on the head coach.

 

[PatsBoy12]

Listening to Gresh and Zo now. I am interested to hear what they think.

 

[Double TE]

I dont care what rodgers said.This team is under a microscope and are hated by the league.I am just tired of being called cheaters.This is all on the head coach.

Why do you care what other people think? Losers make excuses. Winners win.

 

[shmessy]

http://www.csnne.com/blog/patriots-talk/ex-ref-deflategate-non-issue?p=ya5nbcs&ocid=yahoo

previous supervisor of officials calls it a non-issue........says ref check the ball and if it doesn't feel good, they send it out

This is helpful to have someone like this go out there in public and say it.


.......I just wish he'd muffle the Boston accent a bit when he does, though.

.

 

[The Brandon Five]

I turned on Mike & Mike for a minute and they had Jerry Austin on. According to him, they checked both the Colts balls and Patriots balls at 1/2 time. Patriots balls were underweight and Colts were not. Since he is no longer involved in officiating games, why was he given this information?

Underweight?

Anyway, it could be that Luck (like Rogers) prefers a bigger, firmer ball and so there balls might have been 13 or 13.5 psi pre-game and thus not below the required level at half-time.

Too many unknowns at this point. Great job by the league to leak partial information. Very professional.

Due process FTW!

 

[heavyde050]

Tell that to Aaron Rodgers....

That statement seems to imply that Mike McCarthy has no idea what Rodgers does with the footballs, which no one knows.

 

[Patriots1364life]

Why do you care what other people think? Losers make excuses. Winners win.

I wanna win without having to see a controversy my friend.We should be talking about the game and not about deflated footballs

 

[Fixit]

Sure! And while I'm at it, I'll explain how 1+1 = 2

So you can't.

Tell you what, you keep assuming I'm the dumbest guy on the planet and explain how videotaping from a sideline helps win that game. I'll just sit here and chew on this rock while I wait.