I am about halfway through the appeal document, and am now thoroughly convinced that the Patriots are innocent. After taking into account timing, there remained an unexplained difference in difference of about 0.4 PSI between the Colts and Patriots balls. Obviously this number is familiar: it's the difference between the Logo and Non-Logo gauge. Hence the suggestion that maybe Walt Anderson used a different gauge for the Colts and Patriots balls, and that the Patriots balls actually start at 12.1 PSI.
This is old news of course. The sticking point with that theory was, why would the Patriots set the balls to 12.1 PSI? It seemed more likely than not that their gauge was accurate. But this is where the new news comes in: Walt Anderson's gauges are off by 0.4 psi, so it was assumed that the gauges used at halftime were Walt Anderson's gauges. Which makes sense, except for one thing: a small note above the second column of the data sheet used to record the half-time measurements (pg 258 of appeal):
"Belonging to JJ"
John Jastremski's gauge, the gauge used to set the Patriots footballs, was off by roughly 0.4 PSI, just like Walt Anderson's Logo gauge. So when Anderson measured the Patriots balls, both gauges agreed that they were 12.5 PSI. Both Anderson's Logo gauge and John Jastremski's gauge were wrong, and the Patriots' fooballs all started the game at 12.1 PSI.
EDIT: HERE'S THE RELEVANT PART OF THE APPEAL, taken from my later comment. Page 215-217:
Except we DO know which gauge the Patriots used, it was obviously John Jastremski's gauge. You know, the guy responsible for setting the Patriots' balls psi levels? And from this new piece of evidence, we ALSO know that his gauge was off by the same amount as the logo gauge.
Note: mods feel free to delete the other thread
This is old news of course. The sticking point with that theory was, why would the Patriots set the balls to 12.1 PSI? It seemed more likely than not that their gauge was accurate. But this is where the new news comes in: Walt Anderson's gauges are off by 0.4 psi, so it was assumed that the gauges used at halftime were Walt Anderson's gauges. Which makes sense, except for one thing: a small note above the second column of the data sheet used to record the half-time measurements (pg 258 of appeal):
"Belonging to JJ"
John Jastremski's gauge, the gauge used to set the Patriots footballs, was off by roughly 0.4 PSI, just like Walt Anderson's Logo gauge. So when Anderson measured the Patriots balls, both gauges agreed that they were 12.5 PSI. Both Anderson's Logo gauge and John Jastremski's gauge were wrong, and the Patriots' fooballs all started the game at 12.1 PSI.
EDIT: HERE'S THE RELEVANT PART OF THE APPEAL, taken from my later comment. Page 215-217:
Q: Now I want to focus your attention on Finding 3 in your deck. Finding 3 says, "If the logo gauge was used to measure the Patriots' balls before the game, then eight of the eleven were above Exponent's expected outcome. Now, to reach this conclusion, your analysis assumes that the actual or true pressure of the game balls delivered to the referee by the Patriots was 12.17 psi, right?
...
Q. So you understand that according to the Patriots themselves, the psi level at which they delivered game balls to the referee for the AFC Championship Game was not 12.17, right?
A. They used a gauge and we don't know what gauge they used and we don't know if their gauge had the same kind of differential that the logo gauge had versus the non-logo gauge.
Except we DO know which gauge the Patriots used, it was obviously John Jastremski's gauge. You know, the guy responsible for setting the Patriots' balls psi levels? And from this new piece of evidence, we ALSO know that his gauge was off by the same amount as the logo gauge.
Note: mods feel free to delete the other thread
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