NFL is at it Again, So Much For 'Integrity' After Withholding PSI Results

Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

The NFL is at it again… So all the hoopla a year ago about PSI levels in footballs and even playing fields was just that, a bunch of hooey. The league and the Commish, have back-tracked again and told everyone that in the end that they weren’t concerned with the PSI in footballs and what effect the weather would have on them.

Roger Goodell was a guest on the Rich Eisen show and was asked point blank if the NFL was going to release the PSI data that THEY SAID they were going to monitor so, so carefully this season to …you know protect the integrity of the game. The Exalted one had this to say:

“What the league did this year was what we do with a lot of rules and policies designed to protect the integrity of the game, and that’s to create a deterrent effect,” said Goodell.

“We do spot checks to prevent and make sure the clubs understand that we’re watching these issues,” Goodell added. “It wasn’t a research study. They simply were spot checks. There were no violations this year. We’re pleased that we haven’t had any violations and we continue the work, obviously, to consistently and importantly enforce the integrity of the game and the rules that are designed to protect it.”

Wait just a second there Mr. Goodell, nobody ever said a deflated word about “spot checks” back before the season started. The league made it sound as if game balls were going to be checked each week and the results tabulated, categorized and kept under lock and key. Who’s protecting the integrity of the game from the league?

They released this statement just prior to the regular season starting: “At designated games, selected at random, the game balls used in the first half will be collected by the (kicking ball coordinator) at halftime, and the League’s Security Representative will escort the KBC with the footballs to the Officials’ Locker room.

During halftime, each game ball for both teams will be inspected in the locker room by designated members of the officiating and security crews, and the PSI results will be measured and recorded. Once measured, those game balls will then be secured and removed from play.”

Now the league says that all the PSI data will be destroyed while the Commish happily reports to Eisen “we haven’t had any violations” during the 2015 season.

Spot checks? What a crock. You can rest assured if the NFL’s “spot checks” during the regular season produced any evidence that was …you know detrimental to the case of the Patriots and Tom Brady from the Deflategate fiasco that the NFL created out of thin air last January, they’d have already leaked it to their lackeys in the mainstream media.

So after dragging Brady’s name thru the mud for the past year and inventing evidence on the fly and trying to destroy his legacy with ridiculous innuendo, “Tom Brady destroyed his cell phone”, we know learn, that hey, it wasn’t that big a deal after all.

And yet they claimed that in the Referee’s Report to be turned in after every game the PSI levels of the footballs were to be referenced. Doesn’t sound like a damned spot check from here. Spot checks are just that, a referee grabs a football at random, sticks an air gauge in it and if it is within legal limits, then they move on. No annotations, no written documentation. That’s a spot check.

What the league was doing was compiling their data to bury New England in the court of public opinion once again. Goodell wanted to push his data under everyone’s noses including that of Bob Kraft and say, “See! Gotcha!” But their failed seventh grade science experiment failed miserably and now like other uncomfortable items in the news, it becomes…”nothing to see here, let’s just forget this and move on.”

So Goodell continues to fly by the seat of his pants and “it is more probable than not” that the lies will keep pouring out of 345 Park Avenue. And Brady still inexplicably has to face a court case in March as Goodell insists on playing out this farce.

And the Patriots are still going to be short a 1^st Round pick in this season’s NFL Draft. It doesn’t take anyone more than “generally aware” that the situation stinks to the high heavens. If there is anyone that’s feeling worse than Kraft over this, please raise your hand.

Maybe Brady should stay in Ann Arbor this weekend and talk to the recently signed members of the Wolverines football program instead of heading out to the bay and being part of Goodell’s machinations.

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About Steve Balestrieri

A former US Army Special Forces NCO and Officer, Steve has been following the Patriots since their days at Fenway Park. Steve has worked in the film industry and wrote as an Military Editor at SpecialOperations.com, 1945.com as a reporter for the Millbury Daily Voice, Millbury-Sutton Chronicle, and the Grafton News. He's also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA)

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