Official NFL Thread

I'll probably have to eat my words on this subject as I investigate it further; but I still hold final judgment if/when NFL releases their final investigation report. But, more facts....

Fact: Sources earlier this season told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter that the Colts had concerns about underinflated balls after their regular-season game against the visiting Patriots on Nov. 16. - source: ESPN

Fact: ...Furthermore, Brady told WEEI radio in November 2011 that he likes using underinflated footballs

Also the fact that Brad Johnson admitted to paying someone $7500 to 'scuff up' all 100 superbowl balls to his liking prior to the Bucs' victory in Superbowl 37; makes me think that it is very well conceivable that brady paid someone to do the same in this instance.

11 out of 12?

Yet all the Colts balls are fine?

I don't think so.

You can't just make shit up and label it as fact. The balls were tested before the game and again at half time. IND balls were inspected as well. Stop being an apologist for cheating. I do agree we need to wait for an investigation before crucifying the Pats but early reports are not good and knowing their history I have a hard time giving them the benefit of the doubt.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/01/21/source-footballs-were-properly-checked-before-colts-patriots-game/

I think it's just a distraction. My instincts tell me Seattle is going to whoop ass.

looks like i picked a bad week to give up football

All joking, and assumptions aside - this is really an unfortunate developement and ultimately has to have a negative impact on "the publics" perception of the Patriots as an organization and all of those associated as individuals with that organization.

I can't imagine the embarrassment I would personally feel as a fan, if my team caused all of this negativity, discussion and doubt towards the game and how they win - this goes beyond standing behind your favorite team to taking a step back to look at the attitudes of players and coaches towards the idea of sportsmanship, "fair play" and unfortunate attitudes espousing a "me first" attitude that not only runs deep into sports, but into the fabric of our entire country and how the status quo behaves.....

My hope for the Patriots as an organization is that they realize the damage they create for themselves, and work for positive change from within, my hope for Patriots fans is that they too step back and critically re-assess their team, voice their displeasure over the Patriots and the resulting negative backlash that inevitably washes over New England and their fans due to the Patriot's actions.

Blindly supporting anyone or anything is NOT a productive practice.

For this sports fan, the Patriots have ruined what WAS a fun year of competitive football by placing themselves directly into a spotlight of mistrust, corruption and selfishness in order to win games - whether real or imagined, making the ultimate prize of so many teams and individuals who work long and hard for the chance to bring home a trophy for the 2014 season a meaningless achievement if indeed, the Patriots beat the Seahawks and claim themselves the 2014 champions.

-Nate

i think we need to vacate all the wins of the teams that had players that used steroids, stick-em, vaseline on their jerseys, chop blocked, etc, etc. Seriously, all this upset over some slightly underinflated footballs. Big freaking deal.

it is a big deal end of discussion. The team cheated Belichick and or Brady knew, and if you listen to the Troy Aikman interview, in that kinda weather, the under inflated ball, makes a big difference to a quarterback. Pats cheated as a team. They should suffer as a team. I feel very sorry for the Patriots fans.

OMG!
This is a new one!
Now apparently Brady likes them Deflated and with Laces off!image-884.jpg

Not being an apologist for cheating. I think bellachick should have had a minimum 1 year suspension for spy-gate. I just want the details and facts on the table before people get out of hand with their allegations.

That said, here's what I know from listening to NFL network on Sirius xm. The balls were not 2 psi under inflated, in fact they were 2 psi below the MAXIMUM allowed pressure, 1 psi below the minimum. 1 psi not 2.

Also, the players (QB, kickers, whoever) can do whatever they want to the balls prior to referee inspection. The refs inspect them 2hr 15min prior to gametime and then, the balls remain in their possession until 15 mins to kickoff - it was earlier reported that they give them to the ball boys after inspection but this is false. The refs keep them until 15 mins prior to kickoff. We have no idea if NE balls were at 12.5psi at inspection, maybe they were 11.5-12.5, and the refs failed to do their job with a proper inspection. We simply do not know - still waiting for the NFL investigative report.

Billachick went on record this morning that he never touches the game balls but eluded to that they hand them to the refs at the minimum pressure (12.5 psi - within regulation); and that their organization will now hand them in at 13psi in case any loss of pressure occurs. Brady has also been on record that he likes his balls at the minimum air possible AND that during games gronkowski will slam the ball any chance he gets to get some air out of them.

That all said, do you think at all remotely possible that all the balls lost close to 1psi during the game and that the colts handed in their footballs at 13.5psi which is why it passed halftime inspection? it was 1 psi under inflated not 2.

Again, im not trying to condone cheating - but as far as I see it, until we absolutely know that a ball boy or player of the organization put a needle to the balls and intentionally deflated them in that sense, I see no foul play.

Brady has a press conference this afternoon at 4pm est. Will be interesting to hear what he has to say. Bellachick went on record this morning saying that he purposely alters practice balls for the worse possible conditions but has nothing to do with game balls and never touches a game ball. And, we still have not heard from the NFL on their reports.

Apparently I know more about the NFL policies on game balls from having seen that 10 minute behind the scenes with the refs on game day video than Bill Belichick does after 20 years as an NFL coach. He threw Brady under the bus.

I haven't seen anyone else report that the balls were only one PSI under, and you think that's the sort of thing the NFL would want to correct ASAP, but even if that's true it would require something like an 80 degree temperature drop during the game. There's no chance this wasn't done deliberately by somebody in the Patriots organization (or an official at their request, which would be a WAY bigger scandal.)

OMG! I seriously can not believe this is even news......AT ALL!

Wait.....is this all just a big elaborate joke just to pull my chain? It must be.

Did both Quarterback's play with the same balls during the game.....yes....level playing field!

Honestly everyone complaining about this "deflategate" comes off sounding like a whiny 5 year old girl......seriously. It's football people. Hit someone, make a tackle, make a play......don't blame the damn ball on a loss or victory! It was 45-7! I don't think the ball made any difference.

I am not a NE fan. I really have no horse in this race (upcoming Superbowl). If anything I was leaning towards Seattle....I really like Wilson.

But now, after all this utter ridiculousness I am FULL ON rooting for the Patriot's to win this Superbowl. As soon as the game ends I want to see Brady grab a football....deflate it and hold it straight up in the air in victory. I kid you not!

it's a bunch of full grown men trying to advance a ball from one end of the field to the other. In the end, it doesn't matter. get over it.

you won't after the super bowl

No, that doesn't seem to be the case. And having a fair, level playing field is the very essence of sports. You should win because of talent, intelligence and dedication, not because you found a clever way to skirt or undermine the rules. "But Mom, everybody's doing it" didn't fly in my house, and it should be no excuse in professional sports.

What f'ing "advantage" did they have?

Deflating the ball slows it down....which in turn gives the defensive back more time to react.....fact. A ball deflated by 2psi leaving the QB's hand at 50mph will take .0003 of a second (three one thousandths) longer to travel 20 yards. Which in turn gives the average DB moving at full speed approximately 1 extra inch in closing distance.

And rain has 10x the effect as 2psi deflation. So I guess ALL teams need to build domes now!

I hate that every 'scandal' has to have the word "gate" after it. They're lucky this one rhymes..

I don't think this is a big deal. What made the NFL decide that 2psi higher was the magic number? My guess is that it was round. Is there any evidence that a ball deflated by this amount is actually an advantage? Are there disadvantages (possibly air resistance resulting in shorter flight, for instance?). I think some talking head brought up that this could affect kicks. Made sense at first, but I believe kickers have their own balls, as well.

I wouldn't mind seeing Belichick get suspended, only because I've always wanted to see just how mediocre Brady is without Belichick. He's the best coach of the last 30 years.

This is a non-story in my book.

If you throw out Belichick's horrible years as the Browns' head coach. Let's not forget his one day stint as the Jets' head coach.

I think kickers should no longer be able to tweak, distort, scuff, push on, or dam well do all that crap they do to the ball before kickoffs anymore. All the scoring the Patriots do it might be deemed as an abusive advantage to reduce psi for Brady to throw more TDs

Wrong.

Dead wrong.

Dude, you know that they use certain balls for kicking that are different than what they use on non kicking plays, right?

No QB is going to have his hands on a ball that was kicked.

Let's not miss the proverbial forest for the trees.......I don't think anyone is suggesting the Colts could have won that game - this latest infraction has *nothing* to do with air in a football.....it has EVERYTHING to do with playing the game fairly and keeping a team's reputation to a high standard, both of which seem to be something that plagues the Patriots.

If not for the fact that their name has come up in the past as regards to negative press and NFL sanctions I doubt that this would be such a hot topic.

Yep, your right....and that's exactly why the Pat's won 45-7

guys get you facts straight before making comments. Just do a little research because most your arguments don't fly. Each team supplies 10 balls and use their own on offence......oh why bother, level playing field is not that big of a deal

Unless maybe he is a backup that also plays on special teams.
Or even a starter that holds kicks if the kick is blocked.

That's a nice little straw man that you erected there.

Thank you sir!
StawMan.jpeg

I'm still failing to see how a ball with 2 less psi is an advantage in anyway shape or form. No one has shown any evidence for that being the case. In fact ESPN's own "Sports Science" has shown just the opposite.

I would be more upset if the kickers were using over inflated balls.....now that I could see people getting riled up about. It's going to give the kicker a decided advantage.

Oh my God, just stop.

There's a shit ton of information out there talking about how it gives an advantage. Good grief. The sports media has been covering this like crazy, yet you somehow conclude that there is no advantage?

Nobody is saying that the only reason the Pats won was because of deflated balls, but it's definitely a violation of the rules and it can definitely be an advantage to have them slightly deflated.

Here's one guy who knows a thing or two about football who disagrees with you:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/01/22/john-harbaugh-deflating-footballs-obviously-gives-an-unfair-advantage/

Yes, he used the word "obviously".

u

Way to reach for the "Appeal to Authority" logical fallacy! (If we are going to throw those around)

There is not one piece of evidence in that article about a lower inflated ball being an advantage! Just Harbaugh saying that it is......that's not evidence.

Also....Brady saying that he likes balls with less psi does not equate to him actually having an unfair advantage using balls with lower psi.......Jesus.

Ok, please tell me more about this "evidence" word that you mention.

it's "Controversy" and "Cover Up" to grow free advertising on news stations / etc, reaching a broader market to increase the viewership of the big game coming up. more viewership = bigger advertising rates in the coming season, as well as meet viewership levels committed to for this year's ad spot rates. that's all.

And you seem to believe that unless something gives an obvious advantage that it isn't against the rules. Pot didn't give Brandon Browner an unfair or any advantage but look what happened. Rules are rules and it's an unfair advantage if one team is following them and the other isn't.

Of course there's an impact from 2 psi. Do you think someone could win the Tour de France with bicycle tires 17% underinflated?

Yeah, I know.....but I've always had problems with "stupid rules".....just ask my parents and every teacher and boss I've ever had.....good thing I'm the boss now.

Breaking the rules does not necessarily = unfair advantage (my point).

And now for something completely different...

Sorry if this has already been posted, but I just saw it for the first time. Bad lip reading of the NFL:

Since they've already reanimated the corpses of Hans and Franz how is there not a new Deflategate "Pump you up" ad out already? Saving it for the Superbowl?

If the NFL wants to be soooooo strict about the ball then the NFL should supply it!

Exactly ^^^^ you get my vote jjrdw for new NFL president !!!

Well that proves it!

Just saw Seahawks calling themselves a a bunch of raw dogs but Gronk is a scary lion and a scary lion can take down a bunch of raw dogs .........Scared ?

All the balls were supplied by the home team until about 10 years ago when they changed the rules to each team providing their own. The change was lobbied by two superstar QBs, Peyton Manning and (I'll give you one guess.)

Last years Broncos were better on paper than this years Patriots and the Seahawks turned them into a little puddle of goo after a very close NFCCG... scared?

More evidence and data going back over 10 years which suggests that the Pats are extraordinary in plays/fumble. And as some of the experts suggest this might be tied to some of their success- NOT ALL OF IT HOWEVER.

But I still hate them so any reason to share my opinion I'll take :0)
http://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/blog/?p=2932

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I'm lissining !!!!

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I'd like to say thanks to all the child abusers, wife beaters, murders and player/coach cheaters for making this the worst year in the NFL's history!