Patriots being investigated after Colts game (3 Viewers)

[GoBirds]

Didn't everyone kind of expect the guy accused of cheating to have an excuse for why it wasn't their fault?

I expected science to sort it out, and it will. Hategaters will continue to be idiots.

It will be the NFL and if they want to look into it seriously or not. So after the presser it science all the way huh haha.

LOL! So now you are preparing the excuse that the NFL didn't look into it seriously? Oh that is rich. This has become front page news in Tuvalo for crying out loud. The NFL has hired every lawyer from Dewy Cheetem and Howe to investigate this, including a team of scientists and forensics experts. This has become the most publicized investigation since OJ.The Pats haters are pretty damn pathetic. Just when it starts looking bad for their case they jump ship and start preparing the excuse that if the Pats get off it's because the NFL didn't try hard enough. Waiting for the other conspiracy theories to emerge. next will be that the NFL had to let them off because it was the Superbowl.

It's the week before the Superbowl, the NFL wants this gone yesterday regardless of whose fault it is.

Your agenda is obvious they way you act after the accused makes an excuse and all of the sudden it's all solved. Time will tell, BB making an excuse means nothing.

 

[Run It Up]

Didn't everyone kind of expect the guy accused of cheating to have an excuse for why it wasn't their fault?

I expected science to sort it out, and it will. Hategaters will continue to be idiots.

It will be the NFL and if they want to look into it seriously or not.So after the presser it science all the way huh haha.

LOL! So now you are preparing the excuse that the NFL didn't look into it seriously? Oh that is rich. This has become front page news in Tuvalo for crying out loud. The NFL has hired every lawyer from Dewy Cheetem and Howe to investigate this, including a team of scientists and forensics experts. This has become the most publicized investigation since OJ.The Pats haters are pretty damn pathetic. Just when it starts looking bad for their case they jump ship and start preparing the excuse that if the Pats get off it's because the NFL didn't try hard enough. Waiting for the other conspiracy theories to emerge. next will be that the NFL had to let them off because it was the Superbowl.

It's the week before the Superbowl, the NFL wants this gone yesterday regardless of whose fault it is.

Your agenda is obvious they way you act after the accused makes an excuse and all of the sudden it's all solved. Time will tell, BB making an excuse means nothing.

No matter how much the NFL wants this gone, they also have to appear to be taking it seriously.

 

[((Morpheus))]

Or it could just be that given the wild fluctuations that happen in small objects at low pressure it's a joke to expect to learn a lot just because you've got a tire pressure gauge from Target.

That explanation actually doesn't work either. Let's say for the sake of argument that pressure gauge readings are a little noisy, and there's a random error term associated with each reading. What is the p-value on a test of means when 12 samples of Population A comes in 2 pounds heavier than 11 of 12 samples from Population B?

Mathematician here.

1) The populations in this case didn't start at the same PSI. (Ie., Tom likes soft balls, Luck likes big hard balls.)

2) I won't believe Mortensen's 2 psi figure until I see the league's notebook with gauage readings for all balls that were tested.

I'm going to cut through the BS with Occam's razor here: the league never measured the balls pre-game, and failed to measure Indy's balls as a proper control at halftime. Based on the force with which BB just dropped the mic, I strongly suspect the Pats know both of these things.

 

[Willie Neslon]

cnn front page says pats should not play in superbowl, written by female journalist who doesn't watch football. I have seen it all now. I actually feel bad for Belichick and i hate the pats. This might be the most ridiculous "controversy" in sports history.

 

[GoBirds]

Didn't everyone kind of expect the guy accused of cheating to have an excuse for why it wasn't their fault?

I expected science to sort it out, and it will. Hategaters will continue to be idiots.

It will be the NFL and if they want to look into it seriously or not.So after the presser it science all the way huh haha.

LOL! So now you are preparing the excuse that the NFL didn't look into it seriously? Oh that is rich. This has become front page news in Tuvalo for crying out loud. The NFL has hired every lawyer from Dewy Cheetem and Howe to investigate this, including a team of scientists and forensics experts. This has become the most publicized investigation since OJ.The Pats haters are pretty damn pathetic. Just when it starts looking bad for their case they jump ship and start preparing the excuse that if the Pats get off it's because the NFL didn't try hard enough. Waiting for the other conspiracy theories to emerge. next will be that the NFL had to let them off because it was the Superbowl.

It's the week before the Superbowl, the NFL wants this gone yesterday regardless of whose fault it is.Your agenda is obvious they way you act after the accused makes an excuse and all of the sudden it's all solved. Time will tell, BB making an excuse means nothing.

No matter how much the NFL wants this gone, they also have to appear to be taking it seriously.

Sure, and in reality it was 45-7 so it wouldn't have changed anything.

 

[General Tso]

Wow they did just what I wanted them to. They did the science and threw the whole thing back in the NFLs face. The only thing left is to ask the Colts why their balls didn't deflate.

A big screw you to the NFL, and well deserved. Hopefully this will shut everyone up, as it should. Based on what I've read, footballs deflate when you go outside in cooler air, end of story.

And if any of you pats haters still think he is covering something up, you are going to be sorely disappointed. If the Pats knew they had been cheating, there is no way they would go through all of this, as the potential for extreme embarrassment would be outrageous.

In the end, the Pats were the victims here. Awesome job Belicheck. I think I've just become a Pats fan for life.

Great post shader. Feel the same way. I went from being worried on Monday morning that my team did something wrong, to today feeling like my team was basically screwed and handled it with class. Couldn't be prouder to be a Pats fan today. The best franchise in any sport in my lifetime.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Video of the press conference

Transcript including Q&A courtesy of /u/vgman20 of /r/patriots:

Spoiler

"How we doing?"

I want to take this opportunity to share information

I spent a significant amount of time this weekend learning what I could about letters, air gauges, stitches, ball preparation, etc.

Trying to be as helpful as I can and share what I learned. Having coached for several years, growing up in a football family, being around this game the entire life, it's clear I don't know very much about this area. I've learned a lot more, exponentially more, than I have ever known.

There have been questions raised, and I believe now, 100%, that I have personally, and we as an organization, has followed every rule to the letter, and on behalf of the organization, we have to say something

I've talked to and gathered a lot of information from staff, talked to other people familiar with this subject in other organizations, and we have performed an internal study of the process and there are other things we can do, but i have enough info to share with you

based on the events of today, this is the time to do it, it's impromptu but w/e

first of all, the process

as Tom said, the most important part of the ball for the QB is the feel of the ball, exterior. It's critical and easily identifiable. You can tell how broken in it is, etc. Easy to identify. That's the essence of the prep. We prepare the balls over time, use them in practice, that process continues right up until balls are given to officials. Thats when theyre finalized

In that process, I've handled dozens of balls over the past week the texture is very easy to identify. The pressure is a whole different story

It's much more difficult to feel or identify. So the focus of our prep is based on feel and texture. Tom went into that and he's the one who can go through it in more detail than I can

We simulated a gameday situation in terms of prep of footballs and where the balls were at various times of the day, and our preparation process for the footballs is what we do, can't speak for other teams, and that process raises the PSI approximately 1 pound. (psi, i assume). The process of creating the feel they want elevates the PSI approximately 1 PSI, based on what our study showed, doing what we would do for a game.

When the balls are delivered to the locker room for the refs, we asked them to bring them down to 12.5. That's what we did in the study, but we don't know what the refs do with them. That's done in a controlled climate. Prepared in our locker room, delivered to official's locker room, which is also controlled environment. When the balls go outside into the elements, that's where the footballs are played with, and thats where the measurements would be different then what they are in a controlled environment, and thats what we found. When the footballs were on the field for an extended period of time and adjusted to temp and reached equilibrium, they were down approximately 1.5 psi.*

When we brought them back in after and retested them in a controlled environment, those measurements rose approximately 0.5 PSI. The net of 1.5 back to a half is about 1 PSI.

Now, we all know air pressure is a function of atmospheric conditions. If there's activity in the ball relative to the rubbing process, that explains why, when we gave them to the officials, if they put them at 12.5 psi, once it reached equilibrium state, it was closer to 11.5. Those were our measurements, we can't speak to what happened on that day. We don't touch them after the officials have them

it's similar to when your car says check tire pressure when its been out and cold

the atmospheric conditions relative to the ball is critical

At no time were any of our footballs prepared anywhere other than the locker room. never in a heated room or heated condition. that has absolutely never taken place to anyone's knowledge. didn't happen.

when you measure a football, there are a number of different issues that come up. Gauges (different types, accuracy, etc.), all footballs are different.

Each ball has it's own characteristics. It's an animal skin, it's a bladder, it's stitching, and each has it's own unique characteristics. When you do the same thing to different balls, there will be variance.

Footballs do not get measured during the game. We have no way of knowing, til we did the study, that this has taken place. When we give them to the officials, they put them to what they put them at, let's say 12.5, the air pressure from then to the rest of the game, we have no knowledge of. It's never been a concern. the concern is the pressure.

We had our QBs look at a number of footballs. They were unable to differentiate a 1 PSI difference in those footballs. They were unable to do it. On a 2 PSI difference, there was some differentiation, but not consistent. They could pick out some of them, but not all of their guesses were right. I can't tell the difference if there's 1 PSI or 0.5 PSI in any footballs.

Anyone who has seen us practice knows me make it harder to handle the ball. players train in conditions some people would say you shouldn't drive in. They're a mentally and physically tough team that works hard and has met every challenge I put in front of them. I know that because I work them every day. Best team in the AFC, beat 2 good teams in the playoffs, best team in the postseason. That's what this team is. I'm proud of this team.

I just want to show you what I've learned. I'm embarrassed to say how much time i've put into this vs. super bowl prep. i'm not a scientist or an expert in measurements, just telling you what i know. Not Mona Lisa Vito of the football world.

At no time was there any intent, WHATSOEVER, to compromise the integrity of the game. We feel we followed to letter of the rules in procedures, regulations, and every game we played in as it relates to this matter

We try and do everything right, we err on the side of caution. it's been this way for years. Anything that's close, we stay away from the line. In this case, we did everything as we could do it. We welcome the league's investigation, there are a number of things to be looked into, but that's not this conversation.

This is the end of this subject for me for a long time, ok? we have a huge game, and that's where this focus is going to go. I've spent more than enough time on this and im happy to share all that i've learned over this week. The matter is very complex, we're not landing a guy on the moon but there are a lot of things that are hard to get a handle on.

Alright, i'll take a couple questions then moving on

Q: Did NFL share...

A: talk to the NFL

Q: you don't know if they documented the pressure at various..

A: Tom, we could talk about this for 2 hrs. If you want to ask the league about what they do, ask the league. I'm just saying what I've learned. That's all I can say, I'm not a scientist nor a league official

Q: Do you feel after this work, you'll be exonerated

A: I just told you what I think

Q: usually this is spent on gameplanning

A: I have spent time game planning

Q: Do you think time's been compromised from gameplanning?

A: It has to be done

Q: it's a combo of atmospheric pressures and trusting the officials inflated the balls to 12.5 is that correct?

A; you can take the atmospheric conditions out of it. If there taken in the same conditions, they should be the same. If you expose them to elements, they'll be different. That's not the issue. Depending on where/how balls were measured, that's a whole different discussion. The prep caused the ball to be artificially high when it was set to the regulation level, then reached it's equilibrium at some point during the game, which was below what was set. anyone who wants to do the experiment, go ahead

Q: You try and err on the side of caution. You were pushing the envelope on video taping, has that changed?

A: The guy's giving signals in front of 80k people, we filmed that like a lot of other people were at the time. 80k people saw the guy, everyone saw us. It was wrong, we were disciplined for it, that's it. We're not going to do that again. We always will err on the side of caution.

Q: did you have any "science people" help with your investigation

A: we talked to a lot of people

Q: How much time spent?

A: didn't log it

Q: are you relieved by what you found?

A: on thursday i said i didn't have answers. We went through everything, im confident in what i've told you.

Q: so is that a yes?

A: i did what i did. I'm not using those adjectives

Q: Do you know what made the pressure rise?

A: You rub it to get to the texture, etc. (Bill's getting really pissed here). Does that stimulate something inside the ball to raise PSI, i would say yes

Q: based on research, what will you do differently

A: that's another whole area here. its a very important question

he finished here

Thanks for posting the transcript. That's helpful to see where Belichick is coming from. Having read that, I'd like to hear what the Colts have to say about their own ball preparation.

(Not to be all timschochet, but BB's explanation makes a lot of sense at first reading).

 

[General Tso]

so they basically roughed the balls up (likely using a dryer or other tumbling machine) and that heated the air inside. So how exactly is that different from inflating with hot air. From my perspective, they were playing with a 10.5 psi ball which is illegal.

Just because the ball was at 10.5 psi, that doesn't mean that the Patriots were doing anything illegal. The rules only state that it's illegal to cause the ball to be underinflated; as far as I know the rules do not state that it's illegal to merely play with a ball that is underinflated.

Every football game played at 30dF and below has a ball at 10.5psi or lower. Thats a lot of cheating un NFL history.

Yeah, I've been a fan of David's for many years but that was not one of his finer moments.

 

[shader]

Or it could just be that given the wild fluctuations that happen in small objects at low pressure it's a joke to expect to learn a lot just because you've got a tire pressure gauge from Target.

That explanation actually doesn't work either. Let's say for the sake of argument that pressure gauge readings are a little noisy, and there's a random error term associated with each reading. What is the p-value on a test of means when 12 samples of Population A comes in 2 pounds heavier than 11 of 12 samples from Population B?

Mathematician here. 1) The populations in this case didn't start at the same PSI. (Ie., Tom likes soft balls, Luck likes big hard balls.)

2) I won't believe Mortensen's 2 psi figure until I see the league's notebook with gauage readings for all balls that were tested.

I'm going to cut through the BS with Occam's razor here: the league never measured the balls pre-game, and failed to measure Indy's balls as a proper control at halftime. Based on the force with which BB just dropped the mic, I strongly suspect the Pats know both of these things.

Yep. Last night in this thread a few of us were discussing this. Once I realized that it's probable that colder weather will make the psi in footballs fall, I knew the Pats were about to drop a bomb on the NFL.

This investigation will be over quickly and the NFL will of course look ridiculous, as they have in every major controversy over the past two years, from AP to Ray rice, to Josh Gordon to this travesty.

 

[General Tso]

Didn't everyone kind of expect the guy accused of cheating to have an excuse for why it wasn't their fault?

I expected science to sort it out, and it will. Hategaters will continue to be idiots.

It will be the NFL and if they want to look into it seriously or not. So after the presser it science all the way huh haha.

LOL! So now you are preparing the excuse that the NFL didn't look into it seriously? Oh that is rich. This has become front page news in Tuvalo for crying out loud. The NFL has hired every lawyer from Dewy Cheetem and Howe to investigate this, including a team of scientists and forensics experts. This has become the most publicized investigation since OJ.The Pats haters are pretty damn pathetic. Just when it starts looking bad for their case they jump ship and start preparing the excuse that if the Pats get off it's because the NFL didn't try hard enough. Waiting for the other conspiracy theories to emerge. next will be that the NFL had to let them off because it was the Superbowl.

It's the week before the Superbowl, the NFL wants this gone yesterday regardless of whose fault it is.

Your agenda is obvious they way you act after the accused makes an excuse and all of the sudden it's all solved. Time will tell, BB making an excuse means nothing.

If the NFL didn't want this, they wouldn't have brought it.

 

[((Morpheus))]

Thanks for posting the transcript. That's helpful to see where Belichick is coming from. Having read that, I'd like to hear what the Colts have to say about their own ball preparation.

(Not to be all timschochet, but BB's explanation makes a lot of sense at first reading).

Of course it does. PV=NRT works

 

[Road Warriors]

Belichick seemed very teste.

ever watch a Belichick presser? That was pretty much par for the course

 

[shader]

Thanks for posting the transcript. That's helpful to see where Belichick is coming from. Having read that, I'd like to hear what the Colts have to say about their own ball preparation.

(Not to be all timschochet, but BB's explanation makes a lot of sense at first reading).

That's the beauty of BB's explanation. Basically, who cares what the Colts say. Science proves that the psi falls. The NFL's word that they "tested the colts balls" is irrelevant and meaningless.

The ultimate gotcha would be if someone on the colts admitted that they were keeping their balls in the correct psi range throughout the game.

But i think it's simpler than that. I personally don't think they ever measured the colts balls.

 

[shader]

Another thing, while the Colts were busy trying to set up the Patriots, the Patriots were 100% focused on stomping the Colts into the ground. Glad to see that the Colts wasted a lot of valuable time on this.

 

[Deamon]

Didn't everyone kind of expect the guy accused of cheating to have an excuse for why it wasn't their fault?

I expected science to sort it out, and it will. Hategaters will continue to be idiots.

It will be the NFL and if they want to look into it seriously or not.So after the presser it science all the way huh haha.

LOL! So now you are preparing the excuse that the NFL didn't look into it seriously? Oh that is rich. This has become front page news in Tuvalo for crying out loud. The NFL has hired every lawyer from Dewy Cheetem and Howe to investigate this, including a team of scientists and forensics experts. This has become the most publicized investigation since OJ.The Pats haters are pretty damn pathetic. Just when it starts looking bad for their case they jump ship and start preparing the excuse that if the Pats get off it's because the NFL didn't try hard enough. Waiting for the other conspiracy theories to emerge. next will be that the NFL had to let them off because it was the Superbowl.

It's the week before the Superbowl, the NFL wants this gone yesterday regardless of whose fault it is.

Your agenda is obvious they way you act after the accused makes an excuse and all of the sudden it's all solved. Time will tell, BB making an excuse means nothing.

If the NFL didn't want this, they wouldn't have brought it.

I wonder how much the NFL doesn't want this. Sure it's a black eye to the league, but do you not think this super bowl's ratings will be higher then pre-scandal? Don't think they did this on purpose, but I don't think rushing to make a statement on it is necessarily a huge priority for them here.

 

[Road Warriors]

I love that he stated multiple times that you can replicate the experiment and encouraged everyone to go do it.

I think General is the man for the job

Except it doesn't account for the control set of the Colts footballs showing no such changes.

If the Pats balls registered 2 PSI lower than the Colts' (minimum) than wouldn't their unique prep have to account for that difference and not 1 PSI? Only way that wouldn't be the case is if the Indy balls were inflated more initially but he said the referees inflate them and don't have direction from the team on that, so wouldn't they inflate all the balls the same? They wouldn't arbitrarily put more air in one team's balls.

The 2 psi is a Mort tweet quoting a source. I would suggest that may not be a hard and fast fact, but I don't know. The only official NFL response so far has been to say they have evidence the balls were underinflated. They have not stated by how much ( unless I've missed that somewhere ).

 

[mbuehner]

Heres how tge Colts balls could remain inflated-

Knowing they will challegne Pats balls, before tge game they make sure their balls are perfect, so they inflate them to 13psi outside as they bring out equipment. Tge air in the ball is 50d. Bring balls to refs, they measure 13psi or a little higher as inside air warms up a bit. Ball goes out to field, air inside drops back to 13psi as temp inside resets to 50d by halftime.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Yeah, I get it now. My apologies. I've been locked in a seminar room for most of the day and came back into this thread not realizing that more news had been broken. BB's explanation makes a lot of sense.

 

[12punch]

so they basically roughed the balls up (likely using a dryer or other tumbling machine) and that heated the air inside. So how exactly is that different from inflating with hot air. From my perspective, they were playing with a 10.5 psi ball which is illegal. And this looks to be how they prep their footballs every week, so this indicated they have been way under the legal threshold for a long time now. This does not change the narrative for me at all. The Patriots just as well could have been pumping them with hot air or helium. The knew their method would lower the PSI to well below the acceptable standard during game play.

I think he was pretty emphatic that they did not heat the balls, but nice try......

You know some other way for the PSI to go up? I mean if it's not heat... ?

They add heat unintentionally through the friction process, get the balls just the way they want them, make sure they are at 12.5 ( I.e the way tom likes them), then they sit and slowly fall back to the 11.5 equilibrium. Then the balls are brought to the officials and the officials are told that if they are out on compliance to bring them to 12.5 cuz that is how tom likes them.

BB is basically saying that they were unintentionally brought to the officials below spec and if the officials don't correct them well then that is on goodell and his boys, NOT BB and TB.

That's my understanding of the situation, and it makes sense to me. Doesn't clear the Pats because there are still significant open questions. I'm about to head out for the night so I won't be getting onto it, but ultimately it doesn't matter. Everything will be brought to light once the NFL releases it's report.

Man, I love this story. I love scandals, I love scandals that involve physics, and I'm not afraid to admit - there's more than a little Schadenfreude as well.

at least this guy comes out and says it -- pretty much sums up this thread and half the board.

maybe there should be like a daytime drama subforum, or something like that

 

[randall146]

There is no way that Bob Kraft lets Belichick do that presser unless he was 100% convinced that the Pats did nothing wrong. Unless the NFL can find a smoking gun, they owe the Pats a pretty big apology for all of this.

If the NE balls were underinflated while the Indy balls were fully-inflated, that is the proverbial smoking gun.

No. If the Indy prep process happened earlier and/or didn't temporarily increase the temp, they wouldn't have experienced the same post-measure decrease.

And, if they were given to the refs at a higher PSI than the Pats balls, they could have undergone up to 1 PSI of temperature-based and still been within range at the halftime re-measure.

From my understanding we don't know that the Colts balls were the same PSI at both checks. I think we only know (or have only been told) that they were complaint at both checks - meaning they could have been 13.5 at one and 12.5 at another

 

[bostonfred]

now expecting a 30 minute press conference from Goodell in which he apologizes for allowing this to sit out there during superbowl week, and for the leaks in his organization that allowed the reputations of two hall of famers to be wrongly attacked while they were preparing for their sixth superbowl together.

 

[((Morpheus))]

Brilliant move by the dark lord to shift the spotlight to the only guy the NFL media hates more. Ball's in your hands, Roger.

 

[The Kerminator]

Wow they did just what I wanted them to. They did the science and threw the whole thing back in the NFLs face. The only thing left is to ask the Colts why their balls didn't deflate.

A big screw you to the NFL, and well deserved. Hopefully this will shut everyone up, as it should. Based on what I've read, footballs deflate when you go outside in cooler air, end of story.

And if any of you pats haters still think he is covering something up, you are going to be sorely disappointed. If the Pats knew they had been cheating, there is no way they would go through all of this, as the potential for extreme embarrassment would be outrageous.

In the end, the Pats were the victims here. Awesome job Belicheck. I think I've just become a Pats fan for life.

See Braun, Ryan

 

[General Tso]

Didn't everyone kind of expect the guy accused of cheating to have an excuse for why it wasn't their fault?

I expected science to sort it out, and it will. Hategaters will continue to be idiots.

It will be the NFL and if they want to look into it seriously or not.So after the presser it science all the way huh haha.

LOL! So now you are preparing the excuse that the NFL didn't look into it seriously? Oh that is rich. This has become front page news in Tuvalo for crying out loud. The NFL has hired every lawyer from Dewy Cheetem and Howe to investigate this, including a team of scientists and forensics experts. This has become the most publicized investigation since OJ.The Pats haters are pretty damn pathetic. Just when it starts looking bad for their case they jump ship and start preparing the excuse that if the Pats get off it's because the NFL didn't try hard enough. Waiting for the other conspiracy theories to emerge. next will be that the NFL had to let them off because it was the Superbowl.

It's the week before the Superbowl, the NFL wants this gone yesterday regardless of whose fault it is.

Your agenda is obvious they way you act after the accused makes an excuse and all of the sudden it's all solved. Time will tell, BB making an excuse means nothing.

If the NFL didn't want this, they wouldn't have brought it.

I wonder how much the NFL doesn't want this. Sure it's a black eye to the league, but do you not think this super bowl's ratings will be higher then pre-scandal? Don't think they did this on purpose, but I don't think rushing to make a statement on it is necessarily a huge priority for them here.

In a way it's been great for business. This will probably be the highest rated Superbowl ever. But I think if this turns out to be a farce, like it appears to be, it will result in Goodell's head. He's been atrocious at handling controversies and he just made an enemy out of one his biggest supporters - Kraft.

 

[ROCKET]

In the NFL's defense this whole TMZ/ESPN news platform along with social media has created a monster. There is no journalism anymore, only people trying to one up the next guy with some ridiculous story. Sadly this is only going to get worse.

 

[12punch]

This story hasn't jumped the shark until we hear from a feminist perspective.

think we've been getting that from page 1

 

[randall146]

This story hasn't jumped the shark until we hear from a feminist perspective.

It's sexist that we even call them footballs. Why not foot-ovaries? Or foot-Vag-bags?

 

[shader]

now expecting a 30 minute press conference from Goodell in which he apologizes for allowing this to sit out there during superbowl week, and for the leaks in his organization that allowed the reputations of two hall of famers to be wrongly attacked while they were preparing for their sixth superbowl together.

It's gonna be funny watching the media leap off this bandwagon as they realize how duped they were.

There are a number of people (Mark Brunell, Jerome Bettis, etc) who don't have much room to stand on. If I were the Pats, I'd sue the mess out of ESPN and force them to apologize for their unprofessional conduct.

But the Pats are less vindictive than I would be. They'll just focus on the super bowl.

 

[ROCKET]

It's all good. Most of us despite our allegiances are a lot alike. I never take any of this stuff too seriously here.

 

[shader]

In the NFL's defense this whole TMZ/ESPN news platform along with social media has created a monster. There is no journalism anymore, only people trying to one up the next guy with some ridiculous story. Sadly this is only going to get worse.

I don't know if it can get worse. It's pretty awful. Everyone with a blog thinks they are going to be the next profootballtalk, and every analyst that gets any airtime is trying to make a name for themselves.

No one reports on football anymore, everyone is trying to be seen and heard.

 

[General Tso]

now expecting a 30 minute press conference from Goodell in which he apologizes for allowing this to sit out there during superbowl week, and for the leaks in his organization that allowed the reputations of two hall of famers to be wrongly attacked while they were preparing for their sixth superbowl together.

A decided disadvantage to the Pats. At the hands of the NFL. Under the guise of keeping a level playing field!!!

 

[shader]

Any remaining Pats haters are like:

"But what about the Colts balls????"

"We don't know and we don't care"

"But how come their balls didn't deflate and the Pats did???"

"Prove it"

"But, but, the Peter King article"

"Does he have proof?"

"Belicheck is a cheater and the Pats just make me so mad!!!! How else do you explain the fact that they don't fumble??? GO SEAHAWKS"

 

[12punch]

cnn front page says pats should not play in superbowl, written by female journalist who doesn't watch football. I have seen it all now. I actually feel bad for Belichick and i hate the pats. This might be the most ridiculous "controversy" in sports history.

is that the article that had to be edited to say 'indy' from the original 'denver'?

that #### was hilarious

some types of people just need to be heard, I guess

 

[Old Smiley]

Simmons said think about what the media would have been going on about ad nausea these two weeks: Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, and Goodell. Goodell didn't mind this brouhaha and who cares that it was materially affecting the outcome of the championship game of his sport.

I hate that guy.

 

[Road Warriors]

There is no way that Bob Kraft lets Belichick do that presser unless he was 100% convinced that the Pats did nothing wrong. Unless the NFL can find a smoking gun, they owe the Pats a pretty big apology for all of this.

If the NE balls were underinflated while the Indy balls were fully-inflated, that is the proverbial smoking gun. Assuming those reports are true, we know somebody in the organization was cheating. All that's left to be determined is who, how and what should be done about it.

You know, your right. All evidence points to elements causing a drop in psi. The fact the Colts balls stayed steady throughout the process must indicate they illegally inflated their balls pre-halftime inspection, knowing it was coming.

Good job, you cracked it!

 

[Tool]

Wow they did just what I wanted them to. They did the science and threw the whole thing back in the NFLs face. The only thing left is to ask the Colts why their balls didn't deflate.

A big screw you to the NFL, and well deserved. Hopefully this will shut everyone up, as it should. Based on what I've read, footballs deflate when you go outside in cooler air, end of story.

And if any of you pats haters still think he is covering something up, you are going to be sorely disappointed. If the Pats knew they had been cheating, there is no way they would go through all of this, as the potential for extreme embarrassment would be outrageous.

In the end, the Pats were the victims here. Awesome job Belicheck. I think I've just become a Pats fan for life.

See Braun, Ryan

One person being defiant is different than an entire organization.

 

[General Tso]

now expecting a 30 minute press conference from Goodell in which he apologizes for allowing this to sit out there during superbowl week, and for the leaks in his organization that allowed the reputations of two hall of famers to be wrongly attacked while they were preparing for their sixth superbowl together.

It's gonna be funny watching the media leap off this bandwagon as they realize how duped they were.

There are a number of people (Mark Brunell, Jerome Bettis, etc) who don't have much room to stand on. If I were the Pats, I'd sue the mess out of ESPN and force them to apologize for their unprofessional conduct.

But the Pats are less vindictive than I would be. They'll just focus on the super bowl.

Yup. There's going to be a reckoning here if this turns out to be bogus, as it appears now. People need to be held accountable for what they said. If you go on ESPN and accuse Tom Brady of being a liar and a cheat, a guy who has never been accused of any wrongdoing or off the field improprieties in his entire career, then you better be right.Once again the media has acted shamefully. I am holding on to the naive notion that in the era of social media and twitter, there will be more accountability and a greater need to be fair and accurate going forward.

 

[Morton Muffley]

Any remaining Pats haters are like:

"But what about the Colts balls????"

"We don't know and we don't care"

"But how come their balls didn't deflate and the Pats did???"

"Prove it"

"But, but, the Peter King article"

"Does he have proof?"

"Belicheck is a cheater and the Pats just make me so mad!!!! How else do you explain the fact that they don't fumble??? GO SEAHAWKS"

Nope, the talking points will be:

Patriots intentionally raised the psi level pre inspection knowing that the referees would not check and as such this was a blatant attempt to deceive. This has been their process since brady joined the team so vacate all past superbowls, fly colts to Glendale immediately, ban belichick brady and kraft for life. Oh yeah, remove them from hall of fame induction indefinitely and change team name to "New England Cheaters"

 

[The General]

This story hasn't jumped the shark until we hear from a feminist perspective.

think we've been getting that from page 1

You are dumb, but that was .

 

[shader]

now expecting a 30 minute press conference from Goodell in which he apologizes for allowing this to sit out there during superbowl week, and for the leaks in his organization that allowed the reputations of two hall of famers to be wrongly attacked while they were preparing for their sixth superbowl together.

It's gonna be funny watching the media leap off this bandwagon as they realize how duped they were.

There are a number of people (Mark Brunell, Jerome Bettis, etc) who don't have much room to stand on. If I were the Pats, I'd sue the mess out of ESPN and force them to apologize for their unprofessional conduct.

But the Pats are less vindictive than I would be. They'll just focus on the super bowl.

Yup. There's going to be a reckoning here if this turns out to be bogus, as it appears now. People need to be held accountable for what they said. If you go on ESPN and accuse Tom Brady of being a liar and a cheat, a guy who has never been accused of any wrongdoing or off the field improprieties in his entire career, then you better be right.Once again the media has acted shamefully. I am holding on to the naive notion that in the era of social media and twitter, there will be more accountability and a greater need to be fair and accurate going forward.

His press conference just ended the entire thing. There is nothing left. It's a bogus story, and it always was.

Hats off to the Patriots for taking there time to do their homework, and coming up with the ultimate answer to a ridiculous controversy.

It would be nice if there was some accountability in the media, but that doesn't exist anymore. ESPN is the TMZ of the sports world. Becoming increasingly irrelevant.

 

[squistion]

From PFT:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/01/24/belichicks-explanation-invites-scrutiny-analysis-testing/

Posted by Mike Florio on January 24, 2015, 4:17 PM EST

Belichicks explanation invites scrutiny, analysis, testing

By offering a detailed explanation of the things the Patriots do to prepare their footballs for games and the pressure changes that occur inside the bladders contained in those footballs, Patriots coach Bill Belichick has thrown down the gauntlet to anyone who would doubt his version of reality.

And now the media outlets that spent the week comparing balls inflated to 12.5 PSI with balls inflated to 10.5 PSI will parse through Belichicks words, copy his recipe, and try it on their own footballs. With actual scientists, not a football coach, reporting the results.

On one hand, Belichick deliberately has set up what the lawyers call a battle of the experts. It happens in a trial when one side brings in a witness with specialized knowledge who tells one story based on the physical evidence and the other side brings in a witness with specialized knowledge who tells the exact opposite story based on that same evidence.

That reality makes Belichicks My Cousin Vinny reference even more appropriate. In that film, Mona Lisa Vito testified as an expert witness who obliterated the testimony from the dude who played the prosecutor in the Seinfeld finale. In real life, theres a chance that Belichick will be the guy who played the prosecutor in the Seinfeld finale and that a looming litany of scientists and engineers and other highly-educated folks will duplicate the variables contained in Belichicks explanation, come to their own conclusions, and eventually reprise Joe Pescis two-sentence opening statement from the trial at which Ms. Vito testified:

"Everything that guy just said is bullsh-t. Thank you."

 

[Capella]

now expecting a 30 minute press conference from Goodell in which he apologizes for allowing this to sit out there during superbowl week, and for the leaks in his organization that allowed the reputations of two hall of famers to be wrongly attacked while they were preparing for their sixth superbowl together.

It's gonna be funny watching the media leap off this bandwagon as they realize how duped they were.

There are a number of people (Mark Brunell, Jerome Bettis, etc) who don't have much room to stand on. If I were the Pats, I'd sue the mess out of ESPN and force them to apologize for their unprofessional conduct.

But the Pats are less vindictive than I would be. They'll just focus on the super bowl.

 

[shader]

From PFT:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/01/24/belichicks-explanation-invites-scrutiny-analysis-testing/

Posted by Mike Florio on January 24, 2015, 4:17 PM EST

Belichicks explanation invites scrutiny, analysis, testing

By offering a detailed explanation of the things the Patriots do to prepare their footballs for games and the pressure changes that occur inside the bladders contained in those footballs, Patriots coach Bill Belichick has thrown down the gauntlet to anyone who would doubt his version of reality.

And now the media outlets that spent the week comparing balls inflated to 12.5 PSI with balls inflated to 10.5 PSI will parse through Belichicks words, copy his recipe, and try it on their own footballs. With actual scientists, not a football coach, reporting the results.

On one hand, Belichick deliberately has set up what the lawyers call a battle of the experts. It happens in a trial when one side brings in a witness with specialized knowledge who tells one story based on the physical evidence and the other side brings in a witness with specialized knowledge who tells the exact opposite story based on that same evidence.

That reality makes Belichicks My Cousin Vinny reference even more appropriate. In that film, Mona Lisa Vito testified as an expert witness who obliterated the testimony from the dude who played the prosecutor in the Seinfeld finale. In real life, theres a chance that Belichick will be the guy who played the prosecutor in the Seinfeld finale and that a looming litany of scientists and engineers and other highly-educated folks will duplicate the variables contained in Belichicks explanation, come to their own conclusions, and eventually reprise Joe Pescis two-sentence opening statement from the trial at which Ms. Vito testified:

"Everything that guy just said is bullsh-t. Thank you."

I'm sure there will be some yahoos who will try and refute his statements, but they have no ground to stand on.

Bottom line is that PSI is not an exact science, cold weather can deflate balls, and the NFL has no proof of anything.

Once the average joe in America realizes that cold weather causes PSI to go down, they will lose interest in this story immediately.

The funny thing about the American public is not only the speed in which they can gulp down a story, but the quickness in which they can completely lose interest in that same story.

 

[General Tso]

Any remaining Pats haters are like:

"But what about the Colts balls????"

"We don't know and we don't care"

"But how come their balls didn't deflate and the Pats did???"

"Prove it"

"But, but, the Peter King article"

"Does he have proof?"

"Belicheck is a cheater and the Pats just make me so mad!!!! How else do you explain the fact that they don't fumble??? GO SEAHAWKS"

Nope, the talking points will be:

Patriots intentionally raised the psi level pre inspection knowing that the referees would not check and as such this was a blatant attempt to deceive. This has been their process since brady joined the team so vacate all past superbowls, fly colts to Glendale immediately, ban belichick brady and kraft for life. Oh yeah, remove them from hall of fame induction indefinitely and change team name to "New England Cheaters"

So I take it you feel the same amount of indignation for other teams and QB's that knowingly submit balls out of spec for the pregame inspection? You know, like Aaron Rodgers? Should he have is MVP trophy taken away?

 

[shader]

now expecting a 30 minute press conference from Goodell in which he apologizes for allowing this to sit out there during superbowl week, and for the leaks in his organization that allowed the reputations of two hall of famers to be wrongly attacked while they were preparing for their sixth superbowl together.

It's gonna be funny watching the media leap off this bandwagon as they realize how duped they were.

There are a number of people (Mark Brunell, Jerome Bettis, etc) who don't have much room to stand on. If I were the Pats, I'd sue the mess out of ESPN and force them to apologize for their unprofessional conduct.

But the Pats are less vindictive than I would be. They'll just focus on the super bowl.

Yeah I'd probably lose.

 

[Morton Muffley]

Any remaining Pats haters are like:

"But what about the Colts balls????"

"We don't know and we don't care"

"But how come their balls didn't deflate and the Pats did???"

"Prove it"

"But, but, the Peter King article"

"Does he have proof?"

"Belicheck is a cheater and the Pats just make me so mad!!!! How else do you explain the fact that they don't fumble??? GO SEAHAWKS"

Nope, the talking points will beatriots intentionally raised the psi level pre inspection knowing that the referees would not check and as such this was a blatant attempt to deceive. This has been their process since brady joined the team so vacate all past superbowls, fly colts to Glendale immediately, ban belichick brady and kraft for life. Oh yeah, remove them from hall of fame induction indefinitely and change team name to "New England Cheaters"

So I take it you feel the same amount of indignation for other teams and QB's that knowingly submit balls out of spec for the pregame inspection? You know, like Aaron Rodgers? Should he have is MVP trophy taken away?

I have no indignation for those other QBs. You have understandably missed my point because it was covered in sarcasm which given the stupidity in this thread I now see is difficult to discern. To be clear, I believe the belichick story line and as a patriots fan am relieved with the emphatic explanation he provided while I still realize that the issue will remain that the patriots submitted unacceptable balls and the haters will say it was intentional and the fanboys will say it was unintentional. I am a fan and likely closer to the fanboy but even I can see that this fight will never be over.

 

[Run It Up]

####### Heath Evans just compared the science approach from BB to this ordeal, to ####### creationism vs evolution

 

[shader]

####### Heath Evans just compared the science approach from BB to this ordeal, to ####### creationism vs evolution

You are going to see a lot of people in the media make some really dumb statements this evening.

Especially the ones that aren't that smart and don't realize that BB just ended the whole controversy.

 

[Morton Muffley]

####### Heath Evans just compared the science approach from BB to this ordeal, to ####### creationism vs evolution

Yeah, don't know if it was intentional but I think it is valid since I do think that one side of this debate (media =creationists) is very bad at science and will largely ignore it as long as they can and when they can no longer ignore it will then mis-apply it.

 

[12punch]

In the NFL's defense this whole TMZ/ESPN news platform along with social media has created a monster. There is no journalism anymore, only people trying to one up the next guy with some ridiculous story. Sadly this is only going to get worse.

I don't know if it can get worse. It's pretty awful. Everyone with a blog thinks they are going to be the next profootballtalk, and every analyst that gets any airtime is trying to make a name for themselves.

No one reports on football anymore, everyone is trying to be seen and heard.

and why should they?

this is supposedly a 'football board' supposedly filled with 'football fans' and the hottest topic on here is an 80 page thread devoted to the scandal of a football underinflated by 2 psi.

most of the people you're talking about are looking for viewers and readers, and I'm willing to bet The View has a pretty large audience