This has turned into one giant circle jerk of Pats fans giving each other high fives, but not much changed other than Belicheck offering the public a theory on what might have caused things so that they can focus on the Super Bowl. It was a perfect press conference, very strategic and tactical. Give the public enough to come across knowledgeable and create enough "reasonable doubt" that public opinion is swayed ... until the NFL makes a real statement. And then the tide might turn back again.
Information was reported by multiple sources early in the process that's no less reliable that whatever is reported now. Pats fans didn't believe any of the early stuff because it painted a bleak picture, but new stuff is more reliable. Why? Because it comes from a coach who's already paid the steepest price in the history of sports for cheating already? Or because it supports what you want to believe?
There's no doubt that I believe there's more to this than weather conditions. I'm going to wait to reserve the rest of my own opinion until I find out what the NFL found initially that prompted them to start a full-blown investigation in the first place. Because something tells me that don't do that if the solution can be explained by relatively simple physics (well, simple to people who know physics apparently). Maybe they'll take the opportunity to sweep it under the rug to not tarnish the playoffs, who knows. But my god, that press conference yesterday wasn't anything earth shattering and every news channel I saw reporting on it today said nothing is going to be resolved and this will be a story until the NFL reveals what it finds out.
Boy, nice way to construct a bullet-proof strawman. Despite a wave of new reports and scientific evidence coming in the past two days, plus an emphatic denial of any tampering from a guy who is putting is career and legacy on the line, you now conveniently say that the media reports may be inaccurate. And that even if the Patriots are exonerated, it is because the NFL wants to sweep it under the carpet.Did you ever take Psych 101 in college? I'm sure there has to be a clinical name for such a mental construct.
No idea what that means. The reports the last 2 days are no more reliable than the reports from the week before. Whose "sources" are more reliable? There's scientific evidence on both sides, and we still don't know how the Patriots rub the footballs to increase the PSI by at least a pound. If it doesn't involve a dryer or tumbler like Bill said, that must be one helluva process. And what's Belicheck supposed to say? Of course he issues a denial... if it's legit, he's cleared. If it's not, he's screwed anyways. He denied doing anything wrong with SpyGate before being smacked with a monster fine and penalty.
My point isn't that they're innocent OR guilty. But just because a coupe days of stories you like come out doesn't mean the previous stories weren't the factually correct ones.
Disagree. Belichick could easily have remained silent and just said we're cooperating, ongoing investigation etc. This was him doubling down. If he lied he's going to look foolish on a Raphael Palmero level, just an absolute joke.
Disagree with that. I think the press conference was the result of the beat-down the Pats were taking in the media, which would've only gotten worse when the players make it to Arizona tomorrow (or is it today?). He was proactive about it when the NFL wasn't, which was the right move to make. Go on the offensive and put the onus on the NFL, and force them to dig even deeper if that's even possible.What he said isn't as important as when he said it - it clearly bought them some more positive news leading up to the Super Bowl and got their fan base ALL sorts of fired up. However it turns out, we're going to hear something from the NFL on it. If it's an apology, the NFL is going to have some serious consequences.
Personally, I expect them to say that the Patriots' practice of preparing the footballs resulted in the PSI dropping below the legal limits, and while it wasn't illegal, it was against the spirit of the rule. Won't matter that many or all teams do something similar - they're the ones who were investigated for it. Maybe a small fine, maybe nothing at all, and almost surely a change to the way the teams prepare footballs.