Here's something to think about. IF the Patriots really believe there was no wrong doing on their part, and that the equipment Managers did not do this, and Tom was not involved, they why would they have indefinitely suspended McNally and Jastremski WITHOUT pay??? You know they are going to fire those guys as soon as the smoke clears. The Patriots rebuttal to the Wells Report, denies any wrong doing. Seems kinda counter intuitive to fire someone that you are defending.
He's being suspended due to something far more devious that we're not privy to. That's impossible to say being we're not living in that situation. The problem is, I've seen no text messages incriminating Brady so far. The only mention of Brady from the equipment guys that I've found, was that he was not happy with balls being overinflated and mention from the equipment guy that the refs checked the balls and over inflated them to 16 psi, again. It's quite confusing for the investigator to jump to the conclusion, based off that, that Brady was ordering balls to be deflated to below legal levels. Why hasn't the NFL opened investigations as to why the refs had an ongoing reputation for over inflating balls by 3psi over legal limits? I also read where the refs checked the balls with one pressure gauge that said the balls were okay and one that said that they were low and they chose to believe the gauge that was low. If that's so..then did they check the gauges with the company? Did they just want to assume that the lower one was correct? What's the deal with that?
This is the part that ticks me off the most I think. They're scapegoats and Boy wonder Brady is being portrayed as the victim when he was the one calling the shots all along. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Oh guys, come on now, this is all big one misunderstanding. They called him the deflator because he was trying to diet and lose weight, and the air pressure dropped because it was cold outside... it's science right, I mean, why would non-sciency people not know about sciency stuff. Just the other day Micheal Irvin was saying Brady was completely innocent because he has to air his tires up occasionally, then said it was because of science...
He referred to himself as the deflator...it's not like he was the team mascot. Smartazzes do stuff like that amongst themselves all the time. The guy was just a smartazzed disgruntled wanker, that's all the texts show as far as I've seen so far. One has to make a hell of a lot of biased assumptions to get to any more conclusive judgment based on the evidence I've seen. Look, I'm not a Pats fan...or a fan of professional sports period, it's all a mob controlled and operated sham...but right is right and fair is fair. I don't see how any objective person can look at what has been presented and say they have anything that incriminates anyone past the ball handlers and the officials. That's my opinion.
I'm a big sports fan and HUGELY biased against the patriots. However, I never once called for an indefinite, or year long, or even 8 game suspension. Let's be realistic, this kind of stuff happens all the time, in every sport. At most, Brady himself should have gotten a slap on the wrist fine and warning. That's pretty much standard with this kind of stuff. Instead, they have gone to great lengths to hinder the investigation, make up crazy excuses and have simply not cooperated at all. So the slap on the wrist, now has turned into a rather harsh punishment. Even worse for them, under the collective barganing contract, Goddell has the power to punish, then arbatrate the appeal. He holds all the cards in this. The union gave him all the cards. It looks to me like the Patriots are going to have to cooperate, or it will stand, and at this point, it may even be too late to just cooperate. America likes to see these people punished. They love when athletes are punished. So not only does Goddell have the power given to him by the NFLPA, he has the public backing (everywhere except the new england area). But let's be realistic. Logically, Brady was behind it. Put the text messages and nickname into context with the situation. Tom, balls, deflator... to say you have all that context but randomly the guy calls himself the deflator because he's on a diet is really pulling the bag over your head. I get your points and what you're saying, Brent, but this isn't the courtroom. Those rules don't apply here. That thought process doesn't apply here.
That was kind of my point of him being the scapegoat. Anyone who read the text could tell he was disgruntled about having to do it. Somebody else was calling the shots. "Tom sucks" doesn't sound like a quote from someone who is taking some initiative to try and help his quarterback. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The media and the media reporting on this sham has been so blatantly biased and unjust that I'm not going to trust anything reported in articles or TV or what people unrelated and disconnected to the situation say, frankly that's all hearsay and unreliable. I think a lot of the Patriots attitude is based around the fact that the entire ordeal is just stupid and blown out of proportion. The media has supported a witch hunt, the league has done the same and the league and officials are crooked as a barrel of snakes...it's not hard for me to see why anyone would tell them to pound sand considering the circumstances. You're right, the mafia hates our legal system so there's no way they are going to use a system based on the same rules or logic. I'm not "pulling a bag over my head". Realistic and logic depends on one's point of view and you just admitted yours is a biased one against to start with. It depends on the angle one looks at it. I agree Brady is behind "IT"...I don't agree upon which you assume "IT" is. You see it as a devious plot to cheat...I see it as Brady trying to make sure the officials don't over inflate game balls (cheat), which is all the report and evidence actually shows without necessitating jumping to conclusions. The "Deflator" handle the guy self assigned, sure I agree it came from having to deflate footballs, I never said otherwise so it's not random but if what he said is true and the officials have a history of over inflating the Pats footballs to 16psi and Brady and the team is going to insist on the equipment guys making sure they are lessened within the actual legal range then it's easy to see where the name started. There's lots of room for explaining how that went from deflating to legal range and the low PSI that was reported...that's the problem with trying to handle a problem like that outside of proper channels. Without a doubt, as vocal as the deflator was...other teams had heard about the situation as well. Officials don't like to be undercut.... Is tampering with game balls post inspection against the rules? I assume so, in that case I agree the issue should have been handled differently but if those means had been attempted without success (I have no idea) and the officials persist in over inflating balls on purpose, out of ignorance, whatever, then the Pats did what anyone would do. At worst and as you say it should have amounted to a slap on the wrist and a small fine for tampering with game balls post inspection.
There you go...no it certainly doesn't does it. Lazy smartazzes like the deflator get pissed easily when someone like Brady tells them to do their job and they fall under scrutiny. All Brady's involvement that was needed to necessitate the entire ordeal was for Brady to complain to the equipment guys to be sure and check the officials and make sure the balls weren't overinflated. The "deflator" knew Brady was on their azzes to do their jobs and make sure the balls were legal and the guy didn't like the scrutiny. That is exactly all the texts and the evidence shows actually happened, everyone is spinning it in various other devious directions based off that. The problem is that the only indication is that Brady was staunch in making sure the guys made sure the balls were inflated properly. There is no indication that Brady ever, in any way, shape or form...encouraged the balls to be under inflated. The only indication at all is that Brady didn't want them to be overinflated and "hard as a rock" with 16psi like the officials had a history of doing according to the equipment guys comments in the report. Either the officials were deliberately messing with Brady and the Pats or they were just inflating the balls without checking the final psi and saying "that's good enough". The problem is that at best, they were as guilty for not observing propriety as the Pats and at worst, there's something crooked going on with the officials.
Covey, your whole argument is based on the Patriots only doing what they felt was right. The problem is, there are rules against tampering with the ball once they have been checked by the officials. It's clear cut, plain and simple breaking the rules. If the officials do inflate the ball, which I doubt. I'm guessing they check the inflation, but the balls are delivered to them already inflated. Either way, if all the balls are inflated to the same PSI, then neither team has any type of advantage. That's whether they are over inflated, under inflated or properly inflated. The Patriots, obviously lead by Brady, chose to attempt to gain an advantage over there opponent by reducing the pressure in THEIR own footballs, and not their opponents. A softer ball is not just easier to throw, but it's also easier to catch and easier to hold on to. So the advantages of having a ball that is under inflated is not just an advantage for the quarterback, but also the running backs and receivers. Also, I'm not believing this was the first time. I believe this was common practice. My guess is that the officials pay a special attention to it during the Playoffs, more so than the do during the regular season. Here's a statistical analysis showing that the Patriots have an unbelievable fumble rate per play. When it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's most likely a duck http://www.sharpfootballanalysis.co...iots-mysteriously-became-fumble-proof-in-2007
See my post #431, paragraph #4. I said if they were messing with the PSI post inspection, it was illegal in any case. Even granted that as fact, there's no evidence Brady told anyone to deflate the balls. The only reference I find is that Brady told the equipment guys to be sure the officials know the correct pressure range. That indicates there was a noticeable ongoing problem with the officials over inflating the balls. You can doubt it all you want but the "deflators text said the officials checked the balls and over inflated them to 16 psi. You guys that want to believe Brady is guilty, are willing to jump to conclusions that Brady is guilty based on what the "deflator" said in text messages (which is sketchy at best) but you totally disregard what he said about the officials over inflating the balls to 16 psi. Should he have been deflating them, legal psi or not...no, still no proof that Brady told them to deflate the balls. If that's the way the equipment managers chose to deal with Brady's complaint (that the balls were too hard because the officials had a history of over inflating them) then it was on them for breaking the rules. Still the only part that Brady played in it that's provable, is that he complained that balls were too hard and that's a legit claim if they were being over inflated over the legal top end range. All the study on fumbles shows is that the Patriots played better with balls that were not over inflated by the officials.
The stats show that the Patriots are only half as likely than any other team to fumble the ball. That cannot just be a coincidence. How do you know Brady is telling the truth about his belief that the Officials over inflate the balls. How would he know what the balls were inflated to. Does he carry around a gauge to make sure they are within legal limits, or does he have the equipment guys always check the balls and change the PSI. Also, why would Brady call the equipment guys after the story broke and spend over an hour on the phone with them. Especially considering there's no history of him communicating by phone with these guys before that. I'll answer my own question here. It's so they all had the same story and to make sure the didn't roll over on him. If Brady was not behind this, then there's only one other explanation:
If the equipment guys were counteracting crooked officials over inflating footballs by deflating them to legal ranges...then it's obvious why the stats are what they are...no it's not a coincidence. That's not proof they were under inflated, just proof that the patriots are either 1. Better than everyone else. 2. Play better with properly inflated balls. ?...I don't know that Brady ever said specifically that "the officials were over inflating the balls". It was one of the text messages from the equipment guy who is now known as "The Deflator" who stated in a text to the other equipment guy, "The officials checked the balls and over inflated them again." 'Other guy': "How much?" 'Deflator': 16psi. Brady only knew that the balls in some of the other games were not within legal spec and said they were "rock hard"...meaning they were over inflated especially given the statement from "the Deflator" in Wells report where he said the officials over inflated them again to 16 psi. All that is known is that Brady told the equipment guys to watch the officials and make sure they (the officials) know what the legal limit is. That's a typical assumption someone would make that wants to believe Brady is guilty. It's just as plausible to assume that Brady called them to see what the hell had been actually going on since he knew the world was about to grab him by the balls (pun intended) Cute...
You really believe that the officials are some how crooked and intentionally over inflating the balls? Even if the balls were over inflated, sneaking behind the back of the officials and the NFL to change them is against the rules and flat out cheating. It would be like the difference between one team playing basketball with a mens ball 28.5 while the other team got to use a girls ball 27.5. Smaller diameter, would mean more close shots would fall for the team with the 27.5 ball. It's taking a competitive advantage by cheating. If the balls were over inflated, all the equipment people would need to do is be there during the inspection and remind them that about the regulation PSI. Instead the choose to sneak the balls into a bathroom and do something to them where nobody could see them do it. That's not an action an equipment manager is going to do knowing he's risking his job if he's caught. He's only going to do that when the franchises golden boy tells them to do it, and by their texts they clearly were not happy about doing it but I'm sure they felt compelled to do it because of the power Brady carries. In my mind, there's a zero percent chance Brady didn't give them the orders. And to argue the semantics as to why they did it doesn't matter one bit. The fact is, they did it. There's no question about that.
Also, why would Brady have to give him signed jerseys and shoes for simply doing his job? Don't you think if Tom Brady wanted his balls at 12.5 psi then he would get them? I seriously doubt it would take some kind of bribe or reward to get someone to do their normal job, not unless it was outside the rules. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
