Breaking news in Pats investigation

[Mackeyser]

View: http://twitter.com/JayGlazer/status/559809053937778688

 

[Blue and Gold]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeoza...ick-and-brady-did-not-cheat/?partner=yahootix


Mike Ozanian
Forbes Staff

SPORTSMONEY 1/25/2015
The NFL Will Conclude Belichick And Brady Did Not Cheat

I believe that the NFL will conclude its investigationinto the deflated footballs used by the New England Patriots during their AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts that neither head coach Bill Belichick nor quarterback Tom Brady deliberately did anything to deflate the footballs below the league limit of 12.5 pounds per square inch.

In other words, that when it comes to cheating, whatBelichick and Brady have said during their press conferences is the truth.

It is not unusual for quarterbacks to have footballs worked over before games to get them they way they like. In an interview with the Tampa Bay Times in 2012, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Brad Johnson said that before Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003, he paid some unidentified people $7,500 to doctor the 100 footballs allocated for use in that game. Johnson didn’t say that he had the air pressure altered; he said that he had the balls scuffed, which wasn’t legal at the time but is now. And during aCBS CBS +1.95% broadcast of this season’s matchup between the Green Bay Packers and New England on Nov. 30, announcer Phil Simms said Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers preferred footballs that were inflated slightly beyond the specified limit. “Every team tampers with the footballs,” Matt Leinart said on Twitter. “Ask any Qb In the league, this is ridiculous!!”

What I think happened is the Patriots equipment manager, or whomever deals with getting the footballs the way Brady prefers them, deflated the balls below the 12.5 pounds per square inch, or, had the footballs right at the legal minimum and the weather caused the weight of the footballs to fall below the minimum PPSI.

The media has been quick to jump on Spygate–when the Patriots videotaped the defensive signals of the New York Jets during a game–as evidence that Belichick is a serial cheater. But the media seems to have forgotten that, Jack Del Rio, then the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, said at the time it was commonplace to study actions on the opposing sideline. ”I think all teams do that,” he said. That’s been going on forever.” And former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson said at the time: This is exactly how I was told to do it 18 years ago by a Kansas City Chiefs scout. I tried it, but I didn’t think it helped us. Bill Belichick was wrong because he videotaped signals after a memo was sent out to all teams saying not to do it. But what irritates me is hearing some reactions from players and coaches. These players don’t know what their coaches are doing, and some of the coaches have selective amnesia because I know for a fact there were various teams doing this. That’s why the memo was sent to everybody. That doesn’t make Belichick right, but a lot of teams are doing this.”

This doesn’t make Belichick innocent in 2007, but it doesn’t exactly make him some sort of serial cheater, either. I suspect the NFL will fine the Patriots (think something along the lines of the Pac-12 fining USC for using deflated footballs against Oregon in 2012) after the Super Bowl for the deflated footballs, and put in place some sort of rule changes to ensure footballs that are used during games to meet the league requirements. But I doubt the NFL will find any evidence Brady or Belichick knowingly had the footballs deflated.

 

[Blue and Gold]

Breaking news: sources tell @FOXSports the NFL has zeroed in on a locker room attendant w Patriots who allegedly took balls from officials locker room to another area on way to field. Sources say they have interviewed him and additionally have video. Still gauging if any wrong doing occurred with him but he is strong person of interest

 

[Mackeyser]

What a shock... they're gonna shitcan some super low level dood who probably thinks Belicheck and Brady are two steps ABOVE Royalty.

The NFL will harrumph and harrumph and and make serious frowny faces to make sure everyone KNOWS how serious they are...

Then they'll assess fines and maybe take draft picks.

Funny... Ignorance was NO excuse for Asshole Face, but it will be an excuse for Bill Belicheck when they nail the low level guy.

 

[kurtfaulk]

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[Blue and Gold]

What a shock... they're gonna shitcan some super low level dood who probably thinks Belicheck and Brady are two steps ABOVE Royalty.

The NFL will harrumph and harrumph and and make serious frowny faces to make sure everyone KNOWS how serious they are...

Then they'll assess fines and maybe take draft picks.

Funny... Ignorance was NO excuse for Asshole Face, but it will be an excuse for Bill Belicheck when they nail the low level guy.

Clearly he did this on his own, I mean the best way to keep your job for Bellicheat is to take initiative and do with without any consultation from coach or quarterback. He just took the balls, let some air out for shits and giggles.

 

[Blue and Gold]

Report: NFL investigation has “zeroed in” on Patriots locker room attendant
Posted by Josh Alper on January 26, 2015, 3:34 PM EST

Getty Images
Last week, the NFL released a statement saying they were continuing their investigation into under-inflated footballs used by the Patriots during their AFC Championship game victory over the Colts to determine if the deflation was “the result of deliberate action” by the Patriots.

Coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady both denied any knowledge of what happened and Belichick offered up an explanation via scientific experimentation on Saturday, but Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reports that the league has “zeroed in” on a team employee in their investigation.

Per Glazer, the league has interviewed a Patriots locker room attendant who allegedly took footballs from the officials locker room after they had been inspected and approved “to another area on way to field” before the start of the game. There’s reportedly video of this attendant with the balls, although Glazer adds that the league’s investigators are “still gauging” if the attendant, called a “strong person of interest,” had anything to do with the deflation.

The Patriots are on their way to Arizona right now. If anyone’s betting on the first question Belichick gets asked after arrival, it would probably be unwise to bet on anything other than Glazer’s report.

 

[V3]

I'm pretty sure most people that know football could have broken this news a week ago. We all knew some low level guy would take the fall.

Punishments need to be done by a third party. I'm really getting sick of NE getting away with everything.

 

[Robocop]

they'll get away with it just like Spygate. just another patsy that will deny anyone told him to do it. he'll get fired like the Spygate cameraman and probably paid handsomely under the table for his silence.

 

[jjab360]

First rule of group cheating: Establish a fall guy for if you get caught

 

[Blue and Gold]

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20150123_Letters__Balls__shrinkage_deflates_the_game.html








MY FAVORITE Martin Scorcese film happens to be one of the few that don't revolve around Italians from New York: "The Departed." Instead of Paisanos we have Paddys, and instead of the Big Apple we have the Big Baked Bean. Boston and the Irish mob got Scorcese his long-deserved Oscar for best director, but it also gave me the name for what just happened in Foxborough last Sunday:

"The Deflated."

Now, I'm not comparing Patriots coach Bill "The Cheater" Belichick to a syndicate boss, and I'm not saying that Tommy "Pretty Boy" Brady was his henchman, but it does seem as if the controversy over flattened balls has turned into something much bigger than . . . a bunch of flattened balls.

After the Patriots thumped the "We Stole the Team from Baltimore" Colts on Sunday, people started whispering about dirty play in the locker room and on the sidelines. Those whispers turned into roars as it became evident that someone had siphoned air out of the balls the Patriots were playing with.


(Note: It will be virtually impossible for me to avoid snicker-inducing sentences when they revolve around the words "balls" and "deflate" so please, just deal with it to the end of the column.)

The lighter balls (sigh . . .) would have given the Pats a significant advantage over their opponents, which might explain why they were able to rack up 135 more touchdowns than Indianapolis. They are easier to throw, easier to catch and easier to kick. Therefore, lighter balls means a higher probability of scoring.

(OK, I have to interrupt again. There is simply no other way for me to write about football without using the term "scoring." The mere fact that it also appears in a sentence with "lighter" and "balls" is not intended to derail the point of my column.)

Most fingers are being pointed at Belichick, who has been known for cheating and dirty dealing in the past. He and his team were fined when it was found out that they had filmed other teams' practices, and the man is generally what my AP French students at the Haverford School used to call un douche majeur, which in English translates into "a major shower" but which they gave an entirely different connotation.

Belichick is the anti-Lombardi, a man so devoid of ethics and common sense that he makes that Madoff fellow look positively saintly. He also has that sociopathic tendency of not really caring what other people think of him, and of somehow being able to slough off the residue of a really bad reputation. I don't even think the people in Boston like him very much, but they are stuck with him and his championship ways.

If it is found that Belichick had any involvement whatsoever in the deflation scandal - and it's kind of hard to believe that he wouldn't have had at least some knowledge of what was happening - he should be banned from coaching during the Super Bowl. As my friend Glenn observed, this is a lot like the whole Black Sox scandal of 1919. As he put it, "It almost put pro baseball out of business, and only Babe Ruth would bring it back. Sad a team this talented needs to pull a stunt like this. It is like Nixon's Watergate: Nixon had the election won and still needed to do something stupid like Watergate and then cover it up."

That's exactly the point. Belichick and crew, along with Gisele's hubby, would have been able to beat the Colts fair and square, even though Andrew Luck is a formidable talent. They didn't need to do what they are alleged to have done, but they did it anyway because they have no conscience.

Granted, all this is conjecture at this point, but conjecture backed up by an increasing amount of troubling evidence that this team and this coach and this metrosexual quarterback had a hand in cheating their way to an AFC Championship. And, yes, I do believe that Brady must have known what was going on as well, because when you are expecting to heave a watermelon and instead get your hands on a honeydew, you have to figure that something has happened to the fruit.

I adore football. I don't particularly like it as much when the Eagles aren't playing in the postseason, and I am not the kind of person who engages in fantasy pools and wagers on the positions and rankings, but this sport means a lot to me. I associate it with crisp autumn days, outings with my father and brothers at the old Vet, miracles that are significantly more impressive than anything the saints produced (I'll put my Meadowlands up against your Lourdes any day, and I'll even raise you an Immaculate Reception) and many of the things that make me enjoy competition.

But what Belichick is alleged to have done (and seriously, do we really need that much more evidence to believe he ordered those balls squashed?) is a slap in the face to everyone who thinks you play this game with clean hands.

I'm not weeping for the Colts here. I'm weeping for all of us who love this game. Because what the Patriots probably did, well . . .

That just takes balls.

Christine Flowers is a lawyer.

Email: cflowers1961@gmail.com


Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/opinio...ge_deflates_the_game.html#TZl7qlxhucy01GsO.99

 

[iced]

Coincidentally after being let go for deflating balls, his bank account will suddenly be inflated

 

[RAMbunctious]

they'll get away with it just like Spygate. just another patsy that will deny anyone told him to do it. he'll get fired like the Spygate cameraman and probably paid handsomely under the table for his silence.

I just explained this whole scenario to my wife verbatim, lol. That is EXACTLY how this junk will go down.

Then the NFL can claim this as the Pats first "legit" SB win if they beat the hags.

But we of course know better.

 

[Mackeyser]

I'm just TIRED of people getting the physics of footballs wrong.

The balls supplied by Indy did NOT show any signs of deflation even though they were also handled, subjected to game play and were in the same damned elements.

Scuffing or working the leather of balls does NOT change the flight characteristics (unless the shape is changed). It's done to make it easier for the QB's throwing motion. That's it.

Every damned defense of New England which posits the cold and "every QB likes it a certain way" and how balls are worked, etc... ignores that AFTER all of that... the balls from BOTH teams were measured and were found in compliance. Then they were supposedly secured and brought directly to the field by the officiating crew.

So, every "defense" is just made up.

As the NFL is finding out as I type this...some Patriot lackey tampered with the balls. Now... at who's behest?

Just like with Matt Walsh, I'll wager that the Pats throw this guy under the bus if they haven't paved him into the road and both Brady and Belicheck with continue to act innocent.

 

[Blue and Gold]

http://www.oleantimesherald.com/sports/article_464c9f38-a528-11e4-bd77-07c0fdb119d4.html

Pollock: ‘Deflategate’ column was off the mark

Posted: Monday, January 26, 2015 8:15 am

By Chuck Pollock, Olean Times Herald | 0 comments

On a day when I, for the umpteenth year, failed to watch pro sports’ double no-hitter — better known as the NHL All-Star Game and Pro Bowl — there’s an overwhelming need for me to vent.

And, for something that appeared in my own newspaper, no less.

It should have been a routine Sunday morning ... me at home with a cup of coffee, browsing through the Times Herald and Buffalo News.

But alas, when I got to the Commentary page of the TH, my meltdown commenced.

The reason was a column by Christine Flowers — sorry, I’m not using the middle initial that’s part of her byline, it connotes way too much self-importance — on the now ridiculously over-publicized “Deflategate” controversy swirling around the New England Patriots.

According to the info at the end of her piece, she’s a lawyer as well as a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News.

And while she might be a fantastic attorney and a skilled and insightful commentator on politics and the law, her superiors would do well to keep her away from sports.

And let’s dismiss this immediately.

This is not some sexist diatribe.

In fact, it’s the exact opposite.

The season past was my 42nd covering the Bills for this paper.

And, over the last 25 of them I’ve had the privilege of meeting any number of women who cover NFL teams and are every bit as skilled as their male counterparts ... if not better.

Mary Kay Cabot in Cleveland, Charean Williams in Dallas and Shalise Manza Young and Karen Guregian in New England are among the best and most respected members of our Pro Football Writers of America.

And it’s them, and their peers, to which Flowers’ piece does such a disservice.

CLEARLY, she has every right to criticize the Patriots organization, coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady for the perception that they violated NFL rules by using under-inflated footballs in their 45-7 AFC Championship Game victory over the Colts a week ago Sunday.

Flowers can call Belichick “The Cheater.” After all, no less a respected source than Hall-of-Fame coach Don Shula once referred to him as “Beli-cheat.” That was the product of the 2007 “Spygate” scandal when his Pats were found guilty of videotaping an opponent’s defensive signals and the NFL took away a first-round draft choice and fined Belichick a staggering $500,000.

But she takes a couple of shots at Brady that raise major questions about her objectivity.

If Flowers wants to accuse him of cheating — a myriad of NFL players, coaches and administrators maintain it’s the quarterback who would make the call on a change in ball pressure — that’s fair.

But her referring to him as “Tommy ‘Pretty Boy’ Brady,” “Giselle’s long-haired hubby” and “this metro-sexual quarterback” aren’t even-handed assessments, but rather indicate a personal dislike, jealously or an extraordinary lack of awareness of what a column is supposed to be.

Her perverse delight in using the word “balls” in a double entendre context comes off as sophomoric. And to call them “flattened balls” is absurd.

Players who have spent a decade in the NFL admit they can’t tell the

difference between a ball under-inflated by two pounds (which the Pats’ supposedly were) and the legal level.

She contended those balls gave New England “a significant advantage” over the Colts and concluded “which might explain why they were able to rack up 135 more touchdowns than Indianapolis.”

Say what?

One hundred and thirty-five touchdowns?

In a game?

A season?

Franchise history?

I laughed out loud when I read that sentence.

But two things occurred to me. Either her editor knows less about football, research and context than her ... or he/she merely let it go to ensure Flowers’ embarrassment.

She does concede that the whole issue is still “conjecture.”

But Flowers adds, “do we really need that much more evidence to believe that (Belichick) ordered those balls squashed?”

Well, yes we do.

Indeed, Brady probably looms as the more obvious target.

Yet we also live in a sports world where the fans’ mantra all too often is, “If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’.”

That doesn’t make it right ... but with what’s at stake, it’s also reality.

And, if she’s tone deaf enough to think the Patriots are the only NFL team bending the rules, it’s probably time for her to stop writing about sports.

(Chuck Pollock, the Times Herald sports editor, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)

 

[LosAngelesRams]

Of course! Cant have a "cheating" team right before the biggest game of the year.

All real football fans know whats up.

 

[Selassie I]

The Locker Room Attendant did it.

LOLOLOLOLOLOL

That explains everything.

 

[Athos]

Breaking News!

The Patsies have their Patsy!

FUCK that pussified bitch Goodell.

Knew he didn't have the balls to go after that lying piece of filth, Brady.

Yes, the lockerroom guy just went above BradyBunch and deflated balls.

Fuck the NFL.

Seriously.

I'm really going to consider quitting if the Patriots are allowed to throw a random patsy under the bus.

 

[kurtfaulk]

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what the hell does chuck pollock have stuck up his butt? it wasn't supposed to be a piece of investigative journalism. it was supposed to be a fun column taking the piss out of the patriots cheating ways.

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[Prime Time]