For the record, I don’t think there’s any conspiracy. It’s just that the NFL is like a monkey with a machine gun. They have enormous power over the teams to enforce the rules, but those rules are vague and punishments are inconsistent.
They fucked up the punishment for Ray Rice, so now they’re overcompensating on the Pats. They wouldn’t have even looked at the game balls if the Colts didn’t bring it to their attention.
Every team inflates the balls to their quarterback’s liking. If the NFL wanted to stop that they could have just sent a memo. This thing is worth a $10,000 fine at most. First round draft picks and a Brady suspension is completely over the top.
Fair enough, you didn’t say that everyone that was critical of the Patriots or thought that they did something underhanded here is a hater, just that people who did hate the Patriots would be glad to see them discredited like this. I have a knee-jerk reaction to the use of the word “haters” due to Elvis’ behavior.
That was a very recent rules change, instituted at the joint request of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, and yes, any QB who doesn’t do it is foolish. That rule is also when “kicker’s balls” were invented.
I trust the NFL will now announce a review of ball condition and control policies leaguewide. Right, Roger? :dubious:
No, you were the one who introduced and exemplified the idiotic mentality that anyone who has an opinion on this subject which is not baghdad-bob level delusional blind defense of the Patriots is a “hater” and is only motivated by being a hater, since, of course, haters gonna hate. It taints the term, as if it were really terribly useful anyway, and suggests that someone who uses it in that way is in your camp.
Back in February there was much discussion about the level of deflation. Does the report state what the actual recorded values of the balls were before the game and after the game? To what extent were the balls under inflated?
TriPolar, I somehow suspect they’re being quietly taken care of, don’t you?
sachertorte, short version, if you were given that “data” in a STEM environment, you’d toss it as useless.
Hentor, you know very well that only one team was investigated, don’t you? Well, 3 of 4 underinflated Colts balls were found at that game, before the refs “ran out of time”, true. An increased familiarization with the facts would help you a great deal. RNATB claims to be an authority on that subject; maybe he can help you - no doubt to the amusement of all.
SenorBeef, maybe this episode will one day serve as an object lesson on accepting personal responsibility for one’s actions. Maybe.
Of course they are. That still doesn’t excuse him for that. But otherwise this is all pointless. There was an insignificant rule violation, maybe, there’s no real evidence that there was an intention to actually break the rules, and the idea that this had any more impact on the game than wearing unapproved corporate logos is ridiculous. The big mistake by the Patriots was not complaining about dipshit rule violations by other teams to set the precedent that the NFL would do nothing in these cases, which is what would happen if any other team did something like this. This is pure out and out anti-Patriotism.
Given Brady’s refusal to cooperate with the investigation, neither he nor the Patriots can credibly complain about the collection of evidence, however.
Oddly, I’ve been very surprised to see the usual crowd of Jets and Cowboys fans that I know have been very reserved about this whole thing. I had a huge Cowboys fan this morning post on Facebook at this whole thing is overblown.
There is a lot of hatred towards the Patriots out there. But in my circle, it’s been surprisingly subdued.
Define “tampered”. Every player I’ve seen interviewed says they like the balls “worked” to remove the film they come covered in when new and to generally break them in.
But if you hadn’t heard last year the Panthers and Vikings were caught heating up balls on the sidelines during a game.
The NFL simply told them that was against the rules and to stop it and they did.
Yes, they have two lists of numbers for each ball. One from each of the two measurements the two officials did. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but they seemed to average around 11. The range is 12.5 to 13.5. Sorry, I posted upthread it was 16. Not sure why I thought that was the right number.
ETA, here are the numbers. That was an easy google:
I just put those into Excel. Interesting that the average of the Patriots balls tested by one official was 11.11 and the other gauge had them at 11.48.
That’s a difference of .37 PSI just between the two gauges. But it looks like they were about one PSI too low.
They are actually allowed to work the film off the ball. My understanding is they’re pretty much allowed to do what they want with the balls up until the refs check them.
What I find interesting is that one guy got consistantly lower values for all Pat’s balls and higher for 3 of 4 Colt’s balls. Either his guage sucks as far as accuracy goes at those PSI levels, or he was looking for the “expected” numbers.
Those were the pressures measured at halftime. The officials did not record the pre-game pressures. It is assumed that they were between the legal 12.5 and 13.5.