ESPN says its "league sources involved and familiar with the investigation of Sunday's AFC Championship Game" are — like air out of a football — leaking: "The NFL has found that 11 of the New England Patriots' 12 game balls were inflated significantly below the NFL's requirements."
Yet to be determined is what, if any, penalties may be imposed upon the Patriots. One source described the league as "disappointed ... angry ... distraught" after spending considerable time on the findings earlier Tuesday....
The NFL began looking into the issue because doctoring the footballs could provide a competitive advantage, compromising the integrity of the game. Deflating a football can change the way it's gripped by a player or the way it travels through the air....
The most interesting
commentary comes from the Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who likes
his footballs overinflated:
"I have a major problem with the way it goes down, to be honest with you... The majority of the time, they take air out of the football. I think that, for me, is a disadvantage.... The majority of quarterbacks, I would say more than half, are maybe on the other end of the spectrum and like it on the flatter side... My belief is that there should be a minimum air-pressure requirement but not a maximum. There's no advantage, in my opinion -- we're not kicking the football -- there's no advantage in having a pumped-up football. There is, if you don't have strong grip pressure or smaller hands, an
advantage to having a flat football, though, because that is easier to
throw."
How can it be a
disadvantage to take away what was
not an
advantage? Is that some kind of Zen koan? That makes me wonder about the religion of Aaron Rodgers, and it's actually
in the news today:
“I don’t think God cares a whole lot about the outcome,” Rodgers said. “He cares about the people involved, but I don’t think he’s a big football fan.”
Meanwhile, the Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson takes a different position on the God and football question:
“That’s God setting it up, to make it so dramatic, so rewarding, so special,” Wilson said.... “I’ve been through a lot in life, and had some ups and downs. It’s what’s led me to this day.”
Underinflated and overinflated.
Posts
54 comments:
I want to see all the findings, but just the suggestion that the Pats "tampered" with the balls is very upsetting - and I am a fan. They are too good a team and, generally, too good an organization to partake in such Mickey Mouse. I wonder that Belichick missed the part about "honor" growing up in Annapolis.
Wilson's God treats him better than Rodgers God treats him.
Belichick and Brady aren't taking any chances with their God's influence on the outcome.
Under inspired and over inspired religion. Is that the metaphor for the NFL?
At least full frontal Tebowing is out of style now as a solitary act. It was scaring the atheists.
But faith is like gold. It is where you find it. The most you can say against faith is that it seems self centered to say God cares about a mortal man... and I are one.
The Seahawks deflated the entire state of Wisconsin, and nobody is investigating.
“I don’t think God cares a whole lot about the outcome,” Rodgers said.
Of course the alternative is to believe God's a Seahawks fan.
The Packers fans of faith now know that the football Gods prefer the Seahawks to the Packers.
Between that non-touchdown winning catch for Golden Tate in the 2012 regular season to Sunday's comeback victory, the Packers are cursed against the Seahawks.
If you think GD is watching football games, you wrong. GD does not have to eyeball us every moment to know how to just us at the end of this life. Everything we do is recorded on our souls and from that GD can see what our character was.
There should be a set pressure, any deviation should result in forfeiture of the game. Pure and simple, the proper ruling is to kick the Pats out of SB.
I like Rodgers. He is saying he has bigger hands than Tom Brady, and we all get the inference.
Everything we do is recorded on our souls and from that GD can see what our character was.
It figures that God would be an object oriented designer.
Pure and simple, the proper ruling is to kick the Pats out of SB.
Obviously the proper ruling is to do the playoff over.
I like it when people are free and feel free to express what they believe.
Good for them!
Actually Aaron Rodgers is right. God is not interested in football games. But God is interested in the lives of the men who have faith in Him.
But on the other hand, God seems to be an NBA fan lately evidenced by the miracle Hawks season.
I'm not sure why the teams even provide the footballs. From what I read, the home team provides 12 footballs, the visiting team provides 12 footballs, and the referees provide 8 footballs (which are used for any type of kick). Why not just have the refs provide all the balls needed?
The NFL specifies that balls should be inflated between 12.5 PSI and 13.5 PSI. It seems an easy enough thing to check prior to the game.
If they inflate the balls to 13 PSI in the locker room, and then take them out to a cold field, will they still be correctly inflated? It seems like the drop in temperature would also cause a drop in pressure inside the ball.
Dies that mean it took 58 minutes to get a football that Wilson liked ?
too good an organization
The Patriots have cheated in other ways before. They have made a habit out of it. Between video taping hand signals, video taping walk throughs, under inflating footballs, and being deceitful with injury reports, they've been on the wrong side of the rules numerous times.
My answer is to suspend Belicheck for a year, and have the team forfeit either draft picks or cap space.
If they inflate the balls to 13 PSI in the locker room, and then take them out to a cold field, will they still be correctly inflated? It seems like the drop in temperature would also cause a drop in pressure inside the ball.
Someone did the science and said that it would take a 75-degree swing to make the impact it did on those particular footballs.
Game time temps in Foxboro were around 50.
So, in essence, they were purposefully deflated.
It was only figured out after an Indianapolis interception, in which they were able to get their hands on the Patriots' football.
For the integrity of the game, the league must declare last Sunday's game a forfeit and send the Colts to the Super Bowl.
There should be additional penalties on top of that.
The rules also state that the balls are given to the officiating crew before the game for testing. If the officiating crew fail to test the balls, then the head referee must be demoted and barred from ever serving as a head referee again.
It seems the teams can play with roughed up balls or brand new balls as they chose. Only the inflation preference has boundaries. Rodgers wants the high boundary removed for balls he throws. The Patriots want the low boundary removed for balls Brady throws...and they did it.
My suggestion is that they award the Lombardy Trophy to TCU by default.
I think the Colts should be in the Super Bowl because everybody loves a blowout.
So the Patriots are actually traitors?
At what point do the Patriots say it was all an innocent mstake and
a) trot out the equipment manager to do a mea culpa and then fall on his sword.
or
b) "discover" that they have been using a miscalibrated air pump.
Tampering with something so central to the game (and you can't find anything more central to the game than the ball), should be dealt with severely - forfeiture of the game.
I think of golfers who call penalties on themselves even to the point of disqualification to preserve the integrity of the game.
But, the NFL is so far away from purity of the game that I guess it doesn't matter. They're all criminals or complicit in the crime.
Apparently 'Gronking' did it....
How did Colts know Patriots' balls weren't inflated? And Gronk takes blame
"mccullough said...
I like Rodgers. He is saying he has bigger hands than Tom Brady, and we all get the inference."
He also said he had a stronger grip, and we know what that infers too.
Suspend Belicick for the Super Bowl. (Amusingly, spell check suggests "bellyache" as correct spelling for Belichick.)
Fine every one of the Patriots. $50K. Send all the money to Indianapolis.
(FWIW, I thought every one of the Lions should have been fined after Suh's stomp, too).
Like everything, the pope needs to weigh in here.
I've met wilson and he is a nice guy with a great story.
But..
“That’s God setting it up, to make it so dramatic, so rewarding, so special,”
Something tells me his commentary would be more muted if they lost.
"The most you can say against faith is that it seems self centered to say God cares about a mortal man"
Wow..step outside the box for a minute.
Cheaters' gonna cheat.
Kzookitty
My understanding is that Rogers likes him an inflated penis if you know what I mean.
NTTAWWT.
Doesn't the league send a team of officials to the game? It should be their responsibility, period.
Doesn't the league send a team of officials to the game? It should be their responsibility, period.
This is not that complicated and Rodgers isn't that much of an idiot. Taking the air out is not an advantage for him. He has huge hands and a harder ball is probably easier for him to throw accurately. Isn't accuracy over a long distance what it's all about for a quarterback?
I had no idea that the teams provided their own footballs, but it does make sense depending on the preference of the quarterback. Golfers choose their own clubs and golf balls to their own advantage.
If the officials are to check, the blame falls on them, no?
I can tell you this much: Colts fans are getting sick of what the Colts Twitterati are starting to call "Ballghazi" (because "Deflate-Gate" is just lame and stupid). Everyone recognizes that it wasn't ball deflation that led to only scoring 7 freakin' points and not being able to stop New England's offense, and that they probably would've scored over 40 anyway even with properly inflated game balls. But it's all coming off now as Colts fans whining when in fact I've yet to find any fan drawing a direct relation between Ballghazi and the Colts stinking up the joint.
I haven't seen a single one of us who'd want our Colts in the Super Bowl in place of the Patriots without legitimately winning the AFCCG. No matter what happened, that Super Bowl would forever be mired in controversy. Let Indianapolis draft, get better, and advance legitimately. And let the league deal with the knuckle rapping of New England, which is probably the most they deserve over this.
I think the PC solution on a number of levels is Nerf.
Overinflated: The argument itself.
JAORE said...
If the officials are to check, the blame falls on them, no?
If the refs checked before the game and the balls were good, only to find during the game that the balls are under inflated, it's reasonable to assume that someone let air out of the footballs after the inspection. That would be a deliberate act of violating the rules.
If they'd given the balls to the refs and they were found to be under inflated, they could possibly argue that perhaps their gauge was inaccurate. But if they were good for the inspection, that argument isn't possible.
I liked the bad puns surrounding the decline and fall of Anthony Weiner better, but this is pretty good material......Tom Grady goes home to his mansion, Victoria's Secret wife, and Super Bowl rings...Consolations like that help a man to weather such tribulations as he now endures.
Tibore said...
I agree with everything you said, with the minor exception that few on the Pat's side of it are blaming Indy fans--they're blaming your reporter. Not for reporting, but inflaming.
As a Pats fan, I'm a little ticked about this whole fiasco, but need a little more information on exactly what.
Yeah, but there are a lot of people who hated Kravitz anyway. That just adds to the angst: Not only is it an overblown story, it's being pushed by the resident TV agitprop spewer, former Indianapolis Star agitprop columnist.
I'd normally be more than happy to throw him under the bus, save for the fact that there are a lot more destructive vehicles out there to choose from (example: Steamroller).
If true, it is a serious breach of trust, and the league should punish the Pats in a serious manner. It did not affect the outcome of the game. Baseball pitchers get into serious trouble if caught doctoring the ball, even if it had no impact on the game.
If true, it is strange that such a successful team believes it needs this kind of illegal edge to win.
Meanwhile, the Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson takes a different position on the God and football question:
“That’s God setting it up, to make it so dramatic, so rewarding, so special,” Wilson said.... “I’ve been through a lot in life, and had some ups and downs. It’s what’s led me to this day.”
Hee...well, imagine the Packers' fans' reaction if Rodgers had said that after the game.
Go Seahawks!
It was 45-7.
Underinflated balls weren't going to make a difference.
But on the other hand, God seems to be an NBA fan lately evidenced by the miracle Hawks season.
No joke. Where the heck did they come from?
Also, he punishd Marrone for walking out of Buffalo. Leaving a head coaching gig for an up-and-coming team to be an assistance head coach at a debacle.
Per ex-official Mike Pereira, all balls are checked prior to the game for conformance with the rules. Balls need to be new or 'near new' in condition. If the balls were lower than regulation pressure then either the fix was in with a ref(s) or NEP were able to infiltrate the pre-game security and switch/alter the balls.
Belichik should be suspended for a season based on previous cheating, and a draft pick should be forfeited.
And to those of you who wonder why a team with such a good record would resort to cheating....well, I am reminded of the NYT headline about crime rate falling despite so many people locked-up in prison. Do the math, folks.
Something tells me his commentary would be more muted if they lost.
"We woulda won...if God didn't make me throw a pick.
He fucking hates our team!"
BARRY SAYS: Baseball pitchers get into serious trouble if caught doctoring the ball, even if it had no impact on the game.
The spitball was not his only method for upsetting batters. Sports Illustrated 's Joe Posnanski wrote of(Gaylord) Perry, "My favorite trick pitch of his was the old Puffball, where he would load up on rosin so that a puff of white smoke would release while he threw his pitches. This was made illegal somewhere along the way (because of Perry, of course), but it’s so awesome — it’s like the sort of thing one of the villains on the old Batman TV show would do.
If deflated footballs don't make any difference then why would they [allegedly] deflate them? Clearly, they must provide SOME advantage if they went to the trouble to do it.
I agree with Rodgers theology. God is so infinite that it will take eternity to fully know him. I am so looking forward to that. Wilson has a point too.
On Sunday in Seattle properly inflated balls in the rain bounced off receivers' hands, resulting in interceptions.
If ONE Brady properly-inflated pass ended in a rainy interception the Colts could've gone into the half-time leading -- and played a game-plan entirely different in the second half rather than trying to recover from a multi-score deficit. Run plays, time-clock: everything is different. See the Seattle game for how score differential can change things rather quickly.
My opinion: Giselle is Brady's curse -- he will never win a Super Bowl with her in his life. This is how God treats the husbands of trophy wives. On occasion. When he is paying attention.
If NE owner Kraft does not fire Belichik NOW the dishonor is on him.
To the Patriots' defensive players: you have worked hard from pre-season to now, to only be painted with the wide cheater's brush. Make your statement while your Honor still can be redeemed: fire Belichik now.
The NFL is tainted meat.
I am Laslo.
My question for NE Owner Kraft: have your people evaluate the damage to you multi-hundred-million brand: will loss of honor (and jersey sales) touch your bottom line? How much does cheating have to cost you to protect your business plan?
Perfect Republican Presidential Debate question:
Would you have fired Belichik?
I am Laslo.
Marshawn Lynch will have been fined more financially for not talking to the press than Belichik will be for cheating.
NFL priorities.
I am Laslo.
We need a bounty on every Patriot player. Have third stringers knock Brady out, get ejected and fifteen yards, and play against the second stringer for a play.
Then knock that fucker out too.
Then knock out the third stringer with a broken leg.
They wanna cheat, fine, we will show these men of hubris what cheating really means, for the league and their mortal souls.
If no team has the balls to out-cheat the Patriots, I say hand them every Super Bowl from here on out along with your wives and any daughters over 19.
It surprises me that the teams are allowed to hold the footballs rather than the refs (the way umpires keep the baseballs). Perhaps it's beccause the inflation level of the football isn't as much of an advantage as a tampered baseball can be. But still--this is a league where they give penalties for stupid things like taunting or tossing game balls to fans--why would they not make certain that no piece of equipment can be manipulated by a team?
Likewise, I don't understnd why they tolerate players having long hair that flows past their helmets. That's an obvious safety hazard and eventually it'll result in a pretty nasty injury.
Blue state --> cheating. Why is anyone surprised.
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