Opinion of #DeflateGate?

[DemPGH]

There's supposedly a video of an equipment assistant taking the balls to some other area in the stadium before he took them to the field. LOL. But the investigation is going to take "several more weeks." LOL again. So the attorneys are the only real winners in this.

It'll be swept under the rug or the lowest possible guy in the hierarchy will be blamed. LOL a third time.

Bettis, Aikman, et. al. are correct, I think. 

[Mr. Morden]

Check out this column:

link

Apparently, following the 2006 season, the NFL changed its rules to allow each team control of their own footballs.  This rule change was made at the urging of some of the league's top quarterbacks, like Brady and Manning:

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Then, starting in the 2007 season, with the new rule in place, New England suddenly became very good at avoiding fumbles.  These histograms show number of offensive plays per fumble for New England compared to the other 31 teams in the league.  From 2007 onwards, the team became insanely good at avoiding fumbles, compared to every other team.:

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[muon2]

The conclusion from the graphs that I would draw is that the Pats (and ironically the Colts) requested a rule change that allowed teams to prepare their own balls. Most teams would select balls that suited their QBs consistent with the rationale for the rule change. The Pats selected balls that suited ball carriers to reduce their fumble rate. That doesn't violate the new rule, but does take advantage of it.

As Sharp's article notes, a top QB can deal with a variety of balls and minimize interceptions, much as Brady did in the early 2000's before the rule change. The physics of projectile motion would suggest that there would be little or no difference between levels of inflation. QBs have little time to decide how to throw a ball and there are lots of variables such as the position of a QBs feet that can affect the trajectory as much as the small differences in pressure that are described in various articles.

So, given the rule change why not use it to change the variable that matters most in games - fumbles? If the Pats were as smart as they usually are they made the maximum changes allowed by the rule to get the effect they were looking for by improving the grip for ball carriers. If so, I would expect the league will have a hard time finding evidence of a rule infraction. They probably will find out the Pats ball preparation technique. The best they can do is change the rule to something that takes away the Pats advantage due to that technique.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

They should be stripped of the AFC Championship and the right to play in the Super Bowl, and it should be given to the Colts.  If you cheat, you should have to forfeit.

Unfortunately, that will never happen, because Roger Goodell has the moral compass of a sociopath and only cares about money.

And because the Colts suck, do not deserve to be in the Superbowl based on their play, and it'd make for a really boring and terrible game.

[traininthedistance]

Oooopsie!

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[Grumpier Than Thou]

Oooopsie!

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I can't apply science for sh-t, but boy is it fascinating to read about it.

[Paul Kemp]

Why Those Statistics About The Patriots' Fumbles Are Mostly Junk

FUMBLING THE DATA: THE TRUTH ABOUT THE PATRIOTS FUMBLE RATE

Another rebuttal to the Sharp piece

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I don't care.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

They should be stripped of the AFC Championship and the right to play in the Super Bowl, and it should be given to the Colts.  If you cheat, you should have to forfeit.

Unfortunately, that will never happen, because Roger Goodell has the moral compass of a sociopath and only cares about money.

And because the Colts suck, do not deserve to be in the Superbowl based on their play, and it'd make for a really boring and terrible game.

How can they suck when they made it to the AFC Championship?  They may not have won, but it's still nothing to sneeze at.

[Cobbler]

They should be stripped of the AFC Championship and the right to play in the Super Bowl, and it should be given to the Colts.  If you cheat, you should have to forfeit.

Unfortunately, that will never happen, because Roger Goodell has the moral compass of a sociopath and only cares about money.

And because the Colts suck, do not deserve to be in the Superbowl based on their play, and it'd make for a really boring and terrible game.

How can they suck when they made it to the AFC Championship?  They may not have won, but it's still nothing to sneeze at.

They made it there because they played a Peyton Manning with a torn quad.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Go Pats is all I have to say

[#CriminalizeSobriety]

Bump.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

I read Robert Kraft's statement.  Roger Goodell has just made a new enemy.

[DemPGH]

Deflatriots.

Seriously, though, enough depredations out of them. I think what's in order here is about an eight game suspension for Brady, loss of draft picks in the first three rounds, and appropriate fines. But I bet they just get a stern finger-wag.

Now, Kraft owes the apology.

[dead0man]

I predict 2 games for Brady, a largish fine (say, 250k for Brady and 1M for the team) and most importantly, a LOT more tarnish on the Patriots legacy.  The tell all books about this era of the Patriots by ex players over the next 5 to 10 years are going to make it worse.  And it couldn't be more deserved.  The owner the coach and the QB are all assholes.  If you're not from NE and you're a Patriots fan, especially now, you're an asshole too.  A bandwagoner (which is bad enough) and an asshole.

[#CriminalizeSobriety]

Deflatriots.

Seriously, though, enough depredations out of them. I think what's in order here is about an eight game suspension for Brady, loss of draft picks in the first three rounds, and appropriate fines. But I bet they just get a stern finger-wag.

Now, Kraft owes the apology.

Not quite!

I live just forty minutes or so from Gillette. There's going to be some schadenfreude for me tomorrow, for sure.

[© tweed]

Pats will be underdogs in 3 of the 4 games Brady misses,  maybe a push home vs. Pittsburgh.  quite an opportunity for Garoppolo to get on people's radar.

adds a fun little wrinkle to the 2015 AFC East, which was set up to be entertaining to begin with.  I wouldn't be surprised by a 2002-like situation, everybody hanging around 9-7, 8-8, 7-9.

[Хahar 🤔]

I'm sorry, the correct term was Ballghazi.

[traininthedistance]

I will admit that at first I thought this was much ado about nothing, haters gonna hate, etc.

I was wrong.  That report is damn encyclopedic, and damn damning.  Happy to eat crow.

The punishment seems fair.  And the NY tabloids, of course, are having the time of their lives:

[DemPGH]

Deflatriots.

Seriously, though, enough depredations out of them. I think what's in order here is about an eight game suspension for Brady, loss of draft picks in the first three rounds, and appropriate fines. But I bet they just get a stern finger-wag.

Now, Kraft owes the apology.

Not quite!

I live just forty minutes or so from Gillette. There's going to be some schadenfreude for me tomorrow, for sure.

I'm surprised they hit him for four games, truthfully. I think it's fair. I was prepared for the NFL to give them a stern warning and dock Brady some money - maybe get one game, but yeah, the NFL came down on them a bit here.

They lambasted Greg Williams and Sean Payton for something that went on in the past as kind of an open secret, so something needed to be done here, IMO.

Pats will be underdogs in 3 of the 4 games Brady misses,  maybe a push home vs. Pittsburgh.  quite an opportunity for Garoppolo to get on people's radar.

adds a fun little wrinkle to the 2015 AFC East, which was set up to be entertaining to begin with.  I wouldn't be surprised by a 2002-like situation, everybody hanging around 9-7, 8-8, 7-9.

Agree. Pittsburgh is not as talented as they have been for a long time, so I don't know what to expect there. Ben is a little bit of a wildcard and I'm not sure that the offense will be as productive as last year. Maybe. But I think the Pats have a bullseye on them the size of a building and they are not as talented as they were last season.

[The Dowager Mod]

The smug douchenozzle should have gotten at least an 8 game suspension, even what he got will probably be cut in half on appeal.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

I've enjoyed a certain poster's meltdown on Twitter over this

[free my dawg]

The most heinous injustice to happen to Boston since the Chechens came to town.

Let's be real - this was a sting specifically made because of Roger Goodell's attempts to make money for the league. Never mind that literally almost every media personality that made Deflategate an issue (from Jerry "Stickum" Rice losing out in the Tuck Rule game to Ray Lewis being denied a dynasty) was personally affected and victimized by Tom Brady - the media ran with the story, Roger Goodell needed to create a heel for the league, so he just held a kangaroo court disguised as an independent investigation (in actuality by a lawyer specifically hired by the NFL) to find information to incriminate them.

Of course, the most of the NFL likes to completely disregard many other factors when discrediting the Patriots. You know, like the fact that the Patriots actually did better once the deflated footballs were replaced, winning that one game against one of the best defenses in the history of the game, or that Malcolm Butler or LeGarrette Blount (the latter of whom was the actual MVP of the infamous "deflategate game"), or the fact that the Patriots won by 38 points. And especially don't mention that high-profile journalists talk about how Eli Manning's balls go through a three-month-long journey before being used, or how Aaron Rodgers likes his balls overinflated. That would blow up this entire investigation.

As long as Roger Goodell (from Buffalo Bills country) is commissioner, the NFL won't be getting a cent of my money. Goodell and his right-hand man, Troy Vincent (disgraced NFLPA president who sold out his union to Goodell and was rewarded with a promotion to VP of football operations - and also was professionally embarrassed by the man he suspended), suspended him because he dared challenge King Commish's authority. He stood up to an investigation that was set up to find any possible excuse to further stoke the fires of a league villain, and I truly believe he was punished more for bruising Goodell's ego than anything else.

When you look at it, the NFL came down on Tom Brady for a practice that was relatively accepted by most of the league until he did it harder than:

*Rape (suspended for the same amount)
*Animal cruelty (2 games)
*Assaulting your bodyguard (same amount of games)
*Repeatedly shoving another player's head into the ground and stomping on his arm
And most famously of all:
*Knocking out your wife and dragging her out of an elevator (also worth noting that this player's employer wasn't docked any draft picks for trying to cover it up)

That's why I'll probably be watching streams. I won't be going to Gilette, I won't be tuning into FOX or CBS every Sunday, and I certainly won't be purchasing anything that lets the NFL profit off of me. As for the fans that somehow choose to go to Game 1... we can certainly learn from Philly fans if he ever steps foot in our stadium again.

[© tweed]

the NFL came down on Tom Brady for a practice that was relatively accepted by most of the league until he did it harder than:

*Rape (suspended for the same amount)
*Animal cruelty (2 games)
*Assaulting your bodyguard (same amount of games)
*Repeatedly shoving another player's head into the ground and stomping on his arm
And most famously of all:
*Knocking out your wife and dragging her out of an elevator (also worth noting that this player's employer wasn't docked any draft picks for trying to cover it up)

the NFL is a football league.  this is not a church board.  it's not the NFL's job to make sure every employee behaves in their private life.

being a football league, offenses against the integrity of competition should be taken very seriously.  integrity of competition is at the center of gravity of the NFL's product.  (I'm not a fan of suspending players for off-the-field behavior - if they do something bad enough, they'll be incarcerated and won't be able to play, ie Aaron Hernandez, Plaxico Burress -- but, hey, the NFLPA is a weak-ass union.)

[free my dawg]

the NFL came down on Tom Brady for a practice that was relatively accepted by most of the league until he did it harder than:

*Rape (suspended for the same amount)
*Animal cruelty (2 games)
*Assaulting your bodyguard (same amount of games)
*Repeatedly shoving another player's head into the ground and stomping on his arm
And most famously of all:
*Knocking out your wife and dragging her out of an elevator (also worth noting that this player's employer wasn't docked any draft picks for trying to cover it up)

the NFL is a football league.  this is not a church board.  it's not the NFL's job to make sure every employee behaves in their private life.

being a football league, offenses against the integrity of competition should be taken very seriously.  integrity of competition is at the center of gravity of the NFL's product.  (I'm not a fan of suspending players for off-the-field behavior - if they do something bad enough, they'll be incarcerated and won't be able to play, ie Aaron Hernandez, Plaxico Burress -- but, hey, the NFLPA is a weak-ass union.)

And what Ndamukong Suh did to Evan Dietrich-Smith doesn't violate the integrity of competition? Or Aaron Rodgers and Eli Manning preparing balls the way they liked it? Or TJ Ward knowingly and willfully trying to tear any player who's bigger than him's ACLs?

Or, now that I mention it, Dominic Raiola punching a lineman in the back of the head, trying to take out his knees, and on another occasion, stomping on another player's ankle? (only getting suspended for the last of the three)