#DeflateGate (Court of Appeals Reinstates Suspension)

[kozlodoev]

Honestly, the NFL and the refs need to be held accountable as well.  Why do they allow the balls out of their control anyways, even for a few minutes?

It's proper procedure, and it's written in the NFL rulebook. I still find the notion that someone on the Patriots staff sat somewhere with a bag of balls and let air out of them ridiculous, though.

[kozlodoev]

He's a DB, though; he doesn't handle the ball that often.  A control freak like Brady knows if the balls he hand-selected hours ago have changed.

Roy, this line of reasoning just isn't working.

The officials handle game balls every week, they handled both Pats and Colts ball for the entire half, and they too didn't notice anything and had to be tipped off by the opposition.

[Rondo2287]

NFL Live is destroying Brady.

This whole thing is getting ridiculous.

"Is getting"? When wasn't it?

Well the fact that Marc Brunell seemed choked up after Tom's presser because he was so disappointed is pretty ridiculous.

Baltimore's Chris Canty says this situation should be treated on the same level as PEDs, and Troy Aikman says the Patriots should be punished more severely than Sean Payton was for the Saints' bounty system (though Aikman seems to be factoring in "repeat offender" status for the Pats). All of it ridiculous.

Oh sheesh.  Seriously, deflategate is no where in the same solar system as PED or a bounty system.  I am embarrassed that Aikman is even saying that. 

As much as I hate to admit it here on Celticsblog, I am a phins fan, and thus I am not always the biggest pats fan, but this whole thing is completely overboard.  The pats completely dominated the colts, and I can't see how it had any impact whatsoever on that game. 

IF there is actual PROOF that the Pats did something to deflate the balls, then yeah, give them a fine or whatever.  Has the NFL actually released an actual report yet?  A draft pick seems to be too much for the crime, but no matter what Goodell will do whatever he thinks makes himself look good. 

Honestly, the NFL and the refs need to be held accountable as well.  Why do they allow the balls out of their control anyways, even for a few minutes?

Im with canty on this, the pats should get the same penalty as Ray lewis for using deer antler spray.  nothing

[Donoghus]

A drop of 2-3 psi isn't going to be discernible.  You could do a blind test and I bet people wouldn't be able to tell the difference. 

One of the things driving me nuts on Twitter right now is the inability of several media people to know the difference between pounds & pounds per square inch.

A 2-3 lb difference? You can definitely know a difference.  2-3 psi?  I highly, highly, highly doubt it.

Now, I 'm not saying the Pats are off the hook here by any means but this whole thing about being able to feel the difference in a couple psi seems like pure nonsense to me.

[Boris Badenov]

The idea that Brady can't tell the difference between the ball he supposedly hand-chose five hours previously, and an under-inflated ball, is laughable.

Roy, in my opinion, your distaste for the patriots is really impacting your comments on this subject. The truth is there really isn't enough information out there right now to decide if anything is laughable. We have been given such limited information that anything is really still in play at this point. Like another user said we don't know if most of the balls were 12.2, 11.5 or 10.5.

Surprised given your background and normal discussion of things that you would take such a strong position with the level of info that is out there at the moment.

As I mentioned earlier also disappointing how little focus there is on the game at the moment.

The report was 2 PSI.  If that's accurate, it's laughable. 

I agree that I'd like the focus to be on the game, but let's be real: the idea that an Indy equipment manager could tell the ball was under-inflated, but Tom Brady couldn't, is silly.

Agreed, but per the guy that picked off brady, he also couldn't tell the ball was deflated

He's a DB, though; he doesn't handle the ball that often.  A control freak like Brady knows if the balls he hand-selected hours ago have changed.

To me there are a number of unanswered questions that are keeping us from knowing enough to have solid opinions on things like this.

What is the normal PSI range of balls in a game day bag? Is it +/-0.1, or +/-1.0, or something else? How if at all does that change under ordinary circumstances over the course of a game?

What was the range of balls in the bag at issue? (We know one ball was 12.5+, but not much else about the range of others, except that - believing the reports so far - at least one was 10.5 or so).

What ball or balls did Brady throw with? The least inflated? The most inflated? Something in between? A mix?

Could Brady tell the difference in ordinary circumstances between a ball at 12.5 when dry, and that same ball deflated to something that might be 2.0, but could be less, when the ball is cold and wet?

Etc.

[Roy H.]

A drop of 2-3 psi isn't going to be discernible.  You could do a blind test and I bet people wouldn't be able to tell the difference. 

One of the things driving me nuts on Twitter right now is the inability of several media people to know the difference between pounds & pounds per square inch.

A 2-3 lb difference? You can definitely know a difference.  2-3 psi?  I highly, highly, highly doubt it.

Now, I 'm not saying the Pats are off the hook here by any means but this whole thing about being able to feel the difference in a couple psi seems like pure nonsense to me.

From most of the non-Patriots-affiliated stories I've read, this isn't true. I haven't tested it, but most QBs seem to have a preference on inflation pressure.  Also from what I've read, a 10.5 PSI has some minor give, while a 12.5 or higher inflated ball had none

[Rondo2287]

A drop of 2-3 psi isn't going to be discernible.  You could do a blind test and I bet people wouldn't be able to tell the difference. 

One of the things driving me nuts on Twitter right now is the inability of several media people to know the difference between pounds & pounds per square inch.

A 2-3 lb difference? You can definitely know a difference.  2-3 psi?  I highly, highly, highly doubt it.

Now, I 'm not saying the Pats are off the hook here by any means but this whole thing about being able to feel the difference in a couple psi seems like pure nonsense to me.

From most of the non-Patriots-affiliated stories I've read, this isn't true. I haven't tested it, but most QBs seem to have a preference on inflation pressure.  Also from what I've read, a 10.5 PSI has some minor give, while a 12.5 or higher inflated ball had none

I know its another pats source haha but

Tom E. Curran
?@tomecurran   Even a football inflated to 10.5 PSI is very firm and can only be pushed in with a pretty good effort.

[DKClassic]

I just find Aikman's comments appalling.  His thought that deflating footballs should yield a higher penalty compared to having an almost team-wide bounty system that targeted players with the goal of taking them down hard is concerning.  That didn't hurt the integrity of the NFL nearly as much as underinflated balls has :|

[LooseCannon]

I know its another pats source haha but

Tom E. Curran
?@tomecurran   Even a football inflated to 10.5 PSI is very firm and can only be pushed in with a pretty good effort.

Most posters here are probably girly-men who need help squeezing a lemon, but Tom Brady is a manly man who doesn't need to give a good effort to push in the ball.  When he squeezes the Charmin, it bursts into flames.

[LooseCannon]

I just find Aikman's comments appalling.  His thought that deflating footballs should yield a higher penalty compared to having an almost team-wide bounty system that targeted players with the goal of taking them down hard is concerning.  That didn't hurt the integrity of the NFL nearly as much as underinflated balls has :|

Aikman probably secretly thinks that bounties should be permitted and punishing that is part of the feminization of America.

[Donoghus]

A drop of 2-3 psi isn't going to be discernible.  You could do a blind test and I bet people wouldn't be able to tell the difference. 

One of the things driving me nuts on Twitter right now is the inability of several media people to know the difference between pounds & pounds per square inch.

A 2-3 lb difference? You can definitely know a difference.  2-3 psi?  I highly, highly, highly doubt it.

Now, I 'm not saying the Pats are off the hook here by any means but this whole thing about being able to feel the difference in a couple psi seems like pure nonsense to me.

From most of the non-Patriots-affiliated stories I've read, this isn't true. I haven't tested it, but most QBs seem to have a preference on inflation pressure.  Also from what I've read, a 10.5 PSI has some minor give, while a 12.5 or higher inflated ball had none

I know its another pats source haha but

Tom E. Curran
?@tomecurran   Even a football inflated to 10.5 PSI is very firm and can only be pushed in with a pretty good effort.

So unless you're trying to consciously push it in to great degree, you're probably not going to notice a difference. A QB goes for grip so they would seem to be much more cognizant of the conforms of the laces and grip. Unless a ball is egregiously under-inflated (much outside the ranges that are being reported), then, most likely, they're not going to notice a small PSI change like that.

I would think punters/kickers would be more inclined to test the heck out of a ball in the manner that Curran was describing. 

[LooseCannon]

I would think punters/kickers would be more inclined to test the heck out of a ball in the manner that Curran was describing.

Kickers use new balls that are straight out of the box and not provided by the teams.

[Donoghus]

I would think punters/kickers would be more inclined to test the heck out of a ball in the manner that Curran was describing.

Kickers use new balls that are straight out of the box and not provided by the teams.

Yeah, and do you see them trying to warp the hell out of the ball before they put it on the tee before kickoffs?

[Banner18now!]

Belichick who is one of the most prepared coaches in the history of the game has no clue about game ball procedures??  Brady who is one of the most prepared QB's of all time couldn't tell a difference in the footballs being 2lbs lighter and had no clue why in the start of the second half a ref ran in and took the ball and replaced it? They know the NFL doesn't have concrete proof of how it happened unless someone is willing to talk. Knowing this they both hold a press conference and play ignorant.
It had zero outcome on the game but teams must be getting tired of the Patriots pulling crap like this. This hurts their credabilty and taints their team when it wasn't even needed.

[LooseCannon]

It could be some great gamesmanship to get Seattle to waste time trying to figure out other ways the Patriots might cheat instead of preparing for the game.