#DeflateGate (Court of Appeals Reinstates Suspension)

[Redz]

Don Shula is our generations version of Nostradamus!! Only Pats fans can look at this and say it doesn't matter. I hope all your kids get suspended from school for cheating on a test and they tell you they only cheated on 15% of the questions and so that didn't create an advantage! Cheating is cheating...

Sneaking 13 items into the 12 items or less aisle is equal to adultry?

[esel1000]

Don Shula is our generations version of Nostradamus!! Only Pats fans can look at this and say it doesn't matter. I hope all your kids get suspended from school for cheating on a test and they tell you they only cheated on 15% of the questions and so that didn't create an advantage! Cheating is cheating...

Sneaking 13 items into the 12 items or less aisle is equal to adultry?

Not to mention the Pats played a better second half without a deflated ball... so there really was no advantage

[KeepRondo]

Don Shula is our generations version of Nostradamus!! Only Pats fans can look at this and say it doesn't matter. I hope all your kids get suspended from school for cheating on a test and they tell you they only cheated on 15% of the questions and so that didn't create an advantage! Cheating is cheating...

Stop blaming the Patriots. It's the fault of the NFL front office.

The only way the Patriots can make sure they are not at a competitive disadvantage is to make sure they are exploiting every edge that their opponent might be. So blame the NFL front office for allowing teams access to these balls after they've been inspected, but don't blame the Patriots. Especially since we have no idea if this is common place in the NFL.

All that will happen out of all this, is a rule change with who handles the footballs after inspection.

[crownontherocks]

Video of the 12 balls lol

https://vine.co/v/OIeeDPhF6q5

[KeepRondo]

Video of the 12 balls lol

https://vine.co/v/OIeeDPhF6q5

+1 Awesome.

[crownontherocks]

Video of the 12 balls lol

https://vine.co/v/OIeeDPhF6q5

+1 Awesome.

I cant stop watching this lol

[EJPLAYA]

Don Shula is our generations version of Nostradamus!! Only Pats fans can look at this and say it doesn't matter. I hope all your kids get suspended from school for cheating on a test and they tell you they only cheated on 15% of the questions and so that didn't create an advantage! Cheating is cheating...

...except this is more like them being suspended for using a pencil instead of a pen despite all students using pencils AND the teacher having approved of it before the test

Also, what kind of person hopes for kids to get suspended from school?

Just proving my point... rationalize all you want, but if it didn't give them a clear advantage they wouldn't have risked the punishment they are about to justly receive!

[kozlodoev]

Don Shula is our generations version of Nostradamus!! Only Pats fans can look at this and say it doesn't matter. I hope all your kids get suspended from school for cheating on a test and they tell you they only cheated on 15% of the questions and so that didn't create an advantage! Cheating is cheating...

...except this is more like them being suspended for using a pencil instead of a pen despite all students using pencils AND the teacher having approved of it before the test

Also, what kind of person hopes for kids to get suspended from school?

Just proving my point... rationalize all you want, but if it didn't give them a clear advantage they wouldn't have risked the punishment they are about to justly receive!

I guess everyone outside of New England already knows EXACTLY what is that the Patriots have done. Good job.

[kraidstar]

Don Shula is our generations version of Nostradamus!! Only Pats fans can look at this and say it doesn't matter. I hope all your kids get suspended from school for cheating on a test and they tell you they only cheated on 15% of the questions and so that didn't create an advantage! Cheating is cheating...

...except this is more like them being suspended for using a pencil instead of a pen despite all students using pencils AND the teacher having approved of it before the test

Also, what kind of person hopes for kids to get suspended from school?

Just proving my point... rationalize all you want, but if it didn't give them a clear advantage they wouldn't have risked the punishment they are about to justly receive!

disagree. brady is OCD, as many QBs are, not everything they do makes a ton of sense. just look at the weird routines of baseball players for reference.
and this is a common procedure which is largely accepted in the football world. here's an article by a well-known football columnist on the topic:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/not-for-attribution/longtime-college-football-equipment-manager-everyone-cheats-deflates-184104713.html
and pete carroll's former QB matt leinart also said "all QB's do it." i wonder if any seahawks QB's have done it too? i bet few current QBs will say much about it, teams know it could be them next time getting skewered of something minor like this.
regardless, the funny thing is that a couple PSI's really does little to alter the feel, on the felger and mazz show today (they were heavily criticizing the pats and are far form apologists BTW), and then they brought in 2 NFL footballs, one inflated to 14 PSI and one to 11 PSI, and they were very surprised because they could barely tell the difference between them.

[Cman]

There is zero evidence because there is zero evidence, I don't know how to explain it better. "The balls were irregular at halftime therefore the Patriots tampered with them" is not evidence, it is conjecture.

Of course it's evidence.

Refs check the balls for both teams.  Both comply.  Pats are in charge of Patriots balls afterwards; Colts are in control of Colts balls.  At halftime, refs check the balls of both teams.  Colts still comply, Patriots 90%+ not in compliance, to a significant degree.

Is there any other reasonable explanation?  Circumstantial evidence is evidence, and it all points at the Pats.

Totally agree Roy.  That being said, what should the punishment now be??

Considering that this infraction is the equivalent of going 50 mph in a 45-mph zone, the penalty should be minimal—which means the league will do something drastic like dock us a couple draft picks and slap us with a huge fine.

So the Patriots-haters our there who are hoping that the NFL will ban BB from the SuperBowl are out of luck?

[Roy H.]

The funny thing is that the Patriots are (rightfully, to some extent) being cast as villains.

What about the Seahawks, though?  Rampant PED-use, a coach who presided over an extremely dirty college program, multiple violations of off-season contact rules, etc.

[rondohondo]

The funny thing is that the Patriots are (rightfully, to some extent) being cast as villains.

What about the Seahawks, though?  Rampant PED-use, a coach who presided over an extremely dirty college program, multiple violations of off-season contact rules, etc.

Somebody's breasts are coming out at the half time of this superbowl .......

[D Dub]

There is zero evidence because there is zero evidence, I don't know how to explain it better. "The balls were irregular at halftime therefore the Patriots tampered with them" is not evidence, it is conjecture.

Of course it's evidence.

Refs check the balls for both teams.  Both comply.  Pats are in charge of Patriots balls afterwards; Colts are in control of Colts balls.  At halftime, refs check the balls of both teams.  Colts still comply, Patriots 90%+ not in compliance, to a significant degree.

Is there any other reasonable explanation?  Circumstantial evidence is evidence, and it all points at the Pats.

First of all, the officials are in charge of the balls afterwards. No-one has yet answered when the Pats equipment personnel received the balls -- although indications are that this customarily happens immediately before kickoff. There were 47(!) TV cameras at Gilette that night and god knows how many fans with cellphones, and I'm still waiting for footage of the Pats ball boy letting air out of TB's footballs.

Second, the only thing that the book explicitly prohibits is tampering with the footballs after they're approved for play. It makes no prescriptions about how teams should treat their balls prior to presenting them for inspection, and clearly points at the officiating crew as the sole authority of whether a ball is fit for play. There are things you can do prior to presenting balls for inspection to make sure a football loses some pressure before game time without tampering with it the way everyone seems to suggest. It's not against the rules, and if an official deems a ball unfit for play they can remove it at any time.

TP.  this, to me, nails it right on the head.

Isn't it Belicheck's job to find competitive advantages and exploit them? 
Is this any different than a really good tax accountant-- find the loophole in the tax code and exploit an advantage?

I mean, look at that rule.  They don't say anything about Temp change or how a team can or cannot prepare their footballs.  Technically, the whole thing should be moot because the NFL doesn't even get the metric for air density right...  That's a loophole you can drive a truck through... 

Gamesmanship? 
Sure. 

Illegal? 
Not according to the NFL's rulebook.

[SHAQATTACK]

Simply put, the Patriots are a disgrace and simply canNOT win without cheating.  Big ramifications are coming.  Trust me on this one!!

Smitty77

If you an't cheat n ....you an't try n

[kraidstar]

this story is really a full-blown witch hunt.
rodgers says he over-inflates footballs and it's seen as funny, a joke. guys put sticky stuff on their gloves, no-one cares. the colts crank up the temps in their building so that the opposing team has cramps, no-one cares. vikings are cooking their football in an oven, no penalty. colts crank up fake noise over the loudspeakers, pats fans aren't whining. the dolphins are stealing the pats signs, no big issue. guys take PEDs all the time, no-one is calling for a team to lose draft picks. brad johnson says he paid off the ball boys at the super bowl to doctor the balls and it receives zero mention from the national media.
there's a million things going on in this sport that aren't completely on the level. opposing football teams usually keep their mouths shut publicly, because they don't want to be the next ones getting nailed. the "crime" here is only important because of the team involved.
the fans and media have hyped this up, largely due to their hatred of belichick.
and BB is certainly not innocent here; the NFL likely warned him after the incident with the colts earlier this season, and he wen ahead and continued doing it anyways. he is unyielding, which can be a strength but in this case has led to embarrassment.
BB should probably face some punishment just for defying the warnings of league. but as a whole to suggest this is some sort of legitimate competitive advantage for the pats is sour grapes at best, this is laughable as far as controversies go.