May Day 10

honestly, I wouldnt.

im sure its brady's call on how he prefers the footballs.... but no way in hell Belichick is out of the loop and completely clueless to that. Especially if there is an operation to obtain and alter the footballs after inspection..

there is no way he has no idea. He is constantly heralded for having complete control of the outfit It does kind of sound like he is covering for himself though

lol. now he is saying they are going to make sure balls have a lot of air. This is very uncomfortable to just listen to

your mind starts to wander. You think of those playoff games where Manning struggled in the elements vs Brady with full command. You think of how they won like 40 straight (meaningful) AFC home games. You think of how they guess correctly at the line like 90% of the time.

Spygate broke before the Superbowl and that looked 100x worse than this.... during a possible undefeated run. They made people forget about that. No matter what, people buy and watch and sponsors sponsor. Dont get me wrong, I want this crap to end, but if people are hoping for some vindication and implication of the Patriots... and for the disgraced end of Belichick and Brady.... we aren't getting that. I dont even think we see a suspension of any sort. Draft picks will be secure. Fine only IMO

Even if guilt is established... how does making a bigger deal out of this and doling out a huge penalties, as well as exposing guilt serve the NFL? Especially since the #1 priority is obviously "protecting the shield"?. All they need to do and will do is create murkiness and doubt into whether the Patriots blatantly cheated. Then the voices of "much ado about nothing" will get louder and the "prove it" and the "so what they won, just beat them losers" crowd... eventually drowning out questions and people will move on. They always do. Looking back on it, "Spygate" seems like a pretty huge deal and they evaded that the best they could.

My prediction is the nfl goes with the path of least resistance: they "find fault" with the testing that particular day. Then they will be in the safe and familiar waters of "everybody does it" as it would reduce the infraction to what Aaron Rodgers outlined

It hurts the nfl to come down hard. It hurts these leagues to come down on anything unless it's their only remaining course of action. Spygate is a great example. Steroids in mlb. Full exposure of Spygate would have ruined 3 superbowls as well as one of its best brands. You also have a very visible and influential owner of the team. The more attento on brought to wrongdoing will bring skepticism to the nfl's greatest run of 20 years Especially if the pats win the superbowl, nothing huge wI'll come down. It would taint their money shot of brady and kraft holding the trophy along with tedy bruschi for some reason. I understand and respect that predicament. They will wait it out until people tire of it and it becomes a joke. It'll become fashionable to explain it away like Spygate and call everyone not satisfied jealous haters and whiners. It will die out and a slap on the wrist will suffice with little concrete info released. Guys like Rodgers and Collinsworthless will do their best to push the narrative that "everybody does it" to some degree... "it doesn't make any difference" and "they had little control over the equipment guys"

The league is going to now have to create a bunch of cumbersome rules on lineman and eligible receivers and now gameballs. There is going to be a weighing of the balls ceremony at the coin toss. Then balls wills be guarded by 3 armed security guards. Balls will be inspected and weighed every scoring play. We have the technology. Children are our future

11 of 12 2 lbs under post inspection is much more alarming than an over inflated one hypothetically slipping past the goalie.

To me. It sounds like the Packers prepare their footballs at the 13.5 limit and push it. The refs upon inspection might detect one out of specification Not even in the same league as what seems to be the case here... Balls being altered 2 lb per Sq in less than standard after inspection.

thats what this does. It brings into question a lot of things the more you think about it, and combined with the allegations of Spygate, and even some imagination and memory, you start to think..Whether its valid or not. That is where people go. Its the Patriots' fault. Like when someone mentioned that Arizona game a few years ago in bad weather when Warner was struggling, yet Brady had complete command... as well as many of Brady's other wins in the elements.

that guy sums up my feelings pretty well

If that is true, it seems like they would have an employee on the sideline who obtains the balls and "works" on them and then passes them back into rotation..... and they would somehow have to know which balls are "inflated" to use themselves. Thats a whole different ball of wax and perhaps far-fetched... but if true.

yup. While possibly not fair, this stuff does bring the history and legacy into question. Also remember before 2007 how much of a big deal the media would make of Brady's weeklong preparation and studying "film". It was constant and nauseating. That talk dried up a great deal since then. this is what gets me. I remember the game at RWS maybe 2 years ago. The Pats ran like 2 plays out of the half and guessed correctly on what the defense was going to do every single time and scored on like 6 straight drives. People just chalked it up to "adjustments", but it just seems like they guessed correctly on a coinflip like 30 consecutive tries.

I was reading similar stuff on the comments on ESPN articles.

look at comments not here... like ESPN. Same things are echoed, including Pats fans who are voicing displeasure with their team

you have to figure the refs were under the assumption and always are that the ball have been QCd. Their minds are concentrated on all the other stuff. Also maybe/probably had gloves on? Also they dont really grip the ball tightly. They also dont typically handle footballs all week every week like the players do, which explains why the Indy LB was able to detect it right away. Probably right when he corralled it and started to run.

lol! Thats a gag article, right?

just a quick browse on comments on espn articles and such... this 11 of 12 by 2lbs news has really changed the mood a great deal. No, it isnt only "Bills fans have an inferiority complex and are whining". There are actually a lot of Pats fans I see speaking out in disgust and embarrassment. The NFL (even though I cant see them come down hard) has got to be pissed.

Im sure they appreciated and enjoyed a "sure-handed" Blount carrying the ball as well.

ah, the everybody does it defense.

There are a lot of things in there I disagree with and I think a lot of his/her numbers aren't well calculated... But as far as the UB stuff. You have to wonder what the future holds for that program. They would make a great Pitt-like tenant if they could get into a better conference. I do not think the American or Big10 would scoff at the WNY media market. I would also think this "One Buffalo" thing would love a higher profile NCAA Football program to have in the fold, especially if they play Penn State. The big question is will people support it and come out? Watch on TV? Its questionable. Certainly not with the existing stadium. That place makes football unwatchable. I like the MAC and cant stomach it. I also dont think the Bills having inaccessible pricing (if it happens to that degree) would trickle common fans to the Bulls. It would have to be a much bigger reason than just that, and Im not sure if Buffalo would support NCAA football... (I certainly would). The Leafs are really expensive... but you see the Marlies struggle with attendance as well as the OHL teams there (one just skipped town for North Bay). I wonder if they would do a dry run or 2 at a new facility. Like a neutral site game between Penn State and Syracuse or something of that sort to gauge how people would receive "real" NCAA football.

I hate it. They do it in the NHL too. Its patronizing that they pretend to care and the announcers pretend there are strategies and such. Its stupid. Much rather have conference vs conference. Heck, just make it flag football and televise a quick weekend tournament at the Superbowl site and have All-Division teams my preference would be Do a TV special a week before the Superbowl. Name an all-pro team. 1st and 2nd team. each conference maybe. Name all the award winners. Maybe make a couple additional awards and name them like NCAA or NHL has. If possible, have some sort of skills competition at the Super Bowl site. Maybe include celebrities. Just loose and fun. Season in review Give away a few free trips to the Superbowl but make it so people need to be watching to win. Like scan a bar code on the TV within a certain amount of time.