MattM

Unfortunately, I think you may be right. The League has been in under the rug sweep mode all week. It also seems like the deflection angle may have worked with the media. The NBC news coverage tonight was ridiculous. Kristin Welker must not have even watched the PC, as she basically reported that BB said it was all temperature-related (when he explicitly said that was NOT the cause), which sounded A-OK to her. What a joke! Until someone explains to me how the Colts balls stayed at regulation pressure while the Pats*' shrank, I remain highly skeptical of BB's response.

What lots of you Pats* fans don't seem to get is that it sounds like the refs knew about this ahead of time and measured both the Pats*' balls and the Colts' balls both before the game (both tested within the limits) and at halftime when as per multiple reports 11 of the 12 (the 12th may have been for the punter, as I've heard one person opine) Pats* balls tested 2 psi below the limit while the Colts balls still tested within the limits. In such a case, since both the Pats* balls and the Colts balls were the same temperature at halftime any effect due to the weather should be similar on each set of balls, yet one set passes (meaning that, at most, they deflated 1 psi due to the weather) and one was two psi under, which is the cause of the suspicion here. That's the common sense element here. I'm also sick of the burden of proof "you can't prove this" crap. In such a scenario, if I'm the League (remember, this isn't a court of law), the burden is pretty clearly on the team to explain why their balls weren't passing the test. The most likely explanation is someone let the air out of the Pats* balls and the punishment should flow accordingly, particularly considering their history of breaking the rules.

Then why weren 't the Colts' balls below the required range? If you can't answer that, you really have no answer here. Common, basic sense.

But they still tested within the range at halftime it sounds like. In addition, that would mean a decrease of less than 1 psi at most vs the 2 psi or more the Pats* decreased by

Has he or anyone else explained why the Colts balls didn't seem to have this problem?

Has he or anyone else explained why the Colts balls didn't seem to have this problem?

The indoor/outdoor thing doesn't hold water because the Colts' balls were apparently tested at half too and hadn't lost any psi.

But don't you agree as a general matter that a deflated football is easier to throw, catch and hang onto? And that if they've done it for a while it could impact their long-term stats? Anyone else get the feeling that the coaching fraternity may have had enough Patriot* BS skirting the rules? If so, this won't be the last accusations against those guys.

Until that last game, right? You also conveniently forget that just like here, they were distracted by another cheating scandal. See a trend?

Link? Didn't see it myself, but thought I read somewhere that Mark Brunell's did something similar and was able to easily tell a ball at 11 psi each time.

Serious question for WEO--are you now, or have you ever been, a closet Pats* fan? You leap to their defense at every opportunity, even before this latest of many, many transgressions over the years, all on a BUFFALO BILLS message board. Now I know you also follow the Bills, as you comment on them, too, here, unlike some of the other Pats* defenders who seemed to come out of the woodwork from nowhere this week (HOFW comes to mind) and I actually agree with you from time to time on the Bills stuff. Are the Pats* your second/mistress team or something? That' last part's exactly what my wife said upon reading an article detailing their eligibility shenanigans.

Wow--with the amount of time you're spending on this, you really must be a League or Pats* paid troll. I wonder if they've done the same thing on other message boards throughout the League. Are you guys all holed up in one "damage control-central" spot? Just wondering. No one here buys the crap you're selling, except your Pats* buddy Pneumonic. At least he's open about being a Pats* fan/apologist. No one buys his crap, either, BTW, but at least he's honest about his angle.

Top man is still the top man, no? No, Kraft just has the rep of paying Belicheat's fine by reworking/extending BB's deal within weeks of the Spygate fine.

Even though one incident (Carolina's) was much more likely innocent in nature (ie, never having faced such a situation (normally being a Southen team)) vs the Pats*' case where they clearly knew there was a rule and broke it (as evidenced by the fact that they did the deed AFTER the ball check) and involved a team already found guilty of cheating, who may well have been doing this for ages (witness the statistical evidence above, plus the fact they were suspected to be doing this during the year as per some sources)? If so, I'm sure you're in a clear minority.

Except that the pressure is checked 2 hrs, 15 mins before kickoff and turn given to the respective teams. Two points: 1. There are no cameras rolling (or even people in the stadium) then; 2. That's plenty of time to take them wherever and do whatever to them. To say otherwise doesn't stand up to scrutiny. As noted above, you keep embarrassing yourself here. How much are the League/Pats* paying you to troll here? But those are the facts as being attributed to League-related sources. Let's get one thing straight here--your position if/when all of that comes out as true? So far, you just keep saying "it's not true, there's no proof". What if the League turns around and says it's all true as per their investigation? Are you ok with this blatant cheating? If so, why?

That last part is why they'll do jack ****--Goodell owes his position to Kraft and kisses his ring every chance he can. Look no further than Spygate and the burning of the tapes followed by his lies about how widespread it was. It sounds like it's uncontrovertible that the balls had the correct psi 2 hours before kickoff, but in the two hours till game time suddenly lost 2 psi or more each (which cannot be explained by weather or other factors--plus the fact that the Colts' balls retained their regulation psi at that time). That can only happen one way, particularly since the balls were in the Pats*' possession for that 2 hour period. (For the benefit of numb nuts Watkins here (who has to be a paid troll) with his argument about "there must be a camera showing the cheating--ever been in the stadium at 11 on game day? No, know why? Because the gates open at 11:30, so no cameras, no nothing for at least 30 minutes--plenty of time to doctor the balls.) This standard of proof crap is clearly BS designed to let them give minimal to no punishment for what wasobviously an intentional act of cheating. What's also funny is listening to (like Rich Gannon on NFL Radio) and reading (like Gil Brandt's (still a League consultant) ridiculous interview in the NYT yesterday) spin trying to downplay this. The League is once again doing a full court press to sweep this under the rug. Unfortunately, where the NFL is concerned there are no objective media outlets to out their BS.

Go read O'Leary's book--he describes how Doug Flutie on a radio interview post-Spygate mentioned laughingly (like he thought it was funny) how he once picked up the wrong QB helmet during a game and could hear the coaches talking on it well after the League-mAndated cutoff.

I don't recall Rice's 49ers losing any Super Bowls.

If this is true (and considering the acceptable range is 12.5 to 13.5), it's clearly not an accident and they need to be seriously punished. Full stop.

Go read the article I linked to above--as per a member of the NFL Competition Committee, they were the main team accused of cheating over and over again during that Committee's proceedings.

I caught NBC News tonight and it was the 3rd story reported there, so this is getting national press. It will be interesting to see what comes of it.

Wow--take the kids skiing for the day and I miss all this? How is anyone really surprised by anything they do at this point? This article is as true today as the day it was written: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/sports/football/11nfl.html?_r=0 Among the choice quotes: "The committee heard accusations that the Patriots had taped opposing coaches’ signals, placed microphones on defensive players to steal quarterbacks’ audible signals and manipulated clocks and coach-to-quarterback radio systems." (BTW, lots more on those accusations (including citations) in the Spygate book from a few years back.) "The N.F.L. team executive said the Patriots were the subject of most of the accusations discussed in the rules committee’s deliberations. The team’s recent success and tight-lipped approach, as personified by Belichick, has played a role. “They were the only team, really,” the executive said. “Clearly, they were the team mentioned far more than anybody else.”" Second verse, same as the first. If this latest allegation is true, they seem to be getting more brazen with time, since there's tangible evidence of their cheating being handed to the refs on every offensive play. I agree with the folks here who say that it's doubtful that the underinflated balls were necessary or key to their dominant win yesterday, but I also agree with the folks who point to the integrity of the game and say that something really needs to be done about someone who repeatedly tries to break the League's rules, seemingly at every turn. There are 32 teams in the NFL, but why is it almost always this one team every single time? Personally, I think it has to do with an organization run by and staffed with like-minded individuals who don't like to lose and have a "win at all costs (fair or foul)" mentality. Look no further than that tantrums Brady throws when things aren't going his way, or Belichick running off the field before the game was over without shaking Coughlin's hand in 2008 (I honestly think he was afraid he'd cry on national TV) or a couple years back sending Devin McCourty out to do a post-game interview in his place after they got upset by the Ravens in the playoffs (absolutely classless, but again, shows what an absolute poor sport the man is). They just can't stand to lose, so will do whatever it takes to win. If that involves stretching the line, so be it. If they're caught here, they need to be dealt with hard, as it's at least a second offense.

Boobie is a genius

Me, too, but I think Rodgers (and two weeks to heal) and the Pack can take the Cheats*

Isn't that the year Rex joined the Jets?