Posted on 01/19/2015 7:48:57 AM PST by servo1969
The NFL has confirmed it is looking into charges the New England Patriots cheated Sunday night when they clinched a trip to the Super Bowl Sunday night by using deflated footballs.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy confirmed the probe Monday, following the AFC championship game, in which the Patriots demolished the Indianapolis Colts, 45-7. The charge was first made Sunday night, when an Indianapolis reporter that the NFL had seized at least one game ball from the AFC championship game to examine whether pigskins were intentionally deflated to make them easier to throw and catch.
“The NFL is investigating the possibility,” Bob Kravitz, of WTHR, tweeted, adding that, “at one point the officials took a ball out of play and weighed it.”
If the Patriots did cheat, it would not be the first time. The team was penalized a first-round draft pick, fined $250,000 and head coach Belichick was personally fined $500,000 after an investigation by the NFL determined the team had illegally videotaped their opponents hand signals during a 2007 game.
And unsubstantiated accusations of cheating have long dogged the team, stemming from their Super Bowl wins in 2002, 2004 and 2005. The St. Louis Rams claimed the team illegally videotaped their walk-through practices prior to the 2002 game, and players on the other defeated opponents have said the Patriots seemed to have inside knowledge of their playbooks.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The intent here is to negate the possibility of a team inflating the game balls with Nitrogen as opposed to compressed air (~20% Oxygen).
If the home team inflates every ball used in practice with nitrogen, they have an advantage; the balls will be slightly heavier; likely above the 13.5 Oz prescribed.
Well, that explains Cam Newton....................
Good point.
Yep.... we agree. If it is an NFL approved ball, and that is clearly visible and not in question.... the question is does it have enough air in it. That is ALWAYS checked with a pressure gauge. Even in highschool ball.
LOL
I don’t think it is an advantage for the QB and receivers if the ball acts differently in practice than in an actual game. That means the ball may be in a different place or at a different instant than you practiced for.
Well the first step of course is to have an investigative process that doesn’t take 5 years so the people that actually get punished would be the ones that broke the rules. The next step is punishments that impact the team’s ability to win, draft picks and cap space in the NFL, scholarship count in the NCAA. Just look at the Paterno thing to see how rewriting history accomplishes nothing, nobody thought Paterno wasn’t still the winningest coach when he had those wins vacated, there was just an asterisk in the record book, and now the asterisk has been erased so the record book matches what everybody already knew.
And it has to be measured at the same temperature. That would negate the ability to measure it on the field at a different temperatures.
Unless, of course, the league has provided an allowable pressure range versus temperature to the refs.
Y’all watching this “tempest in a teapot” thread?
I suppose 50% helium would really let you throw it a long ways.... :)
In the NFL, each team brings 12 Wilson footballs to the game and uses its own. As such, the Patriots’ offense uses one set of footballs and those are taken off the field when possession shifts. The Colts then bring theirs into rotation. It is not uncommon for teams to try to alter, however slightly but within the acceptable limits between 12.5 and 13.5 pounds, the ball that is most agreeable to their quarterback.
So if New England was actually using an illegally inflated ball, it would only help their offense and not hurt the Colts’ offense.
Forget the posssible help in the passing game if the ball was deflated and a pound lighter.
You could tell the Patriot running back Blount was significantly helped by carrying a lighter ball.
I suppose that the ball was deflated when the Patriots were on offense and then refilled when it went over to the Packers.
Well... it was raining.
There's not a pound of air in it to begin with.
That wouldn’t affect Luck’s miserable passing, and especially the interceptions. It also shouldn’t matter too much in the Pat’s running game, and they had Blount just marching up and down the field.
As a one time QB, the “heft” difference of the ball when throwing is obvious. If you practice all week with a “heavy ball”, the game ball feels like a feather.
That can be both an advantage and a disadvantage; most obvious is game-time overthrows of a “lighter” ball; missing intended targets.
That would explain why they sucked against the Seahawks.
Why just last week, the Baltimore Ravens were clucking about the fact that the Patriots used unusual formations and employed trick plays in their divisional playoff game.
The horror! I bet Belichick has a reverse flea-flicker and a hook and lateral in store for the Seahawks in the upcoming SB. That will have tongues wagging all summer.
It would matter on the handoffs
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