Well the ideal gas law (physics going back to the 18th century) required some loss in psi. The balls were inflated to 12.5 psi and were approved by the refs pre game (through they didn’t keep a written record). According to the latest ‘leaks’ from the league office (per Adan Schefter) most of the Patriot balls were 1 psi or less below the 12.5 mark. This required no cheating merely that the balls be exposed to the game time elements.
There was 1 ball that was 2 psi under the 12.5 mark the one in the Colts possession after the interception. perhaps it was deflated by a team.... the Colts.
My guess is after being destroyed and embarrassed 28-0 in the second half they were going to let the matter drop but then their drug addict owner dropped a dime to his fav indy reporter, Bob Kravitz and things spun out of control.
My suggestion is that the Colts be docked a first round draft pick and that they and the Legue FO apologize to the Patriots.
The people in the league office who leaked stuff prior to the SB to smear and distract the Patriots should be fired.
Specifically Jim Kensil who was supervising the game for the NFL FO and was coincidentally with the Jets when Belicheck resigned.
My guess is the Patriots will get their apology from the NFL, although the NFL will point out that the NFL was not headlining rumors like sportswriters and bloggers were.
“There was 1 ball that was 2 psi under the 12.5 mark the one in the Colts possession after the interception. perhaps it was deflated by a team .... the Colts.”
Or perhaps it was deflated by the Patriots’ employee who made an unscheduled stop with the 12 footballs in a room by himself before the game. And the idea that the weather took as much air out of the ball as was missing has been debunked.
“My suggestion is that the Colts be docked a first round draft pick and that they and the League FO apologize to the Patriots.”
Why should the Colts be punished for discovering the cheating? My suggestion is that Belichick and Brady be suspended the first four games of next season and the Patriots lose draft picks for yet another case of them attempting to gain an unfair advantage over an opponent.
So many NFL games come down to a play or two. How many games are decided by a last play field goal? If a flatter football allows a player to haul in a football that would otherwise go bouncing off his fingers, couldn’t this affect the game? And who knows how many dozen passes in how many games the Patriots used flatter footballs in? Did flatter footballs prevent the Ravens game from being out of reach?
So many catches are barely missed by the defense. Did SpyGate in which the Patriots were illegally filming the defensive walk-throughout of other teams give them an unfair advantage? The NFL thought so.
“I don’t believe I’m a cheater. ... I don’t believe so.” - Tom Brady
Hardly an angry, emphatic “No!” Does Brady believe he’s not a cheater because he believes other teams are also doctoring the footballs or gaining unfair advantages in other ways?