The Deflate Gate Thread

**lovefootball** · 02-25-2015, 04:49 PM

If evidence is found and a penalty is imposed, those that are sick and tired of it, please don't post if the nfl hands down punishment. The rest of us are having fun at the pats expense during this off season. They created this issue and the rest of us are rolling with it. What else would we do if this issue wasn't around. Nothing personal, but this new thread picks up on where the old left off. Except for the occasional pat fan, who should go straight to the smackatorium, LOL.

**Purpleguy** · 02-25-2015, 04:50 PM

Originally Posted by HoustonRaven

Because they don't want to be viewed as a rush to judgement type situation ala Ray Rice. And rightfully so.

If they rush and get it wrong, the league has a huge problem on their hand.

What is there to get wrong? Was the PSI reading different at the half? Was it different for the other team? That shows it wasn't atmospheric causes. If the Cheats used warm air or some crazy stuff like that, then their intent was to cheat. I don't care who did it on the team. I don't care if the ball boy took the balls to take a piss. You are never going to get Brady or Belicheat to admit culpability. The team should be punished. It should have happened before the Superbowl, because now it's mission accomplished on their end.

**GreatWhiteNorthRaven** · 02-25-2015, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by Purpleguy

What is there to get wrong? Was the PSI reading different at the half? Was it different for the other team? That shows it wasn't atmospheric causes. If the Cheats used warm air or some crazy stuff like that, then their intent was to cheat. I don't care who did it on the team. I don't care if the ball boy took the balls to take a piss. You are never going to get Brady or Belicheat to admit culpability. The team should be punished. It should have happened before the Superbowl, because now it's mission accomplished on their end.

We get that you don't care, the league does care. He's saying the league can't make those decisions that quick. There shouldnt be any surprise given the latest controversies with the NFL (as he said, Ray Rice).

For the sake of discussion, what would you propose their punishment be if they had concluded wrong doing and sanctioned prior to the super bowl? Brady has to wear his helmet backwards? belichick has to dress like a normal coach during the game?

**Captain Silver** · 02-25-2015, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by Sarcasticfury

The Ravens secondary couldn't tackle or cover, the Colts couldn't do anything, the Seahawks made a boneheaded play call and the Patriots won. Can we move on now?

No one put a gun to your head and forced you to read this thread.

The fact the Patriots win all season long using under inflated balls may have contributed to them being in the playoffs which they may not deserve.

**blah3** · 02-25-2015, 05:04 PM

Originally Posted by Purpleguy

T This could have been wrapped up real quickly, but for some reason the NFL has chosen to drag it out, ......

See all the responses that have said something along the lines of 'I don't care anymore, can we move on'.

**wickedsolo** · 02-25-2015, 05:10 PM

Originally Posted by Captain Silver

No one put a gun to your head and forced you to read this thread.

The fact the Patriots win all season long using under inflated balls may have contributed to them being in the playoffs which they may not deserve.

How is that a fact?

That's Captain Silver's opinion.

**Purpleguy** · 02-25-2015, 05:10 PM

Originally Posted by GreatWhiteNorthRaven

For the sake of discussion, what would you propose their punishment be if they had concluded wrong doing and sanctioned prior to the super bowl? Brady has to wear his helmet backwards? belichick has to dress like a normal coach during the game?

That the Patriots be disqualified from the Superbowl and that the Colts take their place. Surely the cheating didn't impact that game, but cheating should disqualify you. After further investigation they could decide suspensions, fines, and possible league banishments, but the immediate results seem to clearly show cheating and that should result in disqualification. That decision actually could have been made at halftime of the AFCCG when the refs discovered the cheating.

**HoustonRaven** · 02-25-2015, 05:12 PM

Originally Posted by Purpleguy

What is there to get wrong?

Quite a bit. Namely the facts of the case and whether or not there was malice on the part of the Pats, et al.

The league is latterly on the heels of a major scandal, one in which they rushed to judge and it blew up publicly in their face in spectacular fashion. It would be the height of stupidity to do it again.

Originally Posted by Purpleguy

Was the PSI reading different at the half? Was it different for the other team? That shows it wasn't atmospheric causes.

No clue. I am not going to rely on news reports for something like this. There's a very credible report out there done by Carnegie Mellon that says it could very well have been atmospheric in nature. There's also a very credible report out there that only one ball was under inflated and the rest were marginally off. And yes, there's credible reports out there that suggest they may have been cheating.

By definition, this is, at best, contradictory and not conclusive. You may be comfortable cherry picking which reports to believe and which to throw away but I am not. Thus, I am not going to call anything malice until there's more proof.

Originally Posted by Purpleguy

If the Cheats used warm air or some crazy stuff like that, then their intent was to cheat. I don't care who did it on the team. I don't care if the ball boy took the balls to take a piss. You are never going to get Brady or Belicheat to admit culpability. The team should be punished. It should have happened before the Superbowl, because now it's mission accomplished on their end.

I agree if they did some dumb warm arm temp thing than there intent was to cheat. I agree they will never admit they were doing anything intentionally. And I agree they should be punished, based off the precedent set by Bountygate that the head coach needs to know whats going on.

But in the grand scheme of things (and if there was zero intent on their part; a very real possibility), this is nothing major nor did it have a profound impact on the game(s) in question. I believe this because people who I trust as impartial football observers all seem to agree on this point. YMMV.

**wickedsolo** · 02-25-2015, 05:14 PM

Frankly,the NFL left themselves wide open for this in 2006 when they changed the rules.

Now, the home team brings their own balls and the visiting team brings their own balls. No one looks at the balls before, during, or after the game to ensure the rules are being followed.

Most NFL teams, especially a coach like Belichick, is going to do everything he can do to gain a competitive advantage and that includes walking the line of certain rules (e.g. the ineligible receiver formation) and even breaking rules that he knows the NFL isn't checking for (e.g. taping other teams practices and deflating footballs).

**Purpleguy** · 02-25-2015, 05:21 PM

Originally Posted by HoustonRaven

Quite a bit. Namely the facts of the case and whether or not there was malice on the part of the Pats, et al.

The league is latterly on the heels of a major scandal, one in which they rushed to judge and it blew up publicly in their face in spectacular fashion. It would be the height of stupidity to do it again.

No clue. I am not going to rely on news reports for something like this. There's a very credible report out there done by Carnegie Mellon that says it could very well have been atmospheric in nature. There's also a very credible report out there that only one ball was under inflated and the rest were marginally off. And yes, there's credible reports out there that suggest they may have been cheating.

By definition, this is, at best, contradictory and not conclusive. You may be comfortable cherry picking which reports to believe and which to throw away but I am not. Thus, I am not going to call anything malice until there's more proof.

I agree if they did some dumb warm arm temp thing than there intent was to cheat. I agree they will never admit they were doing anything intentionally. And I agree they should be punished, based off the precedent set by Bountygate that the head coach needs to know whats going on.

But in the grand scheme of things (and if there was zero intent on their part; a very real possibility), this is nothing major nor did it have a profound impact on the game(s) in question. I believe this because people who I trust as impartial football observers all seem to agree on this point. YMMV.

There are certainly a lot of reports out there, but do you think any of these reports would exist if there wasn't something up with the footballs when the league checked them? Do you think the league would let this story continue if they found basically nothing during that initial investigation? You say it means nothing. Other people say it's a huge difference. I don't know. I never played the game, just a fan, but I just think the NFL has tight tolerances on PSI for a reason.

**lovefootball** · 02-25-2015, 05:25 PM

I don't know how any poster can state a fact on what happened to the balls and what the nfl did during the game. Or what the refs do during the game. The only thing that is known is a reporter put out a report that the nfl found 11 out of 12 pat game balls underinflated. Fans knew something was up along with the announcers who questioned why the refs called time out and replaced a football on the field. That bit is a fact because it happened on national TV.
Have to wait for the WElls report to come out, then , hopefully we get answers.
If the reporter lied, ban him from reporting on anything NFL.
As far as impact on the game(s), no one knows that for a fact either, LMAO.

**HoustonRaven** · 02-25-2015, 05:30 PM

Originally Posted by Purpleguy

There are certainly a lot of reports out there, but do you think any of these reports would exist if there wasn't something up with the footballs when the league checked them?

Ask the Duke Lacrosse boys if its smart to base a conclusion off of numerous media reports. Or Ray Lewis.

And I never said there wasn't something up with the footballs. Obviously, something was wrong with the football to varying degrees, depending on which report you believe. What is inconclusive is the malice behind it.

Originally Posted by Purpleguy

Do you think the league would let this story continue if they found basically nothing during that initial investigation? You say it means nothing. Other people say it's a huge difference. I don't know. I never played the game, just a fan, but I just think the NFL has tight tolerances on PSI for a reason.

The NFL has no control over media reaction so their not "letting" anything happen or not happen. It is what is at this point. Now that a bunch of eyeballs are on it, they have to be prudent about the investigation or they face a possible shit storm like they did with Ray Rice.

And I never said it means nothing. I said its nothing major. Yes, the league has though tolerances for a reason. I just don't think a 1 PSI difference on the low end (if thats indeed what happened, again there are conflicting reports on this too) gives a team an advantage one way or another.