They found their fall guy. Hopefully Kraft buys him something nice as a parting gift.
NFL 2014
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They found their fall guy. Hopefully Kraft buys him something nice as a parting gift.
They found their fall guy. Hopefully Kraft buys him something nice as a parting gift.
Actually, I don't think so. The dude brought the footballs into the john, sure, but ninety seconds? Eleven game balls out of twelve? (Wait, why didn't he do all twelve? Hmm.) And why dare pull a stunt like this in a facility with nearly as many cameras as a casino?
Come on. I think the league's investigators are just grasping at straws at this point.:comeout:
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Today on Mike and Mike Golic was going to attempt to use the bathroom and deflate balls in 90 seconds to see if it is plausible. :chuckle:
Even this story doesn't seem likely.
Why on earth would Goodell ever consider it?
Not to be the party pooping fact master here, but the facts are already on the league's side. The Pats had the ball. The balls were measured for inflation. At halftime all but one was underinflated. It didn't happen by accident or atmosphere and the opposing team didn't experience deflation (except on the field of play).
Open and shut. The only point in investigating now is trying to find a specific who and squeeze them to see if this was a single incident or pattern. Factoid recently revealed. The Pats do 50% better at holding onto the ball in inclement weather than the league average.
lain: And one thing a deflated ball is? Easier to keep a handle on, which is why it benefits more than the qb. It benefits the receiver and even running backs. It's an easier, more secure handle.In fact, in the past five years the Pats have averaged 187 plays to 1 fumble. Good? Better than any team in the last 25 years good. League average? 105. (link)
How unlikely? Well, to quote the statistician who looked at the data, John Candido, a Data Scientist at ZestFinance:
...this result only being a coincidence, is like winning a raffle where you have a 0.0000616 probability to win. Which in other words, it’s very unlikely that it’s a coincidence.
Who knows, before this is over it may be the needless overreach by habit that untangles a larger skein.
Kraft's outrage is just a good man protecting the wrong thing because it impacts his team and their legacy. I can see why he would, but I'm sorry for it him either way.
Interesting to me that Kraft comes out with the near gruff, not quite demand on the heels of the public statements of Sherman on the chummy nature of the Kraft/Goodell relationship.
So, did Robert just do his three of his favorite people a solid? :think:
If he has the slightest inkling the team's got something to hide he's just destroyed his reputation, standing with the league, and the legacy of the franchise. I don't see him being stupid enough to be conned. Belichick got Spygate over him once. Kraft won't be fooled a second time.
But it won't. At worst he'll be the fellow who stood by and believed in people or a person who let him down. And his public stance both gets Goodell off the "chummy" hook and supports the team. The comment he made about knowing them fifteen years and not knowing them to be dishonest is problematic, given spygate, but no one in the media seems interested in parsing/really looking at it.
Very savvy, which is what I'd expect out of one of the smarter owners.
Pay attention to what he said. "Definitive proof" is really asking for something he knows isn't likely to materialize. And it doesn't have to. The NFL never has to prove who did it, only that it happened and it happened while in the custody of an agent of the team, which is already established by the chain of custody and measurements.
I don't think he is. I think he's doing what has to be done. It's intelligent and calculated. Smarter than Tom's though his "felt fine" qualified non denial was actually pretty smart...or indicative of a long established pattern, which would explain the whole fumbling bit I remarked about a few posts back.
If we're in the hair splitting business he said Belichick had never lied to him, which is true; the HC of the NEP fessed up to the videotaping when asked.
So now teams are in a position of getting fined and or docked draft picks absent anything definitive. Speculation and inference are enough now? Can't imagine many other owners will be happy about that precedent.
The fumbling bit's yet another stretch. By the time the week's out necromancy will be seriously considered as a possibility up there with human sacrifice and bone reading.
I agree. Let's say NE is totally innocent, I'd be extremely angered by all that's going on if I were Brady or Belichick or Kraft and I'd probably feel like an apology is in order. It's a huge distraction while they are trying to prepare for the Super Bowl and they should be getting celebrated. However, it's not the league is bringing this out of nowhere. Teams had warned the league about this and there is hard evidence of the balls getting underinflated sometime between the initial check and halftime, even if there isn't hard evidence on the who, what, and why.
Not hair splitting, just recognizing a really well thought out protest.
Well, no, because that's not happening here. There's a difference between knowing exactly who doctored the balls and knowing who was responsible for them when they were doctored.
You're misstating the reality, which is that the NFL measured then handed off and then measured again. Between measurements the team is responsible and they're responsible if something happens that results in a rules violation. Why that isn't clear by now I'll write off to fandom.
It's not nearly so clear cut, but it's darn peculiar and actually would explain why Brady could say the balls felt fine to him. If someone has been doing this for five years or so it would be a true statement.
Otherwise you're saying that a team goes along for years under Bill on the low norm for fumbles, especially and then in a span of five years jumps to a dramatic, historic accomplishment, better than the rest of their league and the their own average prior and that doesn't signify anything flag worthy for you?
lain: Conflating the ridiculous with the a) plausible and b) reasonably concerning doesn't really help you.
Quincy
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Could have been no one, that's why there's still no who, what, or why. There doesn't have to be any deception that happened. If you inflate a ball to the minimum PSI, it can contract quite a bit when first taken out in the cold weather. People just like to tear down success, all fueled by the media that needs to garner those ratings. Maybe someone got the order to inflate the balls low as possible knowing that would happen, but the rules don't say " must inflate to max in cold weather games* . Doing that would be no different than using a glitch in a videogame. It's just gaming the game.
Yesterday on PTI I believe I heard Kornheiser mention something to the effect of institutional control. Like the Penn State stuff.
Perhaps it's true that Brady and Belichick didn't know anything about those balls being deflated but perhaps they allowed an environment where cutting corners and playing a bit loose with the rules was acceptable. Or maybe there's a large element of plausible deniability with some wink wink conversations. Vague desires are made known but the action is left up to others.
I'm not saying I absolutely think any of that happened, but that could be a way to accept their denials as honest while still holding them responsible instead of saying it's a freak act of nature or a rogue locker room attendant.
Perhaps it's true that Brady and Belichick didn't know anything about those balls being deflated but perhaps they allowed an environment where cutting corners and playing a bit loose with the rules was acceptable. Or maybe there's a large element of plausible deniability with some wink wink conversations. Vague desires are made known but the action is left up to others.
I'm not saying I absolutely think any of that happened, but that could be a way to accept their denials as honest while still holding them responsible instead of saying it's a freak act of nature or a rogue locker room attendant.
The trouble with that is that there wasn't any evidence (that I'm aware of) of weather causing less pressure in Indy's footballs.
Yes, if NE had the balls infalted to the min and Indy had them inflated to the max then the weather could have affected the balls of both teams while NE goes under the limit but Indy is still in the allowable zone. But as far as I know Indy's balls didn't lose any air. At least not as much as NE's.
If?
Belicheat illegally video tapped other teams.
Brady left his pregnant girlfriend for a supermodel.
You Patriot's fans are in denial.
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