Not saying the Patriots didn't cheat.... But if the officials followed procedure, I find it hard to believe someone snatched 11 of 12 balls and systematically dropped the pressure to exactly 10.5 psi in all of them. The consistent nature suggests either they were all processed the same in the beginning (i.e. the refs really didn't check and the patriots pulled a good one) or as I suggested the pressure dropped after a easily consistent original inflation.
and
one other thing.... I can't find a place that actually says it is against the rules to put any temperature air into the ball.... so if Bellicheck knows anything about gas laws (which I bet he does) who is to say he didn't purposefully pump 120* air into the balls? Does that violate a rule? They start at 12.5 psi... that is the only requirement. He would know that the cooler temp would drop the psi... which also brings up what happens if a QB/team pumps the ball to 13.5 psi and as Aaron Rodgers has said (he likes very hard balls) goes somewhere sweltering and the psi increases to 14? Is that cheating.. has it happened?
No I don't, but they are dumb enough to get caught.
Again my only question is why?
Right, once every 7 years? Got it. lol
They've been CAUGHT twice in 7 years. How many times have they gotten away with breaking the rules that haven't been caught?
So basically what you're saying is, the Patriots are the only team in the NFL that might be cheating and no other team cheats? Got it. Haters gonna hate. lol
I can tell you for sure that the REDSKINS do not cheat. Hell they have trouble just finding the freaking field!! Much less the deflated balls....
the pressure dropped after a easily I can't find a place that actually says it is against the rules to put any temperature air into the ball.... so if Bellicheck knows anything about gas laws (which I bet he does
If you've been struggling to care about the Patriots being accused of deflating footballs, and have been hoping the whole thing would just blow over so we could get to talking about a truly excellent and fascinating Super Bowl matchup, you, my friend, are [bleep] out of luck. Ballghazi is real, and it is just the thing to fill an off-week.
ESPN reported last night that a league investigation has discovered that 11 of the Patriots' 12 footballs used in their whupping of the Colts were underinflated, and by a significant margin: two pounds per square inch below the acceptable 12.5-13.5 psi range. The NFL, per Chris Mortensen's source, is "disappointed ... angry ... distraught," not because there might be shenanigans going on here�no one should be shocked at that�but because the league now has to deal with this bullshit. ("Distraught!" This is the best, dumbest scandal.)
The more context that emerges, the more it feels like messing with footballs is akin to pitchers doctoring baseballs: everybody does it, and nobody looks too closely until an opponent publicly complains. Aaron Rodgers says he likes his balls overinflated. Brad Johnson says that before the Super Bowl, he paid "some guys" $7,500 to illegally rough up 100 game balls. Quarterbacks are understandably particular about the feel of their footballs, and teams seem to have an unspoken agreement to respect each other's freedom to squeeze and scuff and shine their own balls to their preference, as long as it stays within the bounds of decency. Either the Patriots went beyond those bounds, or the Colts were extra-salty and felt they had nothing to lose.
It remains to be seen�and I don't know it could ever be proven either way�just what happened to those footballs. The rules state that 12 footballs are provided to each team before the game to be inspected and broken in (a 2006 rule change pushed through by Tom Brady and Peyton Manning; prior to that, the home team was responsible for both teams' balls), then returned to the officials for approval two hours and 15 minutes before kickoff. Were the Pats' balls acceptable when they turned them in to referee Walt Anderson? If so, what happened to them to deflate them by the time they were put into play? And why, in 2015, are we still handling footballs this way?
Bill Polian has a simple, obvious solution:
"Just treat the footballs exactly like the K-balls," he said, referring to the balls used for kicking. "Keep them in the officials' custody until right before the game, and once they've been inspected, give them to a neutral person to handle them during the game on the sidelines."
But now is not the time for sense. Now is the time for screaming, and settling old scores, and reveling in a scandal that's goofy but genuinely revealing of the tenuous web of gentlemen's agreements that allows the NFL to even function. The fractally expanding rulebook is impossible to follow to the letter, so players and teams and officials have carved out an unwritten shadow rulebook, with its own, more realistic bounds of acceptability. Linemen are allowed to get away with a modicum of holding. The Seahawks secondary can commit pass interference on every single play. Tom Brady can [bleep] with his footballs. The NFL's existence is predicated on winks and nods, and it's hilarious (if worrying) that the whole thing can collapse thanks to one bitter team appealing the letter of the law.
What should happen, and what probably will happen, is that the Patriots will be fined some token amount, and everyone will move on, but not before making a billion jokes about balls, and not without this relatively victimless crime tainting everything the Patriots have ever done, no matter how illogical that is. Because, damn it, it's fun to needle Pats fans about Spygate and Eli and now this, because why should they be allowed to have nice things?
It won't be so simple as all that, thanks in large part to the boredom caused by the two-week Super Bowl break and the many, many column inches to fill. There will be calls for blood, and recriminations, and conspiracy theories galore. The Ravens are already alleging the Patriots got to their kicking balls. Roger Goodell's cozy relationship with Bob Kraft is being brought up.
Nothing can happen easily around here, because the NFL is a control-freak league uniquely unsuited to the practical exercise of that control. And we, the unaffiliated fans and unabashed scandal-groupies, are all better off for it. Buckle up, because we've got 11 more days before the Super Bowl, and the NFL is going to keep a firm grip on Tom Brady's balls.
The home teams provides 30 balls, and hands them over to the referees. The referees hand the balls out to the teams on the field. So, if New England underinflated the balls, the Colts would have been playing with the same balls. No advantage.
Further, it seems like the refs would have an air pressure gauge, and would check the balls.
The story I heard, was that each team supplied 12 balls. The balls are given to the ref's 2 hours prior to the game to be inspected. They give them back to the teams 15 minutes before kickoff. Each team plays their own balls when on offense. 'Don't know which story's right or wrong here, just saying what I heard.
Sounds like they proved the balls were somewhat deflated...I think I heard 2 lbs. The question is how did they get that way?
The other thing they will look at is what should happen with the game the Patriots won before playing the colts. They only beat by 4 points, and I'm sorry but I cannot remember the team they played.
I didn't read through all the comments so I apologize if this was already shared.
![[Linked Image]](http://vagisil.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/VAG_Max_Creme_Carton_web.jpg)
