The Patriots: A deflating story

Belichick says he know nothing, he saw nothing, he heard nothing.

Basically 'ask Brady'.
 
they should refuse to let Belichick coach in superbowl. IMO

tired of hearing ..."everybody does it"

you get caught breaking the rules they should drop the hammer. This was also VERY premeditated. After the refs check the balls then altering the balls. I suspect that MANY coaches would NOT do that



love the argument that cheating is ok if you would have won anyway......?
 
law_bee said:
you get caught breaking the rules they should drop the hammer. This was also VERY premeditated. After the refs check the balls then altering the balls. I suspect that MANY coaches would NOT do that
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Considering that the officials only check before the game starts, I think we would be not surprised at all to find out that just about every team does this in bad weather....

Should they be punished, yes but mildly.

And if this is such a big deal, the league needs to change its procedures....
 
etc79 said:
I think we would be not surprised at all to find out that just about every team does this in bad weather....

.
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what does that mean?

Cheating is ok if everybody does it?

Mark Rypien said on ESPN he could throw a deflated ball 10 more yards and with significantly more velocity especially in cold, rainy conditions.

Is the team that does not cheat a bunch of stooges?
 
NFL rules need uniform punishment, not the arbitrary decision of the commissioner. So game balls need to be properly inflated. What is the penalty for failure to comply with the rule? $500 per violation (each ball found improperly inflated)? $50,000? game forfeiture?

For too long commissioners of pro sports enjoy arbitrary enforcement power of the established rules. Set standard penalties and enforce them. If the fine were small the Pats would probably have gladly paid the money if they thought it gave them an advantage. But, do you think Coach Sweatshirt would have made certain he had properly inflated balls if the penalty was game forfeiture?
 
I think there are numerous punishments that can matter. $$$$ is irrelevant ...unless you are going to millions.

I think barring him from coaching the superbowl would send the appropriate message. Draft picks are also significant.

If it was me I would refuse to let him coach superbowl. That seems in line with what Peyton got with the 1 year suspension.
 
law_bee said:
what does that mean?

Cheating is ok if everybody does it?

Mark Rypien said on ESPN he could throw a deflated ball 10 more yards and with significantly more velocity especially in cold, rainy conditions.

Is the team that does not cheat a bunch of stooges?
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No one is saying that its ok, cause its clearly a rule, I am saying the NFL is not doing a very good job of enforcing their rules....
 
law_bee said:
they should refuse to let Belichick coach in superbowl. IMO

tired of hearing ..."everybody does it"

you get caught breaking the rules they should drop the hammer. This was also VERY premeditated. After the refs check the balls then altering the balls. I suspect that MANY coaches would NOT do that



love the argument that cheating is ok if you would have won anyway......?
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You holding info that says it was premeditated? perpetrated by anyone associated with the Pats?

Wish there was this much butthurt when obama lies to our face.
 
The fix to this problem is to not let each team use their own balls. Just like the NFL provides the officiating crew, they should provide the balls and both teams should use the same ball.

That way, even if it is underinflated, both teams have the same advantage.
 
cincyjacket said:
The fix to this problem is to not let each team use their own balls. Just like the NFL provides the officiating crew, they should provide the balls and both teams should use the same ball.

That way, even if it is underinflated, both teams have the same advantage.
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A 5 year old could figure out a way to regulate this....that is what is so odd. Why wasnt this regulated better if its such a big deal??
 
What I'm curious about is why didn't the Pats reinflate the balls after the game was over?? They may be good at taking every advantage/cheating, but not so good covering their tracks. Not sure how "tight" the security was for the balls before the game, or even after the game.

Ball boy/attendent would get C-notes from Brady, Blount, Billichick, etc, etc :rolleyes:

I think this is media Fluff to help wade through the 2 week break til the SuperBowl.
 
Bill Belichick:

"In closing, I'd just like to say that the players are going to play play play and the haters are going to hate hate hate..."

Go Pats
 
Nerf is clearly the answer.

If the Colts complained during the game AND Ravens tipped them off (presuming they complained after their game as well) then they might have prevented the Pats from getting a chance to reinflate. And it's a lot easier to casually hide deflating than inflating. All you need is a needle to deflate.

P.S.
Not every QB prefers underinflated. Aaron Rodgers like overinflated, but he says he is in the minority among QBs.
 
midatlantech said:
, the refs would notice the differences over some amount of games doing it.
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I don't think this would happen.

First, refs don't touch the football as often as you might imagine. In the course of a game, referees spot the ball and might toss the ball back to the equipment person on the sideline, or receive the ball from the equipment person. You're not making long throws where you have to grip the ball. A lot of the tosses are short underhanded throws. If there is a long incompletion and I'm back judge, I toss the ball to the equipment guy on the sideline and another equipment guy brings a new one out to the umpire (unless you're doing an 8 man crew). On a 6 or 7 or 8 man crew this means not every official is touching the ball very often. when I'm handling the football, I've got 10 other things I have to do at that very moment. I'm not thinking about the football, I'm watching my assignments on the field, watching the hand signals from the umpire and referee, and making sure that I'm on the same page with them. Did we spot the ball correctly? Are the substitutions being made correctly? Are the sidelines being observed? Are the players using their protective equipment properly? Are there any players who are playing hurt, and do I need to stop the game because some 17 year old has decided to be a tough guy (an NFL official probably has to make sure no one is celebrating in any way shape or form)? Are the down and distance marker correct? These responsibilities, among others, are divided amongst the crew, but I promise you, when I've set the ball for play I've never once thought about whether the ball was properly inflated.


Second, the officials were probably wearing gloves. It was 50 degrees and raining. I would have worn gloves because they would help me grip the ball on the rare occasions that I have to toss the ball. That would have hindered figuring out the ball was deflated.

Third, you really notice the ball is deflated when you grip it. Think about the difference between catching a short toss and setting the ball on the ground, and throwing the ball for 25 yards or running with the ball (and holding it tight so you don't fumble). Officials don't grip the ball because they aren't worried about fumbling or passing it a long ways. And when we do throw the ball, we don't rear back like a QB. At the super bowl, watch how the officials handle the ball. They don't grip it the same way.

Fourth, at every halftime my crew has checked the pressure. We've never seen a problem. So, it isn't something they'd expect.

Fifth, I suspect that officials will adjust and start gripping the ball occasionally after this, just to make sure there haven't been any surprises.

Sixth, if they do notice, and don't say anything, its because every team does it. The 12.5-13.5 might be a rule honored in the breach. In HS football, I doubt most refs are trained enough to even check properly.
 
Why do we really care? As long as it is reasonably inflated let the team decide. The range is too tight to begin with.
 
Can I TM "Patriots- a deflating story" for the headline when Brady and Giselle get a divorce?
 
law_bee said:
I think there are numerous punishments that can matter. $$$$ is irrelevant ...unless you are going to millions.

I think barring him from coaching the superbowl would send the appropriate message. Draft picks are also significant.

If it was me I would refuse to let him coach superbowl. That seems in line with what Peyton got with the 1 year suspension.
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That seems like it would be extremely inappropriate given that many teams do it. Yes, it's still cheating, but you can't go from being completely lax on enforcing it to dropping a nuclear bomb on a single team, randomly.

You need to give some indication that you're actually going to start enforcing the rule first if it's general knowledge that no one really cares.
 
http://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/blog/?p=2932

The 2014 Patriots were just the 3rd team in the last 25 years to never have lost a fumble at home! The biggest difference between the Patriots and the other 2 teams who did it was that New England ran between 150 and 200 MORE plays this year than those teams did in the years they had zero home fumbles, making the Patriots stand alone in this unique statistic.

One can CLEARLY SEE the Patriots, visually, are off the chart. There is no other team even close to being near to their rate of 187 offensive plays (passes+rushes+sacks) per fumble. The league average is 105 plays/fumble. Most teams are within 21 plays of that number.
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Fumble-Chart-4.png


But in 2007, something happened to propel them to a much better rate (you’ll remember, that just so happened to be the same year they went 16-0 in the regular season). But even looking at these numbers, its clear how insane the 187 number is: they are almost running 100 MORE plays without a single fumble as compared to the 2002-2006 period when they won 2 of their 3 Super Bowls.
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[later he looks at total fumbles, not just fumbles lost, and Patriots are again of the chart except the dome teams, they are also off the chart]
 
wow so my offhand theory about deflating the balls being better for the running backs could be the source of the issue!

My subconscious is so much smarter than I am.
 
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