Crapola. Just more sour grapes from the team that was bent over the table. If they weren't claiming that the balls were deflated, they'd find something else to bitch about. That's the way that Indy is when they get beat in the playoffs.
What the NFL should really be investigating is the atrocious officiating. The Pats were being called for the most spurious bullshit imaginable while Indy was free to rape the receivers in the end zone and to grab and hook Pats pass rushers at will. The score should have been 60 to 0. I normally can't stand whining about officiating as the bad calls usually bounce both ways, but I swear that this ref crew was trying to tilt things to Indy. It was unbelievably one-sided.
Funny thing is they are talented enough they shouldn't have to cheat..
Oh wait - they haven't won a Super Bowl since they got caught cheating the last time
How the hell do you complain about the refs when your team wins 45-7?
@Motor, probably the first round pick the Pats lost for cheating set them back a bit
Here's the thing I don't get: The punishment, supposedly, for doctoring the footballs is a $25,000 fine.
Seriously? In a league where players are making upwards of $750,000 per game, the fine is a measly $25,000? For that price, if I were the Kraft family, I'd punish the ballboys if they gave the Colts footballs with any air in them.
Also the refs inspect the balls. Plus the officials look at them every change of possession. So to say they wouldn't notice a difference is complete BS.
People will comment on how the refs or officiating sucks. But you forget these guys are making calls at full speed and don't the luxury of looking at things in slow motion from 10 angles. So they do a pretty damn good job if you ask me. Yet I will admit that they have blow calls. But get 95% correct!! So to get back about the footballs... they would notice if something was a fowl.
Seems the Pats often get accused of cheating and where there’s smoke there’s fire (similar to Lance Armstrong been accused of steroid use for years but he was never caught – except the Pats were actually caught; at least once).
They are still a good team – but one has to wonder why they are so good.
Patriots get accused because of jealousy. Also "several" has not been substantiated by anyone no one in any official capacity has stated that. Also i hope everyone believes this happened it would be the greatest conspiracy in the history of sports. Game balls go to the ref 2 hous and 15 minutes before gametime for inspection and then a crew handles and stores them not people who work for the team. Also the reason they have multiple balls is so if something happens they remove it from play for later inspection. This isn"t 70's where raiders could pump helium into the extra balls with no one looking the ref touches the ball before and after each play they should notice any differences immediately, balls also get removed from play in EVERY game not just when the evil overlord Patriots play the Colts.
Everything that ime just said. In this day and age, tampering with game balls and getting away with it is nearly impossible.
@mikeya: The reason that the Colts lost 45-7 despite tilted officiating is that they are just that bad. Andrew luck is the one bright spot on an otherwise mediocre team and he was enough to carry them into the playoffs, but the Colts have too many holes right now to win the whole thing. The weather conditions didn't help, since they are a one dimensional passing team that plays its home games in a dome and couldn't seem to handle the shitty slick weather. Like I said, the score should have been 60 to 0.
You guys are nuts. The NFL is jealous of the Pats? They are conducting the investigation. And when the Pats go on offense the balls come from their bench, When the opposing team goes on offense the ball comes from their bench. Of course they can be tampered with, Obviously the refs noticed. You're right Rick, it would be hard to get away with.
The only thing that would make it difficult to cheat would be the amount of coverage. I would imagine by now that some "news" organization has gone over or is going over every camera shot taken looking for the one shot of a ball attendant sticking a needle in the ball to let out air. AND they would all have to keep their mouths shut.
If the taping cheat was discovered with little coverage, this should either bust open or just fade away. In either case, the Pats will always have the albatross!
@mikeya yeah he said it could only be the ball boy. they don't just go through doing all the checking and weighing and give them back to just anyone so they can be altered, Hasselbeck even says basically only a ballboy would have any kind of chance to do anything,It would be amazing to me that a ballboy who other than the ref is the only one who has access to the balls could do this or be trusted with doing this and get away with it, it any stadium full of cameras fans and officials....hate on haters hate on
In this day in age it would be impossible...
Except they caught USC doing it, what, 3 years ago?
There's no jealousy spurring this investigation.
Personally I think it's highly unlikely.
As much as I dislike the Patriots "team" I have to give big props to Vince Wilfork for helping the woman that was involved in the accident after he game.
I think that if the Seahawks start the Super Bowl like they did the NFC championship, the Patriots will hand them their heads. Don't forget that the Packers held the lead until there was only about a minute and a half left in the game and lost it only because of some truly bonehead plays.
The Patriots don't forgive stupidity! Say what you want, the Patriots have rebuilt on the fly and are well coached at all levels. I'm betting on them to win by at least two touchdowns.
BTW, I HOPE that Seattle wins!
@mikey..... The video you posted basicly said it is hard for the ball to get deflated. The balls are marked and handled. The past official even stated that officials know when touching a ball if it is under inflated or over inflated by feel. The only way is if a ball boy. But then an official touches the ball. Like we have stated it is something they just want to bring up. Also mentioned in cold weather balls tend to become a little under inflated. Now I must say here.... I am not a Pats fan. But this is crazy and is just something they need to do for the up coming Hype of a superbowl.
Judging by Pats fans here, they might be reconsidering finding Belicheat guilty, cuz they don't want Rodney King-like riots breaking out among the fanatics. After all, taking ,3 oz of air out of a ball that you're in possession of is pure wizardry. :)
That's right this conspiracy goes all the way to the top, and was carried out by the ball attendant or the high school sophmore ballboy who are the only ones who really have access to the balls after the ball attendant gets the referee checked balls after inspection. Tje whole thing is as laughable as those who will believe amything bad they can come up with because they can"t fathom the 15 years of unprecedentedsuccess in new england. Hate on haters just come up with better scandals.
ESPN columnist and TV personality Michael Wilbon said Monday that the Patriots’ berth in Super Bowl XLIX should be vacated by the NFL if “Deflategate” is found to be true.
“The Patriots franchise is on probation as far as I’m concerned, from Spygate,” Wilbon said on Pardon The Interruption. “If you’re a cheater, and you’re a multiple time cheater, I would say to the New England Patriots, “You know what we’re going to do? If this is found to be true, like today, tomorrow, the next 72 hours, the next 3 days, you know what? You’re forfeiting your spot in the Super Bowl. We’re vacating it. Get out! You’re a cheater, you’re a lying franchise.”
yeah just put the colts in it will work out better for them then the last game when they got their dick kicked in.
Wilbon is a fucking loud mouth who just yells most the time instead of making points that are good, though I am sure he sounds good to most non pats fans. ha this is great. Patriots are planning to use Black Magic to beat Seattle.
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Supposedly 11 outta 12 balls approx 15% deflated(2/13). I really wanna know how the Colts balls were.
That's a lot of air to leave a lot of balls in a few hours. Virtually impossible w/o tampering.
If this report is accurate I could see them losing draft picks, maybe Bellicheat suspended for games next season.
Nothing can be done about the SuperBowl.
I'd vote that America's Team the Pittsburgh Steelers take their place but that's just me.
One of two things either happened...
1. Someone (either under orders from Bellicheck or Brady) was ordered to deflate the footballs after they were inspected by the Ref.
Or
2. It's possible they were under inflated before the Ref inspected them and he either didn't inspect them or just didn't care.
If it's #1, the Patriots deserve to get hammered. They better lose a lot of draft picks. If its #2 it's still pretty bad but not as blatant of an attempt at cheating.
Sorry I wasn"t checking the thread every minute Randy.
As a fan it's disappointing. It would be nice to have more details they haven't really said they know who did it (the actual person) if they know. The shame is they are a talented team and stupid shit like this is unnecessary. The whole thing seems blown out of proportion but it is what it is. It probably makes other teams feel better but i dont know or does anyone how much of a difference it really makes. No one bats an eye when Aaron Rodgers says he over inflates his and hopes the refs dont take air out. There are still a lot of questions that arent answered.
@footballguy
I agree. As much as I would delight in the Pats getting hammered over this - I do wonder if the ref did his job and *really* checked the balls.
I'm gonna keep bumping this thread until I get a Patriots fan to comment on the findings lol. (Rickdugan, Gawker, Skibum, Rockie, care to comment?) First it was Spygate, then it was the Aaron Hernandez fiasco, now it's Deflategate. The Patriots franchise is the exact opposite of a model franchise.
Q. Dad, how do you win a Super Bowl without cheating?
A. I don't know son, we are Patriots fans.
Q. How many Patriots fans does it take to change a lightbulb?
A. None, they are happy living in the Giants shadow.
Q. What happened after a man was arrested taping Erin Andrews in her hotel room?
A. He was immediately hired by the New England Patriots.
Q. Did you hear about the New England Patriots latest trade?
A. They had to give up a first round pick and a felon to be named later.
Q. Wanna hear a Patriots joke?
A. Danny Amendola
Q. How did the Patriots spend the first week of training camp?
A. Studying the Miranda rights
Q. What's the difference between Patriots and cigarettes?
A. Eli Manning doesn't smoke cigarettes
oh right the Seahawks are a model franchise
They Lead the league in PED Bans
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Broke league rules with extra padded practices and were finned and docked practices
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Come on Randy retards in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. Pete Carrol had multiple violations at USC as well. No NFL team is guilt free.
I would like your explanation how the Patriots are somehow culpable with Hernandez's transgressions. They cut all ties as soon as the situation was aware. They weren't the Ravens who celebrate a double murderer, or Suggs who beat his wife and child and covered them with bleach. Keep reaching.
I generally have a pretty good sense of humor about this stuff. This is just some over blown BS that because of the past when the Patriots did something literally every other team did but placed cameras in a different place and Goodell a new Commissioner flexed his muscles to show he had authority hit the Patriots with a major punishment. "The only thing (the Patriots) got caught (was) doing it with a camera," Cowher said. "We had people that always tried to steal signals. Stealing someone's signals was a part of the game, and everyone attempted to do that." Since then everyone is always talking shit about that really didn't make a difference mostly sore losers ie this because of pilled up Jim Irsay who has a hard on for them because they can't beat them
Specifically in regards to "deflategate" its just crap. Matt Leinart and tons of other quarterbacks like Aaron Rogers say that they try to get the balls the way they want them and if the refs don't notice then good which is pretty much gamesmenship like hockey players using "illegal" sticks. In this case I don't think Belichick was involved if anything it would point to Brady. I don't know what happened I think it leads to the refs not doing their jobs. In the second half they used back up approved balls which they supplied, were checked at halftime by officials and then proceeded to score 28 unanswered points. Come on give me a break.
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The Patriots used 12 backup footballs for the second half of Sunday’s AFC championship game after issues were found with most of the original 12 balls used by the offense in the first half, an organizational source told WEEI’s Joe Zarbano.
Team spokesman Stacey James confirmed to [view link] that the team had 24 footballs available, 12 of which were tested by the officials pregame and another dozen stored inside as backups.
After the officials found that the majority of the balls used in the first half were below the acceptable PSI as mandated by the NFL, the backup balls were brought in. According to the source, the backup balls were tested and found to be at the correct levels, and subsequently put into play — just barely in time, as the second half already had started by the time the testing was completed. This is why the officials stopped play and swapped out the kicking ball on the first play from scrimmage of the second half.
ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported late Tuesday night that 11 of the 12 game balls were underinflated. [view link]’s source recalled either 10 or 11 balls being a problem.
Look I understand why people don't like Bill Belichick he comes off as a prick he doesn't care about the media and he wins a lot.
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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Former NFL quarterbacks Rich Gannon and Boomer Esiason shared their thoughts on the New England Patriots being investigated for using underinflated footballs.
In a piece written by Jason La Canfora on [view link], this is their take:
GANNON
"Ask any quarterback, and this is a non-issue. Everybody does something, to them. It's like a pitcher, he wants the ball a certain way. Take Tiger Woods, you wouldn't tell him after he's been hitting a 10.5 degree loft all week with a certain ball that, 'Hey, now we're going to switch your ball out.' That's his thing, and it's that specific feel that you want. That football is how we make our living and it sounds crazy, but it's a sacred thing. It's got to be a certain way."
ESIASON
"It really does seem totally ridiculous that this story has been blown so far out of proportion. If you look at the footballs that the quarterbacks are playing with and throwing for the last six or seven years, just realize that everybody is doing the same thing."
so in this case its all perception, if you hate the patriots you love it. If you like the Patriots it just seems like a bunch of BS. Goodell is a horrible commsioner so I assume he can only fuck this up especially how they started just putting out 11 balls were underinflated and leaving just a ton of empty wholes. If you are saying they cheated then just show who they did it and who was involved if someone fucked up and didn't check things like they should say that but just dragging it out is stupid
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