Here's what Florio says regarding the click-bait headline to his post
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, and as reported in Playmakers, the NFL expunged the numbers. It happened at the direct order, per the source, of NFL general counsel Jeff Pash.
We wouldn't accept one anonymous source as proof the Patriots did something wrong. Why accept one anonymous source that the NFL purposely destroyed the 2015 readings to cover their ass?
He then goes on to say this:
Why would the league delete the numbers? It’s simple. For cold days, the numbers were too close to the actual numbers generated by the New England footballs at halftime of the playoff game against the Colts. Which means that the numbers generated at halftime of the January 2015 AFC Championship were not evidence of cheating, but of the normal operation of air pressure inside a rubber bladder when the temperature drops. Just as it was expected.
He cites no factual basis for this; it's just his supposition. He didn't see the numbers, so he can't prove his thesis.
Finally, he hedges and says:
We’d always believed the Patriots and Brady got screwed. While something fishy was indeed happening, based on the text messages exchanged by John Jastremski and Jim McNally, the NFL failed to catch them in the act.
He's using his opinion that the Patriots got screwed and lining things up to fit his narrative. Where have we heard that before ... in the opposite direction? And then says that "something fishy" was happening," they just weren't caught in the act.
Not to mention saying while he thinks the Patriots got hosed, brady made things worse for himself
(Among other things, Brady was asked if he’s a cheater. His
decidedly unconvincing response was, “
I don’t believe so.”)
To recap, the NFL did a lousy job, and might have covered up evidence that would have cleared the Patriots. But the Patriots were doing something fishy and Brady was decidedly unconvincing when he said he didn't think he cheated.
Bottom line? Can't say it better than Florio himself:
Playmakers, my new book (
buy early,
buy often) ...