#DFG: Canceling the Noise
- Thread starter nattysez
- Start date
TomRicardo said:
Yup. I'm still sticking with the story that this investigation was never meant to go public until a butthurt member of the Colts leaked it to Kravitz, and now the NFL has a bunch of media members/fans wanting blood when they have no real evidence to show for, so they have no clue what to do about it.
Does anyone know the full protocol for checking the balls? Like, in boxing, your opponent's cornerman watches you get your hands wrapped and then they're x'ed by the ref. Do the Colts get to watch the Pats balls get tested, or do the refs just do it in the Pats locker room or a third, dedicated room?
BostonFan23 said:
From what I've read, the test them, and then keep them until about 5 minutes before the game when they hand them either to the ballboys or the teams' equipment managers. It leaves a small window for tampering, but nothing like 3 hours, and it would probably have had to happen on the field.
There have been a number of contradicting reports regarding this whole situation and the NFL has done nothing to clear any of them up. I'm not sure they would have commented on the PSI issue at all. Hell, most people probably think the balls actually weighed two pounds less.
Marciano490 said:
I bet you any money that before Monday afternoon Roger Goodell didn't know this answer.
I thought both BB and Brady did as well as they could in their pressers, especially given that now we see Brady has yet to be interviewed. I can understand this dragging out if there is a lot to really test (footballs) and people to interview, but they only have the footballs from that game and not a lot of people involved. I just don't see how difficult this is for the NFL (although its own track record with investigations is pretty telling).
First, it's a procedural issue with the footballs....and BB and Brady cleared that up pretty well. So all the NFL can do is verify that the procedure did in fact occur according to the regulations. And then interview those involved, which doesn't seem like a lot of individuals here. If the testing was completed on Monday, then how on earth have they not gotten to interviewing Brady yet? If there is something that is really serious and so public, the NFL should be working hard to absolve it as soon as possible and move on.
And if what BB and Brady said were correct and can't be disproven, then it's the minimal fine and it gets chalked up to the minimum fine and put to bed before Super Bowl week. It is of course different if it is proven that they misled, but I'm not sure how that can really be investigated if they have not even been interviewed; at it is Thursday.
It's is clear that the media (at least those on ESPN afterwards) have their mind made up and just will accept nothing but an admitting wrongdoing, which could very well not be the case at all. There has to be a network that actually keeps an open mind until facts are all in.
Until something concrete comes out one way of the other, the speculation back should not detract from the fact that they are in the Super Bowl. And to start looking at matchups and how they can turn Seattle into the 2007 Chargers (Week #2) or this year's Bengals.
Aside....And for those looking for a tv alternative, it's retro-night on the Chiller Channel with "Nightmare on Elm Street (Part 4): Dream Warriors" on at 9:00 (and Patrica Arquette's debut), which might be much better than the ESPN coverage that will continue.
First, it's a procedural issue with the footballs....and BB and Brady cleared that up pretty well. So all the NFL can do is verify that the procedure did in fact occur according to the regulations. And then interview those involved, which doesn't seem like a lot of individuals here. If the testing was completed on Monday, then how on earth have they not gotten to interviewing Brady yet? If there is something that is really serious and so public, the NFL should be working hard to absolve it as soon as possible and move on.
And if what BB and Brady said were correct and can't be disproven, then it's the minimal fine and it gets chalked up to the minimum fine and put to bed before Super Bowl week. It is of course different if it is proven that they misled, but I'm not sure how that can really be investigated if they have not even been interviewed; at it is Thursday.
It's is clear that the media (at least those on ESPN afterwards) have their mind made up and just will accept nothing but an admitting wrongdoing, which could very well not be the case at all. There has to be a network that actually keeps an open mind until facts are all in.
Until something concrete comes out one way of the other, the speculation back should not detract from the fact that they are in the Super Bowl. And to start looking at matchups and how they can turn Seattle into the 2007 Chargers (Week #2) or this year's Bengals.
Aside....And for those looking for a tv alternative, it's retro-night on the Chiller Channel with "Nightmare on Elm Street (Part 4): Dream Warriors" on at 9:00 (and Patrica Arquette's debut), which might be much better than the ESPN coverage that will continue.
Marciano490 said:
Pretty sure it's a third room...the official's dressing room. As for the rest, who knows? No?
Felger and Mazz better hope this doesn't turn out to be a mistake by what simply turns out to be a lazy referee. They may be burning a bridge here with the Patriots if the team really didn't do anything wrong and they're torching them as if they're definitely guilty on their flagship station.
Honestly, why should they even be fined if there's no evidence of tampering, and the refs say the balls checked out?
Maybe I'm being ignorant, but I'm convinced that a variation of this is what happened. I have a hard time believing Anderson sat there 2 hours before the game with a needle and pressure gauge checking 48 footballs plus however many for the kicking game. I think they just give them the feel test and maybe spot check one or two for each team before OKing all of them. The league can't really come out and say they didn't check the balls because that makes them and their officials look bad.Shelterdog said:
BroodsSexton said:
Because the NFL is simply awful at crisis management and the train is way too far out of the station?
Goodell is incompetent as a Superintendent of the screwed up rules of his sport
The NFL will do anything to make this go away as soon as it becomes inconvenient.
Take your pick
Another nugget from the Brady presser - we keep hearing that the Patriots turned in 12 balls. Brady said he actually turned in 24 (presumably 12 of which were the backup balls). In that case, I think it's fair to assume the Colts also turned in 24 balls.
48 footballs. You checked the PSI in each and every one before the game, Walt?
48 footballs. You checked the PSI in each and every one before the game, Walt?
cshea said:
Officials may look bad, but having your potential SB champs look like cheaters doesn't help either. If the refs fudged this, I think they will ultimately own up to it. Maybe it's in the form of "they checked, but didn't measure," but that would be odd given that the backups were within range.
I still think we're going to end up with temperature change being the factor and misreported underinflation stats.
Assuming all of the balls were not within levels of natural deflation.
The super bowl is 10 fucking days away. I won't watch TV, no radio because I refuse to listen to this shit anymore. The NFL is sitting on there fucking hands announce something. Maybe I'm going overboard but this is ruining being in the super bowl. How can the most popular sport in the United States be this goddamn inept. A trained monkey could run the league better than goodell
Clears Cleaver said:
Well, I guess as a Patriots fan, I'm just going to have to learn to live with that disappointment, just like you as a Dolphins fan have to learn to live with the disappointment that your team hasn't been relevant in over twenty years.
Yeah, but it would explain this thing being dragged out as long as it has. The league doesn't know what to do. Blame themselves and their officials, or the team playing for the Championship? No easy answer for them.Ed Hillel said:
moondog80 said:
You would have to run a batch of games in similar conditions to the Pats game and do testing of a bunch of footballs {ideally from the same Wilson lot and prepared just as Brady liked} at halftime to have some confidence that the results observed from Sunday's testing are really outliers.
cshea said:
Which is what they should be doing anyway. Those inflation levels are from the 1930's, they are correct to use them as a mere baseline. Feel the footballs up, if you think something isn't right, measure and see where it stands. It's fucking dumb to be so strict about this. If a ball measures as 12.4 psi, do you throw it out immediately?
Chris Kluwe talking about how stupid this all is. Larger picture not caring about if they cheated.
http://time.com/3679079/patriots-under-inflated-balls-deflategate-nfl-scandal/
http://time.com/3679079/patriots-under-inflated-balls-deflategate-nfl-scandal/
I find it kinda interesting that the NFL seemingly doesn't care about, or regulate or monitor, what teams do to their footballs other than the extent to which they fill them with air. They are seemingly free to rub whatever the hell they want on them, scratch them to any extent they want, wear them in or leave them unbroken in, distort them out of shape somewhat, etc. But air pressure? Well, THAT's strictly monitored by the referees according to set, uniform procedure and without fail. There's no fucking around when it comes to air pressure.
I look at it this way: everyone already thinks Goodell is a liar. If he comes out and admits his officials made a very human mistake by not checking the PSI of the balls, it may actually improve his image by proving he does have the ability to admit when the league is at fault.cshea said:
Ed Werder @Edwerderespn · 1h 1 hour ago
Tom Brady says he didn't notice any difference between the under-inflated footballs used in first half and properly inflated in 2H
Tom Brady says he didn't notice any difference between the under-inflated footballs used in first half and properly inflated in 2H
Ed Hillel said:
Back when this thread was in its infancy, it seemed to me that the very witnesses that needed to be talked to were the refs. They are the key to everything. Now, given that Brady hasn't even been interviewed, I wonder whether they have.
Clearly someone was involved on game night. Someone was involved in checking the balls at halftime, and switching the balls, we all saw that on national tv. But who?
Brady and Belichick both said they had no idea what was going on or that the balls were changed. I believe them both. There is simply no way they could be lying about this, because if they were told, it would be by the refs or the league and so they'd be outed as liars right away.
But there was an entire behind the scenes thing going on that neither knew about. Nor does it appear that Brady ever even noticed that he was playing with different balls. I assume if he said to Anderson, "what's up with these balls" or whatever, he'd again be outed as a liar.
The NFL is fucking incompetent. They release to Mort the mysterious 2 lbs. thing, and then nothing, when it's clear something was going on.
Silverdude2167 said:
Between this and his reactions to gamergate, Kluwe has become one of my favorite guys associated with the sport of football.
Well, you do want an upper limit because punters and field goal kickers love overinflated balls. But then, there are separate footballs for kicking. You do have to have some standard though. Some team might find a QB with 15 inch hands and he'd want them at 15 PSI. And, 4.5 would look flaccid.rodderick said:
The most upsetting thing from this whole episode is the picture of croissants with pudding in them.
I seriously thought Brunnell was gonna cry. He almost made Bettis cry too. Fuck all those knuckleheads. Like the rest of America, they got nothing substantial to base their opinions on except some balls didn't measure up. Anything else? Anyone? Bueller?E5 Yaz said:
I assume any penalty that may be assessed against Brady can be appealed to an independent arbitrator under the CBA terms. Unless there's a smoking gun (ballboy says Brady told him to deflate), he'd have a good shot at getting it thrown out for lack of evidence.
Does anyone know what if any appeal rights Belichick or the team would have?
Does anyone know what if any appeal rights Belichick or the team would have?
Al Zarilla said:
What's the problem if he wants them at 15 psi? Makes it harder to catch, but also harder to intercept. It seems that every single level of inflation has its own advantages and disadvantages, so seeing as there's no universal consensus on what is the best level of inflation, just let teams choose whatever they want. They let QBs prep footballs whichever way they prefer, why draw a line this strict on inflation?
moondog80 said:
The Colts balls were prepared and inflated differently. They also may not have been measured the same way, or as many times.
Yes, burden of proof is lower.
Your comments over the last 2 days have shown that your mind has been made up from minute 1.Bob420 said:
You can't imagine a world where he has a slight preference, at the end of the day it doesn't matter that much, and with the adrenaline flowing in front of 50k fans it's the last thing he's noticing?
Kevin Youkulele said:
None for Belichick, if the whole bounty thing in New Orleans is any indication. All the players appealed, Peyton never had a chance.