#DFG: Canceling the Noise

[Harry Hooper]

Naqi just confirmed that the K ball official is the only person who decides when a particular K ball gets rotated into the game. So, the Pats would try to get an unapproved ball into the ball bag of kicking balls with no idea or control whether that ball would be used when the Colts are kicking or the Pats are kicking?

 

[ElcaballitoMVP]

 
 
One of those sources added that Yette found it surprising that the officials' locker room attendant was on the field, trying to hand him a ball, because officials' locker room attendants don't typically have ball-handling responsibilities during NFL games.

 
Wait. Do they not have any ball-handling responsibilities? Or is it possible that they have these responsibilities at times depending on who's at the game and what they're doing? What the hell does typically mean? 
 
 
 

 

[soxhop411]

Given how the NFL has acted we should expect the "report" sometime in June I bet.

 

[DJnVa]

Wait, the problem in the new report is with the K balls, so why did Kensil go down at halftime and check the pressure in the game balls used by the offense?

 

[soxhop411]

Wait, the problem in the new report is with the K balls, so why did Kensil go down at halftime and check the pressure in the game balls used by the offense?

Because the NFL is run by a bunch of idiots.

 

[loshjott]

The fact that the NFL has a "k ball official" tells you all you need to know about how self important the NFL is.
 
Also, per Corsi's post, there was this exchange: Merloni asks "what is the scandal?" -- Answer: "I am making no speculation.  McNally knew ball wasn't approved and tried to get it into the game, that's all I'm saying"
 
The bolded is pure speculation since McNally did not talk to Naqi.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Exactly what I was thinking. How does Naqi know that? Was he privy to Wells' discussions with McNally?

 

[Harry Hooper]

Naqi also stated that during the regular season the K-ball official is someone hired by the NFL, and is typically a college referee type. However, for the AFC Championship Game, the NFL sent out one of its regular game officials to be the K ball official, which raises the issue of said official not being familiar with what the officials' locker room attendant typically does on the sidelines in regard to the K balls. 

 

[Corsi]

The fact that the NFL has a "k ball official" tells you all you need to know about how self important the NFL is.
 
Also, per Corsi's post, there was this exchange: Merloni asks "what is the scandal?" -- Answer: "I am making no speculation.  McNally knew ball wasn't approved and tried to get it into the game, that's all I'm saying"
 
The bolded is pure speculation since McNally did not talk to Naqi.

 
She also contradicted herself.  At first she said that McNally tried to get the ball into the K ball "rotation" and later said that he tried to get it into the game immediately.

 

[Reverend]

Wait, the problem in the new report is with the K balls, so why did Kensil go down at halftime and check the pressure in the game balls used by the offense?

Because it was considered another data point that the Patriots were up to shenanigans, so everything and everyone becomes suspect.

Frankly, you're looking a bit suspect too.

 

[Harry Hooper]

Exactly what I was thinking. How does Naqi know that? Was he privy to Wells' discussions with McNally?

 
She also elided from "unapproved" ball to "improper" ball which takes on a more sinister tone.

 

[ElcaballitoMVP]

Is it normal for on-field officials to communicate directly with a guy like Kensel in the press box or wherever the hell he was during the game? Naqi just said Yette communicated directly with him through a headset to voice his concerns about the illegal K ball being introduced, which led to Kensel coming down at half time to check the other balls. 
 
And with the NFL sending a regular game official vs letting a typical college referee to be the K ball official, it sure sounds like they went into this game looking to catch the Pats doing something, anything wrong. 

 

[Jed Zeppelin]

Obviously the ball was booby-trapped.

 

[8slim]

None of this makes any sense.  Why can't professional journalists write in a way that provides clarity to the reader?
 
Who was this "suspicious" ball supposed to be used by?  The Pats?  The Colts?  Isn't that a important thing to note?!

 

[Ed Hillel]

Who was this "suspicious" ball supposed to be used by?  The Pats?  The Colts?  Isn't that a important thing to note?!

 
She said she doesn't know and that she's just reporting the facts. Of course, the way that article is written is full of buzz words and innuendo, ie the pats official "ducked into the bathroom." It's one tiny nugget of information with no context that is turned into a 1000 word top story on ESPN.

 

[Leather]

None of this makes any sense.  Why can't professional journalists write in a way that provides clarity to the reader?
 
Who was this "suspicious" ball supposed to be used by?  The Pats?  The Colts?  Isn't that a important thing to note?!

 
Because it doesn't matter to the writer, or the publication.
 
At this point, putting the words "Balls" and "Patriots" together gets clicks.
 
The article is clearly intended to imply that this has something to do with the "scandal" from last month, as if the Patriots have some sort of systemic compulsion to manipulate balls.

 

[Corsi]

None of this makes any sense.  Why can't professional journalists write in a way that provides clarity to the reader?
 
Who was this "suspicious" ball supposed to be used by?  The Pats?  The Colts?  Isn't that a important thing to note?!

 
lol, Naqi specifically said "it's not up to me to figure out how readers interpret my reports"

 

[soxhop411]

None of this makes any sense.  Why can't professional journalists write in a way that provides clarity to the reader?
 
Who was this "suspicious" ball supposed to be used by?  The Pats?  The Colts?  Isn't that a important thing to note?!

Because they would not get page clicks. So they have to resort to TMZ journalism

 

[Harry Hooper]

 
She said she doesn't know and that she's just reporting the facts. Of course, the way that article is written is full of buzz words and innuendo, ie the pats official "ducked into the bathroom." It's one tiny nugget of information with no context that is turned into a 1000 word top story on ESPN.

 
Merloni was pushing her on this, but he should have gone farther.
 
Some potential good news here is if turns out this K-ball thing was the trigger for checking out the regular game balls at halftime, then it more or less confirms that there was nothing noticeably "wrong" about the game balls.

 

[Leather]

It's not good news.
 
It's, at the very least, more "smoke" which the league office can (and likely will) use to come down on the Patriots.  
 
"Citing Wells' report that uncovered 'several irregularities' with game ball procedures by the Patriots, the NFL issued a $200,000 fine and the loss of a 5th round draft pick. Roger Goodell stated 'We were unable to uncover conclusive proof that the Patriots deliberately tampered with balls.  If we had, the penalty would have been much more severe. Nonetheless, the information uncovered was, to say the least, concerning."

 

[Jed Zeppelin]

I wish "sources" could be retired somehow. "Sources" said Jackson noticed the INT ball was underinflated (he didn't, per the man himself). "Sources" said the Ravens noticed something about the balls a week before (they didn't, per Harbaugh). "Sources" said the balls were all 2 PSI under (they weren't). "Sources" said a man mysteriously disappeared into a different area with the balls (piss break).
 
"Because sources" is now a license to print misinformation, and also the first defense when asked why misinformation was printed. Of course, sports writers and readers are ill-equipped to figure out when "because sources" really means "because biased sources" or "incomplete sources." I mean, these people are allowed to go on TV and say things because they spoke to someone "familiar with X's line of thinking." Sad stuff.
 
edit: I do, however, find it hysterical that the league is blatantly attempting to pile on circumstantial evidence even though it seems pretty clear at this point that the crime didn't even happen.

 

[Bleedred]

It's not good news.
 
It's, at the very least, more "smoke" which the league office can (and likely will) use to come down on the Patriots.  
 
"Citing Wells' report that uncovered 'several irregularities' with game ball procedures by the Patriots, the NFL issued a $200,000 fine and the loss of a 5th round draft pick. Roger Goodell stated 'We were unable to uncover conclusive proof that the Patriots deliberately tampered with balls.  If we had, the penalty would have been much more severe. Nonetheless, the information uncovered was, to say the least, concerning."

In which case, the patriots should issue the following type of statement:
 
"The NFL, after an exhaustive investigation that took _____ hours, cost $______ and exhausted millions of pages of spilled ink, has produced zero evidence that any person within the the New England Patriots organization, including, without limitation, their head coach, any assistant coach, any member of his staff, their quarterback or any other player, made any deliberate attempt to alter any football used in the AFC championship game, or sought any competitive advantage outside of the rules of the NFL.  The New England Patriots accept the conclusions of the report as a full and complete exoneration of everyone within the New England Patriots organization and thank everyone, most importantly our fans, for the faith they have shown in our World Champion team.  We're on to 2015."

 

[Stitch01]

Id just issue the statement "lol Roger Goodell" if I were the Pats and that was the finding.

 

[Average Reds]

It's not good news.
 
It's, at the very least, more "smoke" which the league office can (and likely will) use to come down on the Patriots.  
 
"Citing Wells' report that uncovered 'several irregularities' with game ball procedures by the Patriots, the NFL issued a $200,000 fine and the loss of a 5th round draft pick. Roger Goodell stated 'We were unable to uncover conclusive proof that the Patriots deliberately tampered with balls.  If we had, the penalty would have been much more severe. Nonetheless, the information uncovered was, to say the least, concerning."

 
I might want to tweak the fine amount (slightly lower) but if I were a betting man, this is the scenario I bet on.

 

[Mugsy's Walk-Off Bunt]

Out of curiosity, what is the typical protocol for k ball officials in the conference championship games? The local ref or the nfl official? What was it last year? What was it for this year's NFCCG? That might shed some light on the "was this a sting?" of it all.

 

[CoffeeNerdness]

Is it normal for on-field officials to communicate directly with a guy like Kensel in the press box or wherever the hell he was during the game? Naqi just said Yette communicated directly with him through a headset to voice his concerns about the illegal K ball being introduced, which led to Kensel coming down at half time to check the other balls. 
 
And with the NFL sending a regular game official vs letting a typical college referee to be the K ball official, it sure sounds like they went into this game looking to catch the Pats doing something, anything wrong. 

 
"Papa Bear, this is Embedded Zebra, come in Papa Bear."

 

[Zedia]

When Kensil checked original 12 balls, they were reinflated and the original 12 were put back into the game.


Wasn't one of the balls thrown in the stands after a TD? I've been assuming "11 of the 12 were underinflated" is because they never had the twelfth one.

 

[8slim]

 
lol, Naqi specifically said "it's not up to me to figure out how readers interpret my reports"

 
Haha, classic.
 
You'd think an investigative journalist might be interested in finding out WHY that guy gave the ball to the ref, right?  
 
Especially since the ball he was trying to give him wasn't marked like the others, so one would think that between that ref, other refs, the center, and the kicker and/or punter himself SOMEONE would eventually notice that it wasn't a pre-approved K ball before the thing was used?!
 
The Pats spy in front of a stadium full of people and don't even bother to put a fake mark on the balls they try to sneak into the game.  They are clearly the worstest at cheating.

 

[twibnotes]

This is known in J-School as The Cafardo Maneuver.
 
Bring up a question, then be too lazy to answer it. Then tag it with "who knows?" so you can write about it again in the future once all the facts that someone else did the work on come to light. Finally, graze the free press buffet. Repeat forever since you're in the union.

 
"but why would they mix in a special teams football?"
 
"Well, it gives them a different look"

 

[splendid splinter]

Wasn't one of the balls thrown in the stands after a TD? I've been assuming "11 of the 12 were underinflated" is because they never had the twelfth one.

 
Blount handed the ball to a fan in the stands after his second TD.  So you're correct, they only had 11 balls to test at halftime.

 

[Harry Hooper]

Out of curiosity, what is the typical protocol for k ball officials in the conference championship games? The local ref or the nfl official? What was it last year? What was it for this year's NFCCG? That might shed some light on the "was this a sting?" of it all.

 
If you're looking for in-depth reporting or any explication of context, you'll be waiting a good long while.

 

[Bone Chips]

My reading of the tea leaves is that the Ravens specifically complained to the NFL that the K balls were underinflated the prior week. http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baltimore-sports-blog/bal-ravens-did-not-notice-anything-about-patriots-footballs-being-deflated-john-harbaugh-said-20150121-story.html

NFL went into the game against the Colts on high alert. The McNally anomaly was probably what led to all the balls being examined at halftime.

Why would the Pats try to introduce underinflated k balls? It's a good question obviously since both teams use the same batch of k balls. Maybe Ghost likes the balls underinflated a bit in cold weather. Could be as simple as that. It is odd though that McNally would try to introduce the ball into the game. That does sound like something out of the ordinary. Hopefully there's a good reason for it. Otherwise this is a bad development for the Pats, regardless of whether the "advantage" gained here was minimal.

 

[scotian1]

There is absolutely no advantage of an underinflated kicking ball.

 

[twothousandone]

So, Daqwell Jackson caused the initial inquiry. No wait, the Colts equipment manager caused the initial inquiry. No wait, the alternate referee caused the initial inquiry. It was Grigson in the library with the candlestick.

 

 It has also been reported that the Colts noticed an underinflated football after an interception by linebacker D'Qwell Jackson in the AFC Championship Game. Jackson said at the Pro Bowl that he didn't notice that the football was underinflated.

 
​And what Daqwell was REPORTED to have said is more important that what he SAID. What he SAID should nullify what was reported, but ESPN can't even bother putting what he SAID first. 
 
I'm not even sure what phrase I'm looking for here -- Kafka? Art imitating life? Perception is reality?

 

[tims4wins]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think anyone has said the ball was under-inflated. Just that it wasn't approved.

 

[loshjott]

Kickers have always hated the k balls since they were introduced in 1999. There are numerous stories about that.

 

[E5 Yaz]

Wait, the problem in the new report is with the K balls, so why did Kensil go down at halftime and check the pressure in the game balls used by the offense?

 
This goes back to the pregame memo the Colts gave to the officials. This is where Grigson said there was concern that there was an concern with improper footballs. However the K-ball situation developed, when it was reported by the K-ball official it was enough -- along with the previously reported info that someone on the Colts sidelines thought the intercepted ball was low -- to prompt Kensil to check all the balls used in the game by the Patriots -- which is when the under-inflation was discovered.
 
So, this comes down to a forced throw by Brady that ends up picked off and an equipment guy handling the wrong football. Does Kensil check the balls at halftime if neither of those events happen?

 

[DJnVa]

Yeah, the K Ball report says nothing about inflation, just that it wasn't "approved".
 
Let's leave the misinformation to ESPN.

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

This story has now made the front page of CNN, via a BleacherReport article.
 
Haters are gonna ETERNALLY hate, apparently.

 

[E5 Yaz]

Story about Florio EEI appearance

“I was not surprised there has been no tangible developments in more than a couple of weeks. But I look at it and I say, yeah, this is completely different than deflating footballs, and … this is the result of an effort by ESPN to find anything they can to report on the topic.”
The Patriots reportedly believe that NFL vice president of game operations Mike Kensil is aggressively pursuing accusations against the Patriots because of his past history as a longtime Jets executive.
“I know the Patriots believe that Kensil has that bias and he’s been looking for something to stick to the Patriots,” Florio said. “It doesn’t speak well of the league office if there are employees who are allowed to act out on these agendas from past team relationships.

 
http://itiswhatitis.weei.com/sports/newengland/football/patriots/2015/02/18/mike-florio-on-dc-not-much-to-latest-deflategate-accusation/

 

[Stitch01]

So the same guy who is less than a week past complaining about David Letterman not interrogating BB is complaining about another media outlet hyping a Pats/ball story?  Must be nice to just straight up lack self-awareness/self-respect.

 

[P'tucket rhymes with...]

Wait, the problem in the new report is with the K balls, so why did Kensil go down at halftime and check the pressure in the game balls used by the offense?

"Data point" is the narrative they're going to use to put the ever-changing stories about how this got started under the same umbrella.  They're all data points! Presto!

 

[loshjott]

My going conspiracy theory is that Kensil was colluding with the Colts.  Colts had informed the league (Kensil) after the previous game to watch for under inflated footballs.  Kensil told the Colts to look for any pretense for him to examine balls mid-game. McNally makes a mistake that probably happens all the time and, lo and behold, Colts have the excuse to call Kensil.
 
That's my theory anyway.

 

[Filet-O-Fisk]

My reading of the tea leaves is that the Ravens specifically complained to the NFL that the K balls were underinflated the prior week. http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baltimore-sports-blog/bal-ravens-did-not-notice-anything-about-patriots-footballs-being-deflated-john-harbaugh-said-20150121-story.html

NFL went into the game against the Colts on high alert. The McNally anomaly was probably what led to all the balls being examined at halftime.

Why would the Pats try to introduce underinflated k balls? It's a good question obviously since both teams use the same batch of k balls. Maybe Ghost likes the balls underinflated a bit in cold weather. Could be as simple as that. It is odd though that McNally would try to introduce the ball into the game. That does sound like something out of the ordinary. Hopefully there's a good reason for it. Otherwise this is a bad development for the Pats, regardless of whether the "advantage" gained here was minimal.

 
I'm not following you. Do you know how each team supplies balls to the officials during a game?  Does anyone?  Is there one specifically-appointed attendant who does the job each game? Is it a team of attendants? Do the officials "typically" care who hands them the ball?  The NFL rulebook says nothing about it, other than there are "attendants" provided by the home team.
 
This is another example of a vaguely worded, non-specific rule governing a loosely run process that is now being interpreted by the media like it's a nuclear missile launch protocol.

 

[E5 Yaz]

"Data point" is the narrative they're going to use to put the ever-changing stories about how this got started under the same umbrella.  They're all data points! Presto!

 

 

[Corsi]

Kravitz weighs in:
 

This is mere speculation on my part, but if all or most of the footballs in question were properly inflated, investigator Ted Wells would be done with his sleuth work by now. If everything was fine, the NFL likely would have come out quickly and said, “Look, there's no problem. The balls were properly inflated. Don't waste our time and money.''
 
The fact that this investigation continues, and likely will continue into March, suggests to me there's something there, some evidence that needs to be reviewed.
 

http://www.wthr.com/story/28138278/kravitz-blog-the-latest-on-deflategate-raises-more-questions

 

[tims4wins]

He is right, there is something there: the league WANTS to find evidence of wrongdoing.

 

[nattysez]

So Bob Kravitz is so, so sorry for speculating about the Patriots that he wrote an apology column, and now he's speculating about them again?  I really cannot believe what a dope he is.

 

[Bleedred]

 
Kravitz weighs in:
 

http://www.wthr.com/story/28138278/kravitz-blog-the-latest-on-deflategate-raises-more-questions

 

What an unbelievable moron. 

 

[Leather]

"If defendant X was innocent, why is the state going through the trouble of holding a trial?  He must be guilty."