#DFG: Canceling the Noise

Is there any level of suspension that you would advise Tom to accept?


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Van Everyman

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lexrageorge said:
I'm not going to post the link, because you all know where you can find it.  But today Shank/CHB is saying the punishment will be worse than that handed out to the 1919 Black Sox.  He's basing this on the words of an unnamed "expert".  
Shaughnessy can be a huge prick but I'm not sure that was what he was saying here:

Officially speaking, the NFL’s executive vice president, Troy Vincent, will hand out the punishment(s), but we all know this is commissioner Roger Goodell’s call. And it’s a huge one. I heard some “expert” on TV Friday say that Goodell’s ruling on Patriot sanctions would be a bigger deal than Kenesaw Mountain Landis’s decision to ban eight White Sox players for life after they conspired to throw the 1919 World Series.

Wow. Fallout from deflating footballs is now a bigger deal than fixing the World Series? We are certainly in uncharted waters.
He seems to pretty clearly saying that people are overreacting and that those people might include the Commissioner.
 

McBride11

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Soo Brady gets suspended preseason and game 1. JG gets all the reps and looks amazing. He gets traded for first round pick next year. Brady returns for game 2 completely rested and leads Pats to the Super Bowl.

Pats cheated by baiting the league to suspend Brady to get a new first round pick.
 

speedracer

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Bellhorn said:
Thanks.  I certainly agree that if incorporating a realistic SD to the hypothetical 12.5 average makes a meaningful difference in the p-value assigned to the final readings, that would be a pretty ridiculous error on their part.  I'll defer any further comment until I've had a chance to look at the report.
 
The delta between the two refs' halftime measurements of the balls ranges between 0.30 and 0.45 psi (assuming that the anomalous Colts football #3 measurements are a result of swapping gauges).  So at bare minimum there's an error of ~0.15 psi in the initial readings.
 

DJnVa

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troparra said:
Absolutely not. See sentences 2 and 3 of the Wells report executive summary.
 
My point was: I don't buy that. They are using it NOW to justify this. But it was brought up before the game and they were only going to see if the Pats were cheating and playing with an illegal advantage if something happened in the game that would show that it wasn't really an advantage?
 
If Brady, who was doing this to gain an advantage (in their eyes) was 20-20 for 400 yards in the first half in the first half with no INTs then everything would have been ok and they wouldn't have checked?
 

ivanvamp

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Dr. Gonzo said:
More Probable Than Not Colts Played With Under Inflated Footballs

http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/content/wells-report-more-probable-than-not-colts-played-with-under-inflated-footballs/33495/

Here's the other story uncovered in the Wells Report you've NOT been told: 3 of 4 Colts footballs checked at halftime weighed in under 12.5 PSI by one of the two officials measuring them. Then, they suddenly stopped checking. The other 8 Colts footballs simply, and conveniently, went unchecked.

Here's the Wells Report table showing the PSI of the 4 Colts footballs weighed at halftime as it appears on Page 8. Blakeman and Prioleau are the two NFL officials who measured the balls.





Why did NFL officials check only four Colts footballs instead of all 12?

"Only four Colts balls were tested because the officials were running out of time before the start of the second half," reads the Wells Report on Page 7.

Hmmm ... pretty interesting. A Patriots ballboy can run into a bathroom and quickly deflate to exact specifications 12 gameballs in 1 minute, 40 seconds. But NFL officials didn't have time to check eight Colts footballs in 15 minutes of halftime, in an operation intended to uphold the integrity of the league.
That article absolutely rules.
 

judyb

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So, integrity of the game doesn't prevent them from allowing half the AFCCG to be played with footballs they believe have been tampered with, but it forces them to suspend Brady for being generally aware while somehow allowing the NFL to manage to drag this all out long enough that the suspension can't be overturned on appeal until after he's already missed 2 games. Meanwhile, the Pats lose those games to the Steelers and Bills and those additonal Steelers and Bills wins are the only thing that prevents the Bengals or Ravens and Dolphins or Jets from making the playoffs. Integrity of the game!
 

ivanvamp

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judyb said:
So, integrity of the game doesn't prevent them from allowing half the AFCCG to be played with footballs they believe have been tampered with, but it forces them to suspend Brady for being generally aware while somehow allowing the NFL to manage to drag this all out long enough that the suspension can't be overturned on appeal until after he's already missed 2 games. Meanwhile, the Pats lose those games to the Steelers and Bills and those additonal Steelers and Bills wins are the only thing that prevents the Bengals or Ravens and Dolphins or Jets from making the playoffs. Integrity of the game!
Great point. Brady gets suspended for being generally aware of deflated footballs. The refs, having been tipped off, were also generally aware, especially when McNally went missing for a minute or two.

And instead of insuring that they used regulation balls (just go to the backup stash), they played with them.

Since Anderson, not Brady, is ACTUALLY responsible for the footballs, shouldn't Anderson be suspended at least as long as Brady?

If, you know, being "generally aware" is the criteria?
 

wilked

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People have lost their minds.

1 game suspension would be immediately appealed and the NFLPA would have an excellent case.

'Generally aware' of something that may or may not have happened. A suspension has no basis, no precedent, and won't stick
 

Otis Foster

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This is wearing me out, so let me put a variant of Occam's Razor to the crowd - namely, the right question to ask is generally the simplest: How do we square this bullshit about the 'integrity of the game' with allowing the AFC championship game to proceed with at least the significant possibility of a rules violation, however technical?
 
No, I'm not going to go back through what reads like a first draft of a William Burroughs novel to spot check - perhaps someone with more patience (paging Prof. DCM) can point out the answer to that one. Wells certainly doesn't - he airily dismisses this as a simple complaint, like any other, but if they're concerned about assuring a level playing field, they certainly screwed the pooch.
 
Either the alleged violation was significant, q.e.d., they should have blown the whistle before the game, or it wasn't, in which case wtf are we talking about here?
 
BTW, my apologies to all for a profound error of judgment by me early in this monster - defending the utter impartiality of PW and TW's report. I still vouch for their integrity, I just misunderstood their mandate from the Flaming AHole - deliver a bill of indictment. I should add, as someone with a lot of political experience, which I'm not going to talk about, this thing is resembling the typical feeding frenzy in which one absurdity triggers 10 others until something of real impact occurs, which is why it is so important to make sure that TB and Yee are 100% accurate, and if that can't be done without causing more damage, then say nothing.
 
Edit: Think Monica - lots of flailing around until Bill was finally cornered and tried to dissimulate his way out of it.
 

McBride11

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MarcSullivaFan said:
If Garropolo looks amazing, he is not getting traded. Brady is 38. QBs are the most valuable commodity in the NFL, and the Pats have G under control through 2017.
It was tongue in cheek in this ongoing theater of the absurd.
 

Tito's Pullover

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lexrageorge said:
I'm not going to post the link, because you all know where you can find it.  But today Shank/CHB is saying the punishment will be worse than that handed out to the 1919 Black Sox.  He's basing this on the words of an unnamed "expert".  
I actually have been thinking about the parallels between this and the Black Sox scandal - certainly not in severity, of course. Throwing World Series is about a quintillion times worse than playing with soft footballs.  But I think Tom Brady and Shoeless Joe Jackson are interesting analogues.

Eight players from the 1919 White Sox, including Shoeless Joe, were banned for life by Kenesaw Mountain Landis for taking money to throw World Series.  While Jackson was offered money on several occassions, and knew about his teammates' acceptance of it, there's no evidence that Shoeless Joe ever took any money. In fact, he played out of his mind and almost singlehandedly won the series for the Sox. It is more probable than not that Joe was generally aware of what was going on, but his lifetime ban makes him one of the best players not in baseball's Hall of Fame.

Shoeless Joe's actions (or inactions) were certainly far, far worse than Brady's, but I've been trying to think of an example of when an all-time great player was so unfairly maligned, and this is the only one that's even remotely close.
 
dcmissle said:
Ok, so who gets the lifetime bans? Other than the two guys?

And I suppose Shank is saying title will be vacated?
Interestingly, the Black Sox were never made to vacate their 1919 American League Pennant. I mentioned a few days ago that I think vacating titles is stupid - something happened there, and vacating a title means we're going to pretend that nothing happened. We are supposed to pretend that the Tour de France was raced for 7 straight years without a winner, or that the entire 2004 NCAA football schedule produced no national champion? You'd have to have a '72 Olympic Basketball type of controversy to justify such an action (which is interesting in its own right, because the Soviets are still held as rightful gold medal winners from that Olympics).
 

TomTerrific

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wilked said:
People have lost their minds.

1 game suspension would be immediately appealed and the NFLPA would have an excellent case.

'Generally aware' of something that may or may not have happened. A suspension has no basis, no precedent, and won't stick
 
I would agree with you, except it's RG making the decision. And the one piece of solid evidence we have is that he kind of sucks at making good ones.
 
The other mistake I think a lot of us are making is that we're overestimating Kraft's influence with Goodell. His actions seem more in line with someone who thinks he's much more secure in his position than we seem to think.
 
That's why I think a 4-game suspension for TB is coming--I think Goodell wants to show his power to Kraft and to the outside world, I don't think he gives a fig about justice (duh!), and yet I don't think he's savvy enough to pursue the course dcmssle suggested, wherein he whacks the Pats organization hard and smears Brady at the same time but without doing something that Brady can or feels compelled to appeal.
 
On that last point: I fervently hope he's not that smart or (more likely) is listening to someone who's that smart--God help us all if he is. Actually, God help us all, anyway.
 

pedro1918

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Yesterday I went for a long run with my regular group of runners. One guy, Jim, is a real wise ass and pretty funny. He's a good guy and fun to be around, but if he gets you in his crosshairs, he's relentless.

Well, it started immediately. The Patriots and Tom Brady are "cheaters" and always have been. If I tried to discuss it with him rationally I was an apologist. If I brought some up from the Wells Report he stated he hadn't read it and didn't care to read it. The more sane points I brought up, the crazier he got, much to the amusement of the other folks in the group. He then made the claim that not only did the Pats somehow cover up for Aaron Hernandez in the Lloyd murder, but they knew about the other two murders Hernandez is suspected of long before the Lloyd murder and protected Hernandez from prosecution. He was way out there.

Then it struck me, Jim is a college football fan. He doesn't follow the NFL. It was at this moment when I asked him about his favorite football program.

"Hey Jim, what do you think about Joe Paterno's handling of the Sandusky situation?"

We talked about baseball for the rest of the run.
 

Filet-O-Fisk

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Did anyone read the section entitled "Using the Logo Gauge Pre-Game", in the Exponent part of the report, p. 52?   It starts with this "In recognition of the remaining uncertainty as to which gauge was used to measure the footballs pre-game and in the interest of completeness, similar tests were run using the Logo Gauge."
In the interest of completeness?   Isn't the foundation of the entire investigation contingent on the fact that the Pats' balls were measured properly at the start of the game, so that any drop in pressure must have been due to tampering after the fact?   
 
Regardless, here is one statement which is yet another example of the bias and/or shoddiness of the methodology:
 
The Logo Gauge was used to set the pressure of two balls to 12.50 psig (representative of the Patriots) and two balls to 13.00 psig (representative of the Colts). From each set (corresponding to each team), one ball remained dry while exposed to the game temperature and the other was wet.              In this scenario, the game temperature and the halftime measurement temperatures were set to the same values (for the same reasons) as the experiments done with the Non-Logo Gauge (48°F for the game and between 72 and 73°F for the halftime measurement temperatures). However, the pre-game temperature was set at 67°F because this was the only temperature that allowed the Colts balls to subsequently reach their average pressure during the simulated Locker Room Period. Any pre-game temperature that was higher than 67°F resulted in the Colts balls reaching the Game Day halftime average pressure later than 13.5 minutes into the Locker Room Period. 
 
 
The investigators bend the data to fit assumptions they have made, in this case that whatever happened to the Colts balls must be 100% correct because they are the control balls, and any error or uncertainty related to these balls is not considered or given any weight whatsoever.
 

dcmissle

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Florio is like a metronome. Cannot link to it, but check out lead piece on pressure gauges undermining the report.
 

Gorton Fisherman

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I've noticed that same kind of reaction from non-Patriots fans and "casual" sports fans -- you can't bring up anything remotely favorable or exculpatory about the Pats, no matter how sober or rational, without them becoming increasingly angry and eventually flipping their shit. In fact, the more sober/rational your point is, the faster their shit flips. Stepping back from my irritation with this entire situation, its really a fascinating phenomenon. Maybe there should be a college psych class created about that.
 

Harry Hooper

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ivanvamp said:
That article absolutely rules.
 
They left out one point. Running out of time is a total crock because it was the two alternate officials doing the ball measurements. These guys didn't have to go back on the field immeduately. The Colts could have started the 3rd quarter with the 4 balls and the other 8 could have joined them very shortly afterward.
 

bankshot1

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Gorton Fisherman said:
I've noticed that same kind of reaction from non-Patriots fans and "casual" sports fans -- you can't bring up anything remotely favorable or exculpatory about the Pats, no matter how sober or rational, without them becoming increasingly angry and eventually flipping their shit. In fact, the more sober/rational your point is, the faster their shit flips. Stepping back from my irritation with this entire situation, its really a fascinating phenomenon. Maybe there should be a college psych class created about that.
There is a level of Pat hatred out there that is almost hard too fathom. I live in suburban NJ and many of my bar-buddies are Jets/Giant fans and for the past week I've had to address the Tuck rule, Spygate, ineligible receivers and now Deflategate with the central theme being the Pats always bend and then break rules.They cheat.
 
No matter how this plays out re: penalties to Brady/Pats, the reputational damage has been done.
 
The only real recourse for the Pats to keep on winning and flipping the bird to the haters. 
 

Section15Box113

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dcmissle said:
Florio is like a metronome. Cannot link to it, but check out lead piece on pressure gauges undermining the report.
I've been thinking about this for the last few days and glad to see someone in the press going down this line of questioning.

If the gauge that reads high was used to set the balls to 12.5 pregame, they would be starting out well below 12.5 (on different - presumably more accurate? - gauges). Interesting.

Combine this with the report's assumption that the other gauge was used pregame (allowing Wells to show a change that cannot be explained by their methodology), uncertainty of exactly when the balls were gauged at halftime (and therefore how much they'd warmed up), the temperature of the room at halftime (had it really increased to 74 degrees?), and so forth, there's plenty to question on the scientific side.
 

dcmissle

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We're in the very weird position of needing TB discipline to most effectively shred this thing.

The lights will be brightest and the podium the biggest if he is involved.

Looks like we'll get that, but I would pass.
 

lambeau

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I agree with Ivanvamp--emphasize the Jets game, admit to freaking out over 16 psi balls and demanding it never happen again; unfortunately, the boys appear to have taken it too far...I only meant they should insist on 12.5...I was misinterpreteded.
 

johnmd20

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dcmissle said:
We're in the very weird position of needing TB discipline to most effectively shred this thing.

The lights will be brightest and the podium the biggest if he is involved.

Looks like we'll get that, but I would pass.
 
There will be no way to effectively shred this thing.
 

Bleedred

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A lot of the folks I hear (Adam Jones yesterday) are willing to concede that the science is flawed...but that it doesn't really matter.  Given the text messages; the "deflator" comment and that Brady lied about knowing who McNally is, it's enough to show there was some sort of nefarious goings on.  I don't agree...but that's where a lot of people are heading.   
 

Section15Box113

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Bleedred said:
A lot of the folks I hear (Adam Jones yesterday) are willing to concede that the science is flawed...but that it doesn't really matter.  Given the text messages; the "deflator" comment and that Brady lied about knowing who McNally is, it's enough to show there was some sort of nefarious goings on.  I don't agree...but that's where a lot of people are heading.   
I hear you.

And it seems there are alternate theories for some of that too.

He knew McNally as "Bird" rather than by his full name (completely possible, IMO. Had a friend known only as Tex. Everyone knew Tex and thought she was awesome. But ask most of them if they knew [Actual First & Last Name], and you'd get blank looks.

On the Deflator, BB stated that the team would deflate the balls to under 12.5 before the check by the referees. Do we know who did that? It's understood that McNally was not involved in ball prep, but given the timing (post-prep and pre-handoff), it seems it could have been part of his role and could explain the nickname (and the need for a needle). Anyone recall facts that would refute this interpretation?

Then there is the stuff about "not going to ESPN." Afraid I got nothin'. Bueller?
 

Otis Foster

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TB statement:
 
"Every quarterback in the league has some quirks when it comes to ball preparation, including me. It's no secret that I want the ball inflated to the 12.5 minimum. Why else would I have pulled the rule? I put a lot of pressure on the ball guys to give me that - I was thoroughly pissed when I found out I was using a 16+ ball in the Jets game, and they knew it.
 
However, I'm not going to hang them out to dry. I never ever told them to let air out of the ball, but in retrospect I can see how they might have thought they were doing me a favor. Well, they weren't, but it's not fair they take the heat. If there was mishandling of the ball, penalize me, not them. They were just trying to do their job, even if you think that they got off on the grass while doing it.
 
And while you're at it, get rid of that stupid rule."
 
Wonder if that would quiet things down, or if the jury is already out.
 

Stitch01

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dcmissle said:
Me too and have already begun thinking about how TB suspension would impact next few months. We orobably would not get a ruling ion an appeal before Aug 15. That's how these things go.
So:
One more QB on the roster than they would otherwise carry.
JG gets worked like a mule in mini-camps, training camp, and so forth.
Anything else?
I don't get why they'd have one more QB than normal. They don't cut down from 90 until after that and they always have extra camp arms.
 

ivanvamp

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lambeau said:
I agree with Ivanvamp--emphasize the Jets game, admit to freaking out over 16 psi balls and demanding it never happen again; unfortunately, the boys appear to have taken it too far...I only meant they should insist on 12.5...I was misinterpreteded.
So what is a team to do if the refs give you the footballs at 16psi? You're not allowed to tamper with them after they've handled them. But the balls were given to you outside the correct range.

If you play with them you're violating the rules. If you adjust them afterward you're violating the rules.

And to suggest (as Goodell might) that the refs are more careful..... Uh... Obviously not.
 

Ed Hillel

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wilked said:
People have lost their minds.

1 game suspension would be immediately appealed and the NFLPA would have an excellent case.

'Generally aware' of something that may or may not have happened. A suspension has no basis, no precedent, and won't stick
Exactly, which is why he'll be suspended for "failure to cooperate with an NFL investigation."
 

danlmac

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RedOctober3829 said:
Matt Chatham interview on WEEI this morning. Everyone needs to hear this. Tremendous insight, level headed, and intelligent view.
 
Thanks for this. You're right - Chatham nails it. (It will likely mean nothing, but at least there's another smart, sensible voice of reason out there.)
 

j44thor

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Stitch01 said:
I don't get why they'd have one more QB than normal. They don't cut down from 90 until after that and they always have extra camp arms.
Better question is what do they do if Brady is indeed suspended for week one?
Doubt they bring in a vet as that would guarantee his salary for the season, do you go with a rookie backup or perhaps just use edelman?
 

EvilEmpire

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I hope the prospects for successfully suspending Brady are too daunting for Goodell, and just decides to double down on the team penalties because of the actions of team employees. I'd rather see multiple picks be taken away than some suspension that is going to be overturned. As mentioned many times, the team doesn't have as much recourse as Brady.
 

leftfieldlegacy

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Ed Hillel said:
Exactly, which is why he'll be suspended for "failure to cooperate with an NFL investigation."
I agree with this.
 
I just don't see how the NFL can suspend Brady for "probably" knowing about altering air pressure when the video of the Vikings/Panthers heating footballs in December is just sitting there for anyone to see. 
 
On the other hand, failure to cooperate is completely determined by Goodell and probably not worth appealing if it is one game. More than that and I think Brady would fight it.  
 

Shelterdog

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j44thor said:
Better question is what do they do if Brady is indeed suspended for week one?
Doubt they bring in a vet as that would guarantee his salary for the season, do you go with a rookie backup or perhaps just use edelman?
 
I think they have a young practice squad type--for example Garrett Gilbert-- as the backup for one game only.
 
Veteran QBs of any quality cost 3-5 million a year.  Since they have Jimmy G as the primary backup they won't expend real resources on a backup but I doubt they go into a game with only one QB.
 

soxhop411

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Earlier today, I spent way too much time hunting-and-pecking my way through an item regarding the problems with the two pressure gauges used to measure the Patriots footballs at halftime of the AFC title game. I spent so much time focused on the nuances that I didnt give proper attention to perhaps the most obvious problem of all.

To summarize, the NFL had two air pressure gauges available at the game. One had a Wilson logo on the back and a long, crooked needle. The other did not have a Wilson logo, and a shorter, straighter needle.

The gauge with the logo and the longer needle generated higher measurements of the Patriots footballs at halftime, ranging from 0.3 PSI to 0.45 PSI higher for each of the 11 footballs. If that gauge the one with the logo and the longer, crooked needle were used to set the PSI for the balls before the game began, the measurements from that gauge are the right measurements to rely upon at halftime. And those measurements show that there was no tampering, because most of the footballs fell within the 11.52 to 11.32 PSI range for halftime, as predicted by the Ideal Gas Law.

Referee Walt Anderson, as noted previously, didnt clearly recall which gauge he used to set the pressure in the Patriots balls at 12.5 PSI before the game. Page 52 of the Wells report reveals that it was Andersons best recollection that he used before the game the gauge with the logo and the longer, crooked needle. In other words, Anderson recalls using the gauge before the game that, based on the halftime measurements, leads to a finding of no tampering.

So how did Ted Wells get around the best recollection of Walt Anderson? Wells persuaded Anderson to admit that its certainly possible he used the other gauge. And the company hired to provide technical support for the Wells report concluded based on a convoluted explanation appearing at pages 116-17 of the report that it is more probable than not that Anderson used the other gauge.

In other words, the Wells report concludes on this critical point that its more probable than not that Andersons best recollection was wrong.

Why should Andersons best recollection be doubted? He knew that there was a concern about tampering with the footballs. He presumably was paying more careful attention to the process of getting the balls filled with air before the AFC title game than he normally does.

So which gauge did you use, Walt, realizing that there could be a question later about the inflation of the footballs?

Well, my best recollection is that I used the one with the long, crooked needle.

Is it possible, Walt, that you used the other gauge that was available? You know, the one that for whatever reason measures the air pressure at 0.3 to 0.45 PSI lower?

Well, I dont know about that. . . .

Isnt it possible, Walt?

Well, its certainly possible.

Thats how investigations that start with a predetermined outcome and work backward unfold. (Holy crap, I think Im beginning to agree with Don Yee.) And thats why Wells should have concluded based on the scientific evidence that the question of whether tampering occurred in connection with the AFC title game is inconclusive.
http://wp.me/p14QSB-9LLj

More at the link (PFT)
 

soxhop411

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http://wp.me/p14QSB-9LLj

Earlier today, I spent way too much time hunting-and-pecking my way through an item regarding the problems with the two pressure gauges used to measure the Patriots footballs at halftime of the AFC title game. I spent so much time focused on the nuances that I didnt give proper attention to perhaps the most obvious problem of all.

To summarize, the NFL had two air pressure gauges available at the game. One had a Wilson logo on the back and a long, crooked needle. The other did not have a Wilson logo, and a shorter, straighter needle.

The gauge with the logo and the longer needle generated higher measurements of the Patriots footballs at halftime, ranging from 0.3 PSI to 0.45 PSI higher for each of the 11 footballs. If that gauge the one with the logo and the longer, crooked needle were used to set the PSI for the balls before the game began, the measurements from that gauge are the right measurements to rely upon at halftime. And those measurements show that there was no tampering, because most of the footballs fell within the 11.52 to 11.32 PSI range for halftime, as predicted by the Ideal Gas Law.

Referee Walt Anderson, as noted previously, didnt clearly recall which gauge he used to set the pressure in the Patriots balls at 12.5 PSI before the game. Page 52 of the Wells report reveals that it was Andersons best recollection that he used before the game the gauge with the logo and the longer, crooked needle. In other words, Anderson recalls using the gauge before the game that, based on the halftime measurements, leads to a finding of no tampering.

So how did Ted Wells get around the best recollection of Walt Anderson? Wells persuaded Anderson to admit that its certainly possible he used the other gauge. And the company hired to provide technical support for the Wells report concluded based on a convoluted explanation appearing at pages 116-17 of the report that it is more probable than not that Anderson used the other gauge.

In other words, the Wells report concludes on this critical point that its more probable than not that Andersons best recollection was wrong.

Why should Andersons best recollection be doubted? He knew that there was a concern about tampering with the footballs. He presumably was paying more careful attention to the process of getting the balls filled with air before the AFC title game than he normally does.

So which gauge did you use, Walt, realizing that there could be a question later about the inflation of the footballs?

Well, my best recollection is that I used the one with the long, crooked needle.

Is it possible, Walt, that you used the other gauge that was available? You know, the one that for whatever reason measures the air pressure at 0.3 to 0.45 PSI lower?

Well, I dont know about that. . . .

Isnt it possible, Walt?

Well, its certainly possible.

Thats how investigations that start with a predetermined outcome and work backward unfold. (Holy crap, I think Im beginning to agree with Don Yee.) And thats why Wells should have concluded based on the scientific evidence that the question of whether tampering occurred in connection with the AFC title game is inconclusive.
 

bsj

Renegade Crazed Genius
SoSH Member
Dec 6, 2003
22,774
Central NJ SoSH Chapter
Ive been of the opinion that Florio has been serving as a mouthpiece for the NFL arm for a while now.
 
The last week he has been essentially serving up statements ripping Brady to shreds, seemingly setting up a punishment. 
 
Suddenly, today, on a dime, he posts this gauge thing...
 
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/05/10/pressure-gauge-discrepancies-undermine-wells-report/
 
Wondering if there is any chance the NFL is thinking of going on the slightly softer side and is trying to sow the seed of reasonable doubt with the evidence?
 

Hoya81

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 3, 2010
8,457
bsj said:
Ive been of the opinion that Florio has been serving as a mouthpiece for the NFL arm for a while now.
 
The last week he has been essentially serving up statements ripping Brady to shreds, seemingly setting up a punishment. 
 
Suddenly, today, on a dime, he posts this gauge thing...
 
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/05/10/pressure-gauge-discrepancies-undermine-wells-report/
 
Wondering if there is any chance the NFL is thinking of going on the slightly softer side and is trying to sow the seed of reasonable doubt with the evidence?
I think it's more that no NFL official, Goodell/Troy Vincent etc, wants to be forced to own the Wells Report in an appeal hearing and be hammered by Brady's/NFLPA lawyers over the inconsistencies.

#DeflateGate is starting to remind me of #BountyGate. #PayNoAttentionToThatManBehindTheCurtain
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) May 10, 2015

The comparison of #DeflateGate to #BountyGate is a reference to a flawed process. Who remembers the "Bobby, give me my money" nonsense?
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) May 10, 2015
 

Ed Hillel

Wants to be startin somethin
SoSH Member
Dec 12, 2007
43,558
Here
Are appeals documents sealed, or will Brady's side be able to release all of the Wells work in this investigation gathered in an appeals hearing?