MattM

That only works if the Pats* lose--if they win on Sunday, it will still be a big deal in 3 months' time.

So, you are onto the "everyone else does it, too" defense even though there's never been evidence that ANYONE else, much less EVERYONE else does this Absolutely priceless comedy gold..... Even funnier because your main defense was there was no proof that the Pats* do this (and now there is), while there's absolutely zero proof (circumstantial even) that anyone else has done this.

To my mind, the one new piece of info in that PFT article is another unnamed League source saying other than the picked off ball (which was 2 psi below normal), the others were closer to only 1 psi below normal, which contradicts what other unnamed League sources supposedly said earlier this week. Personally, I think we need to know: 1. What the initial pressmen psi results were for all 3 sets of balls; 2. what the halftime readings for all 3 sets; 3. What the chain of ball possession was for the bad balls; 4. What the pre-measurement process was for the bad balls--I personally think that part of BB's presser yesterday was not believable. He made it sound like their ball buffing is done immediately prior to testing, which defies both common sense and what TB apparently said earlier this week; 5. What the final readings were for all 3 sets post-game; and 6. Definitive scientific opinion on 4's ability to influence psi count as claimed by the Pats*. If this truly was a sting operation, I'd expect them to have all the data above other than 3 and 4.

Great post--you should send this to the major news orgs, as it's better than anything I've seen to date by them.

Another good one--a Univ. of Toronto professor deflates Pats*' fans benign explanations for Deflategate: http://blogs.canoe.ca/krykslants/nfl/deflate-gate-u-of-toronto-physicist-discredits-natural-pressure-drop-theories/

But the evidence as we understand it so far (including Bill Nye above) is showing that the Pats* are cheaters and now, after yesterday's press conference, liars, too. Does anyone who has an even rudimentary understanding of science believe his explanation that simply rubbing a football will cause the pressure to go up temporarily in a measurable, material amount? I also question that they do this essential rubdown (which would have Tom Brady sitting there oking the balls) immediately before the game time measurement. That seems non-sensical to me, along with lots of other things that make no sense in their narrative, including why the Colts' balls didn't suffer the same fate. I also saw a segment on Face the Nation this morning (yes, Bob Schieffer, too, weighed in on this!) in which the USA Today guy covering this story essentially called out Belichick's BS on this, too. I think they tried the "baffle 'em with BS" approach yesterday, which didn't seem to fool anyone paying attention. We'll see if it fooled the masses, however, which may be all they really intended.

Seems kind of funny that you're defending a team here that was known as the place old vets went and seemed to regain a step and one of whom (Rodney Harrison) was caught for HGH use by being dumb enough to order it to his own address under his own name (the only way one could get caught, since the NFL doesn't test for it). I suspect that's a future Pats* scandal that will come down the pike sometime in the future....

On your first point, theoretically, but (a) I wouldn't expect the mere rubbing of the ball's surface to have such a dramatic effect and (b) it strikes me as non-believable that that rub down practice takes place immediately before the balls are tested. That strikes me as a day before event. I watched the PC and thought he was spinning as fast as he could.

I think they're still owned by Time Inc, which got spun out of TIme Warner a few years back when Meredith wouldn't buy them (but I think they did buy some of their more niche mags). Very tough business these days. I have a number of writer/editor friends working in publishing (including some at former TW mags) and it's an increasingly brutal business. No one seems to know how to make $ since we all expect free web content. I also play cards every now and then with one of the very senior guys on the business side there--I missed the game at his house, but from descriptions I got it sounds like for some folks the uncertainty has paid dividends.....

Unfortunately, I think you may be right. The League has been in under the rug sweep mode all week. It also seems like the deflection angle may have worked with the media. The NBC news coverage tonight was ridiculous. Kristin Welker must not have even watched the PC, as she basically reported that BB said it was all temperature-related (when he explicitly said that was NOT the cause), which sounded A-OK to her. What a joke! Until someone explains to me how the Colts balls stayed at regulation pressure while the Pats*' shrank, I remain highly skeptical of BB's response.

What lots of you Pats* fans don't seem to get is that it sounds like the refs knew about this ahead of time and measured both the Pats*' balls and the Colts' balls both before the game (both tested within the limits) and at halftime when as per multiple reports 11 of the 12 (the 12th may have been for the punter, as I've heard one person opine) Pats* balls tested 2 psi below the limit while the Colts balls still tested within the limits. In such a case, since both the Pats* balls and the Colts balls were the same temperature at halftime any effect due to the weather should be similar on each set of balls, yet one set passes (meaning that, at most, they deflated 1 psi due to the weather) and one was two psi under, which is the cause of the suspicion here. That's the common sense element here. I'm also sick of the burden of proof "you can't prove this" crap. In such a scenario, if I'm the League (remember, this isn't a court of law), the burden is pretty clearly on the team to explain why their balls weren't passing the test. The most likely explanation is someone let the air out of the Pats* balls and the punishment should flow accordingly, particularly considering their history of breaking the rules.

Then why weren 't the Colts' balls below the required range? If you can't answer that, you really have no answer here. Common, basic sense.

But they still tested within the range at halftime it sounds like. In addition, that would mean a decrease of less than 1 psi at most vs the 2 psi or more the Pats* decreased by

Has he or anyone else explained why the Colts balls didn't seem to have this problem?

Has he or anyone else explained why the Colts balls didn't seem to have this problem?

The indoor/outdoor thing doesn't hold water because the Colts' balls were apparently tested at half too and hadn't lost any psi.

But don't you agree as a general matter that a deflated football is easier to throw, catch and hang onto? And that if they've done it for a while it could impact their long-term stats? Anyone else get the feeling that the coaching fraternity may have had enough Patriot* BS skirting the rules? If so, this won't be the last accusations against those guys.

Until that last game, right? You also conveniently forget that just like here, they were distracted by another cheating scandal. See a trend?

Link? Didn't see it myself, but thought I read somewhere that Mark Brunell's did something similar and was able to easily tell a ball at 11 psi each time.

Serious question for WEO--are you now, or have you ever been, a closet Pats* fan? You leap to their defense at every opportunity, even before this latest of many, many transgressions over the years, all on a BUFFALO BILLS message board. Now I know you also follow the Bills, as you comment on them, too, here, unlike some of the other Pats* defenders who seemed to come out of the woodwork from nowhere this week (HOFW comes to mind) and I actually agree with you from time to time on the Bills stuff. Are the Pats* your second/mistress team or something? That' last part's exactly what my wife said upon reading an article detailing their eligibility shenanigans.

Wow--with the amount of time you're spending on this, you really must be a League or Pats* paid troll. I wonder if they've done the same thing on other message boards throughout the League. Are you guys all holed up in one "damage control-central" spot? Just wondering. No one here buys the crap you're selling, except your Pats* buddy Pneumonic. At least he's open about being a Pats* fan/apologist. No one buys his crap, either, BTW, but at least he's honest about his angle.

Top man is still the top man, no? No, Kraft just has the rep of paying Belicheat's fine by reworking/extending BB's deal within weeks of the Spygate fine.

Even though one incident (Carolina's) was much more likely innocent in nature (ie, never having faced such a situation (normally being a Southen team)) vs the Pats*' case where they clearly knew there was a rule and broke it (as evidenced by the fact that they did the deed AFTER the ball check) and involved a team already found guilty of cheating, who may well have been doing this for ages (witness the statistical evidence above, plus the fact they were suspected to be doing this during the year as per some sources)? If so, I'm sure you're in a clear minority.

Except that the pressure is checked 2 hrs, 15 mins before kickoff and turn given to the respective teams. Two points: 1. There are no cameras rolling (or even people in the stadium) then; 2. That's plenty of time to take them wherever and do whatever to them. To say otherwise doesn't stand up to scrutiny. As noted above, you keep embarrassing yourself here. How much are the League/Pats* paying you to troll here? But those are the facts as being attributed to League-related sources. Let's get one thing straight here--your position if/when all of that comes out as true? So far, you just keep saying "it's not true, there's no proof". What if the League turns around and says it's all true as per their investigation? Are you ok with this blatant cheating? If so, why?

That last part is why they'll do jack ****--Goodell owes his position to Kraft and kisses his ring every chance he can. Look no further than Spygate and the burning of the tapes followed by his lies about how widespread it was. It sounds like it's uncontrovertible that the balls had the correct psi 2 hours before kickoff, but in the two hours till game time suddenly lost 2 psi or more each (which cannot be explained by weather or other factors--plus the fact that the Colts' balls retained their regulation psi at that time). That can only happen one way, particularly since the balls were in the Pats*' possession for that 2 hour period. (For the benefit of numb nuts Watkins here (who has to be a paid troll) with his argument about "there must be a camera showing the cheating--ever been in the stadium at 11 on game day? No, know why? Because the gates open at 11:30, so no cameras, no nothing for at least 30 minutes--plenty of time to doctor the balls.) This standard of proof crap is clearly BS designed to let them give minimal to no punishment for what wasobviously an intentional act of cheating. What's also funny is listening to (like Rich Gannon on NFL Radio) and reading (like Gil Brandt's (still a League consultant) ridiculous interview in the NYT yesterday) spin trying to downplay this. The League is once again doing a full court press to sweep this under the rug. Unfortunately, where the NFL is concerned there are no objective media outlets to out their BS.