NFL investigating Patriots' footballs

[sggatecl]

So what I've learned from this postseason is that if you PLAY with deflated balls, you could go far. But if you COACH with deflated balls, you'll choke on the road vs Seattle. Good to know.

 

[UMRules06]

Keep them in the Super Bowl, but some punishment needs to be in order whether it's losing draft picks or something else. I don't think a fine sends much of a message at all.

While the game was a blowout anyway and the deflated balls probably had no real impact, it still sends a bad message if you go light on this. The Patriots willingly cheated (again), and got caught. While it didn't make much of a difference this time, who's to say that it hasn't given them an edge in other games that we don't know about? Obviously this isn't an isolated incident as the Colts expressed concerns during their game in November about the deflated balls.

Do other teams do this sort of thing? I have no doubt in my mind there's other scams that teams run, but unfortunately for the Patriots they seem to be the only team that gets caught. I'm also very curious to see what the NFL does with this.

 

[johnny2x2x]

This is such a joke. If it gave the Pats such a huge advantage, I guess Brady's interception and the Edelman fumble shouldn't have happened.

The facts are there. The pats dominated the ground. They dominated on defense. Brady didn't have a superstar type game. It was very Matt Stafford (2014 version) ish. Does anyone really believe the Colts would win more than 2 games out of 10 against the Pats? I don't. They are clearly the best AFC team with or without deflation. If this is something the Patriots are doing, they deserve punishment, but their play on both sides of the ball prove that they also deserve to go to the super bow.

The Ravens played the Pats a week before in 20 degree weather, they also complained about the balls that day, just the kicking balls though they thought were a problem. They may have never checked the Pat's offense balls. That game went to the end and New England likely cheated in that too.

 

[tomdalton22]

Keep them in the Super Bowl, but some punishment needs to be in order whether it's losing draft picks or something else. I don't think a fine sends much of a message at all.

While the game was a blowout anyway and the deflated balls probably had no real impact, it still sends a bad message if you go light on this. The Patriots willingly cheated (again), and got caught. While it didn't make much of a difference this time, who's to say that it hasn't given them an edge in other games that we don't know about? Obviously this isn't an isolated incident as the Colts expressed concerns during their game in November about the deflated balls.

Do other teams do this sort of thing? I have no doubt in my mind there's other scams that teams run, but unfortunately for the Patriots they seem to be the only team that gets caught. I'm also very curious to see what the NFL does with this.

maybe they wouldn't have beat the Ravens in the divisional round?

 

[tinselwolverine]

Do other teams do this sort of thing? I have no doubt in my mind there's other scams that teams run, but unfortunately for the Patriots they seem to be the only team that gets caught. I'm also very curious to see what the NFL does with this.

Off the top of my head, didn't the New Orleans defensive squad put "bounties" on opposing players?

Not very Saintly.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Do inflated balls not go as far when you're throwing them?

 

[tinselwolverine]

The Ravens played the Pats a week before in 20 degree weather, they also complained about the balls that day, just the kicking balls though they thought were a problem. They may have never checked the Pat's offense balls. That game went to the end and New England likely cheated in that too.

But again, the Ravens' kicking footballs would have only been handled by the officials or the Ravens' own equipment management team, wouldn't they have been?

 

[tomdalton22]

Do inflated balls not go as far when you're throwing them?

it's about gripping the ball for the QB and the softer balls are supposed to be a little easier to catch.

 

[Mitchrapp]

it's about gripping the ball for the QB and the softer balls are supposed to be a little easier to catch.

I get that but would the ball go as far? I don't know that's why I'm asking, can you throw it 40 yards with it being deflated?

 

[lucke]

I get that but would the ball go as far? I don't know that's why I'm asking, can you throw it 40 yards with it being deflated?

it's not like they were fully deflating them, so they still had the shape to be able to fly that far. if anything we're talking a difference of 1 yard at most between an over-inflated, regular and under-inflated ball.

 

[Mitchrapp]

They'll probably just blame it on the ball boy..

 

[Monster]

The Ravens played the Pats a week before in 20 degree weather, they also complained about the balls that day, just the kicking balls though they thought were a problem. They may have never checked the Pat's offense balls. That game went to the end and New England likely cheated in that too.

Bro, the refs handle the game balls on every single play. If the refs can't tell the difference in weight between each possession, I would have to guess that the benefits the patriots receive would be minimal. Besides, looking at drops for the season, the patriots had two players in the top 10. That doesn't sound like a big advantage...if any at all.

 

[tomdalton22]

Bro, the refs handle the game balls on every single play. If the refs can't tell the difference in weight between each possession, I would have to guess that the benefits the patriots receive would be minimal. Besides, looking at drops for the season, the patriots had two players in the top 10. That doesn't sound like a big advantage...if any at all.

more air in a ball doesn't change the weight. Also, it was pointed out on ESPN radio today that it also helps the running backs hold on to the ball. The 3 main NE running backs have 0 fumbles among them this year (what I heard...didn't check)

 

[Mitchrapp]

Bro, the refs handle the game balls on every single play. If the refs can't tell the difference in weight between each possession, I would have to guess that the benefits the patriots receive would be minimal. Besides, looking at drops for the season, the patriots had two players in the top 10. That doesn't sound like a big advantage...if any at all.

In hindsight it probably wasn't much of an advantage. Plus I doubt the refs squeeze the ball to really know. Plus the Pats cheated before so I wouldn't put it past them..

 

[UMRules06]

So if it doesn't provide much of an advantage, why bother doing it? Why risk it?

 

[Mitchrapp]

So if it doesn't provide much of an advantage, why bother doing it? Why risk it?

Because they can..

 

[elrod817]

Bro, the refs handle the game balls on every single play. If the refs can't tell the difference in weight between each possession, I would have to guess that the benefits the patriots receive would be minimal. Besides, looking at drops for the season, the patriots had two players in the top 10. That doesn't sound like a big advantage...if any at all.

Who's to say the refs didn't know?

 

[UMRules06]

Because they can..

Obviously. But it's a risk reward thing. They got caught, so my question is was the risk worth the reward? It doesn't make sense to me that deflating the balls provides basically no advantage, otherwise they wouldn't have done it in the first place.

 

[Mitchrapp]

Obviously. But it's a risk reward thing. They got caught, so my question is was the risk worth the reward? It doesn't make sense to me that deflating the balls provides basically no advantage, otherwise they wouldn't have done it in the first place.

If true, to them they thought there was an advantage, even if there wasn't.

 

[Mitchrapp]

From what I understand the ref, I assume the head ref, replaced balls through the game for whatever reason. So maybe he did no.