Tom Brady

[Alsacs]

I wouldn't say that's it. They've been "caught" cheating 2x. As someone said they must be horrible cheaters to be caught every time they cheat (or, ahem, misunderstand the rules).

No, this is being made a bigger deal because it is a big deal. The NFL is what, a $12B business or something? Not to mention the ancillary local revenues generated each game weekend, not to mention all the gambling and travel and etc etc?

Let's say that's a $20B total impact. Certainly, small relative to a $15T overall economy, but not insignificant.

And the very integrity of the game is called into question. Up to now, only die-hard Bills fans (and maybe Jets fans) were likely onto the unequal playing field that has driven the performance of this dominant franchise for so long. Now the rest of the country is getting that sense. The Tuck Rule, the No-Tackle Brady Rule, on a base level people could understand those, but...

YES, they have superior mgmt and coaching, that is undoubtedly true. But stuff that only maniac fans of divisional rivals would note have been going on for years: the 1H penalty differentials that definitively favor the Patriots that get "evened out" in the 2H when the game is in hand so the end-result numbers don't show anything. (the absurd Unsportsmanlike penalty on the Bills for slapping his teammates' helmets after a big sack, for example, in the first half of this season's first game).

As I've said before, the NFL better be careful. It was a grand bargain to lift everyone's value, line everyone's pockets for the last 15 years, and it worked (driving the success to tent-pole franchises who could deliver big ratings on National Television). But now that's slowing down...the players' contracts aren't guaranteed...RB's life expectancy in the league is 2- 3 years on a losing team...the TV contracts HAVE to be peaking out, they're basically on every night of the weak they can expand to...the players are increasingly realizing they're suffering debilitating consequences for this stuff, and I'm sure that's leading to all of this.

How did the Colts and Ravens know the balls were under-inflated? I'd check the rosters for ex-Patriots.

That's always the tricky part about assuming conspiracies? Why wouldn't SOMEONE break the line? Well, when it's all going up, it's easy to keep it together. When the knitting starts to fray, the incentives get differently aligned.

The Jets, Bills, Dolphins have sucked because they haven't gotten good QBs. You need good QBs to compete if you want to claim it's because the Pats are habitual cheaters good ahead.

 

[Finwad32]

Fair or unfair? I know that anybody who has spent any time around football can notice the difference of 2 psi in a football.

I always preferred them a touch softer. Our QB this year actually liked them more inflated.

The fact of the matter is this, the other team was not allowed the same opportunity. That's the rub. Well, that, and it's against the rules.

As much as I'd like to say that you still have to throw and catch the ball, and, it's not that big of a deal. If this were baseball, the only way I can liken this is that if a team was allowed to use a softer ball that had been in play longer, eventually that would work to their favor. It would be harder for the other team to hit a ball in use longer. That's an advantage. Not necessarily the same because we're talking about hitting a ball versus catching a ball. But, if you have to hit a ball to score in baseball, and catch it to do the same in football, I think it ends up being a good comparison.

The rules were there and they were broken. They'll never be able to trace it back to Belichik or Brady, so it's moot.

 

[Bornorange]

Even if Brady did not deflate the balls, he knew on the first play that the ball was under inflated. So every single play after that he knew he was cheating.

 

[Millhouse]

The Jets, Bills, Dolphins have sucked because they haven't gotten good QBs. You need good QBs to compete if you want to claim it's because the Pats are habitual cheaters good ahead.

the bills having crappy QBs and belichick being a cheating manic are not mutually exclusive

 

[KaiserUEO]

I didn't think so. I was saying thank you because what you posted shows the Giants and Hostelier doctored the balls in Super Bowl 25. Which leads to believe this stuff happens all the time and because NE has a reputation earned from past cheating makes this minor thing get overblown.

if thats wrong, then that proves that the only way sub-par QBs can win...is by cheating.

Hoss=brady

 

[Toga]

I'm no tinfoil guy but am serious in saying that if I were the opposing team, I'd have a professional sweep the locker room for listening devices.

 

[Alsacs]

the bills having crappy QBs and belichick being a cheating manic are not mutually exclusive

Your right Belichick should be fired and the Patriots should lose their first round picks for the next 15 years one for every year he has been HC. NE should be prevented from the playoffs for atleast 1 year and all this because the NFL can't prove with evidence they cheated but circumstantial evidence proves it.

 

[Orangeman]

The Jets, Bills, Dolphins have sucked because they haven't gotten good QBs. You need good QBs to compete if you want to claim it's because the Pats are habitual cheaters good ahead.

That's certainly true. Everything is multi-faceted. But, it's also true that the margin of error in the NFL is very slim, and when everything is so incremental, everything in the rulebook exists for a reason.

 

[Millhouse]

Your right Belichick should be fired and the Patriots should lose their first round picks for the next 15 years one for every year he has been HC. NE should be prevented from the playoffs for atleast 1 year and all this because the NFL can't prove with evidence they cheated but circumstantial evidence proves it.

i think they should go back to before he was a HC

 

[Alsacs]

i think they should go back to before he was a HC

Yeah that would certainly help the Bills. I think Belichick should be tarred and feathered and then forced to be charged as an accomplice in the Aaron Hernandez murder case because obviously helped him.

 

[shandeezy7]

http://www.spygatebook.com/

 

[rrlbees]

The NFL must be feeling lucky that NE blew out the Colts. If that had been a 31-28 game, the angst over this would be much greater.

And even if Brady was behind this, nothing happens without BB knowing about it. They're both guilty.

 

[dasher]

The NFL must be feeling lucky that NE blew out the Colts. If that had been a 31-28 game, the angst over this would be much greater.

And even if Brady was behind this, nothing happens without BB knowing about it. They're both guilty.

yeah, BB spent his time on the PSI on footballs.

 

[shandeezy7]

yeah, BB spent his time on the PSI on footballs.

If it gave him an advantage, that cheater would spend time making sure the grass was cut at 1 1/4" instead of 1 1/2"

 

[DPCuse]

Here's a question. Why doesn't the freaking NFL just have both teams use the same football in a game? So there is no advantage to anyone...inflated or not.

 

[Orangeman]

Here's a question. Why doesn't the freaking NFL just have both teams use the same football in a game? So there is no advantage to anyone...inflated or not.

Because you ARE allowed to doctor the balls to some degree, to your liking.

You ARE allowed to have them between 12.5-13.5 PSI

You're allowed to scrub the shine off the footballs, etc. There is no rule against that, beyond scuffing them so much that the ref kicks them out of the game.

What Hostetler did in that earlier article was not illegal. That's part of the game.

What the Patriots (or rather, some elves) did to the balls by taking air out of them IS illegal, per the rules.

There are special kicking balls now because the kickers went to such extremes that they were barely recognizable.

I really don't understand people saying this is not a big deal...they've never played with a lopsided basketball or shiny lacrosse ball. In those cases, at least both teams have the same issue. In football an advantage can be gained.

 

[rrlbees]

yeah, BB spent his time on the PSI on footballs.

He carries a needle around in his pocket.

 

[Millhouse]

He carries a needle around in his pocket.

that's what she said

 

[Bayside44]

The NFL must be feeling lucky that NE blew out the Colts. If that had been a 31-28 game, the angst over this would be much greater.

And even if Brady was behind this, nothing happens without BB knowing about it. They're both guilty.

How about the Ravens game...Ravens TE drops a TD and the Pats catch theirs, with two different types of balls in use. So there is that...

 

[rrlbees]

How about the Ravens game...Ravens TE drops a TD and the Pats catch theirs, with two different types of balls in use. So there is that...

I read somewhere that it's rumored the Ravens tipped off the Colts about deflated footballs.

 

[Alsacs]

Just DQ the Patriots, fire Belichick, suspend Brady for 1 year, and ban the team from the playoffs. This is worse than Spygate which the NFL warned the teams to stop doing and let's make sure the game is clean.

Then everyone gets their pound of flesh. I don't think anyone would say this isn't cheating but the penalty should be extreme instead of the penalty on the books.

 

[DPCuse]

Because you ARE allowed to doctor the balls to some degree, to your liking.

You ARE allowed to have them between 12.5-13.5 PSI

You're allowed to scrub the shine off the footballs, etc. There is no rule against that, beyond scuffing them so much that the ref kicks them out of the game.

What Hostetler did in that earlier article was not illegal. That's part of the game.

What the Patriots (or rather, some elves) did to the balls by taking air out of them IS illegal, per the rules.

There are special kicking balls now because the kickers went to such extremes that they were barely recognizable.

I really don't understand people saying this is not a big deal...they've never played with a lopsided basketball or shiny lacrosse ball. In those cases, at least both teams have the same issue. In football an advantage can be gained.

I understand what the current rule is. I'm suggesting that they change it. It removes all of the variables if you have both teams play with the same ball. It evens the playing field if there is cheating.

 

[dasher]

Just DQ the Patriots, fire Belichick, suspend Brady for 1 year, and ban the team from the playoffs. This is worse than Spygate which the NFL warned the teams to stop doing and let's make sure the game is clean.

Then everyone gets their pound of flesh. I don't think anyone would say this isn't cheating but the penalty should be extreme instead of the penalty on the books.

you are going to be very, very disappointed in the penalty the pats get. Very disappointed.

 

[Cusefan0307]

The fact people buy into this crap shows how stupid we've become. 99 percent of people wouldn't care if it was any other quarterback, but because it's boy wonder it's a huge deal. If this was tony romo people would be making fun of him. He seemed to play fine in the second half with regular footballs kaiser! People want everything to be a scandal these days.

"He should of been able to feel the difference."

Apparently nobody was able to feel the difference.

I think some of you should get a football and do an experiment. See how a football feels at 12.5 psi, and then see how it's feels at 11.

It's not like he was using a corked bat.

Until then, can we get on with the game? We actually have the two best teams for once.

 

[Orangeman]

It's really funny...now the caveat is that while I've certainly felt footballs that were properly, overly and under-inflated, I haven't felt footballs that were roughly 2 PSI different, so I'm going by what the folks on TV have said, that it's definitely a difference in the feel of the ball.

And we know, factually, that the balls were 2 PSI low in the 1H of the game. And both Tom Brady and Julian Edelmann have said that the footballs didn't feel any different.

By implication, doesn't that mean they've been cheating on the balls for as long as Edelmann has been there (again, assuming the talking heads are correct and you can tell a difference by touch at the different pressures?)

Also, Brady made the age-old error of providing too much information when he's trying to avoid accusation. He said this that or the other about the preparation of the balls, even getting so specific as to say he prefers 12.5 PSI in his footballs. He THINKS he's creating an out but he's really cornering himself by providing too much information.

As people have pointed out, I REALLY CARE but I DIDN'T NOTICE doesn't fly at all given what we've heard from other professionals

I guess whatever, he's still rich and married to a super model and I'm banging away on a message board. There's a winner in there somewhere