More details on the investigation of Patriots' deflated footballs
For much of the past two weeks, the Patriots have faced questions about whether they used deliberately deflated footballs in the AFC title game win over the Colts, eventually leading the NFL to tap Ted Wells to launch an investigation that will take several more weeks.
While owner Robert Kraft and every other member of the Patriots have declared innocence, Commissioner Roger Goodell said Friday that, "we have made no judgments" thus far.
But over the course of the last two weeks, multiple sources have shed light on the situation surrounding the Patriots, their 12 game-day footballs, and deflation. Here is what they've said:
>> Prior to the game, a game-day worker employed by the Patriots, a man described as elderly, took two bags of 12 footballs (one bag from each team) into the restroom near the referees' room in Gillette Stadium. The man was in the room for 98 seconds. When he exited the room, he took the balls to the field. There is video of the man entering and exiting the bathroom, but it's unclear if there is a clear shot inside the restroom.
>> That the man entered the restroom prior to walking with the footballs onto the field was discovered by the Patriots, and video footage was quickly turned over to Ted Wells for his investigation.
>> When coach Bill Belichick and Tom Brady were told there were questions about the footballs, both were incredulous. Belichick indicated privately what he said publicly: That he had little knowledge of what went into pregame footballs. Brady told someone close to him that he works on the footballs all week, then has no idea what happens to them on gameday.
>> Eleven of the 12 footballs used in the first half were judged by the officials to be under the minimum of 12.5 PSI, but just one was two pounds under. Many of them were just a few ticks under the minimum.
>> Many of the footballs used in the AFC title game, which all have Walt Anderson's initials on them, were returned to circulation among the rest of the Patriots game-day footballs. Because Anderson was the referee for two other Patriots games this season, there are more than 30 footballs with his initials in the team's possession. It appears the league has the football D'Qwell Jackson intercepted and took to the sidelines to ultimately hand over to his equipment staff.
>> Eleven of the 12 footballs used in the first half were judged by the officials to be under the minimum of 12.5 PSI, but just one was two pounds under. Many of them were just a few ticks under the minimum.
This fact hasn't gotten a lot of attention, but it changes the whole complexion of the matter.
More details on the investigation of Patriots' deflated footballs
For much of the past two weeks, the Patriots have faced questions about whether they used deliberately deflated footballs in the AFC title game win over the Colts, eventually leading the NFL to tap Ted Wells to launch an investigation that will take several more weeks.
While owner Robert Kraft and every other member of the Patriots have declared innocence, Commissioner Roger Goodell said Friday that, "we have made no judgments" thus far.
But over the course of the last two weeks, multiple sources have shed light on the situation surrounding the Patriots, their 12 game-day footballs, and deflation. Here is what they've said:
>> Prior to the game, a game-day worker employed by the Patriots, a man described as elderly, took two bags of 12 footballs (one bag from each team) into the restroom near the referees' room in Gillette Stadium. The man was in the room for 98 seconds. When he exited the room, he took the balls to the field. There is video of the man entering and exiting the bathroom, but it's unclear if there is a clear shot inside the restroom.
>> That the man entered the restroom prior to walking with the footballs onto the field was discovered by the Patriots, and video footage was quickly turned over to Ted Wells for his investigation.
>> When coach Bill Belichick and Tom Brady were told there were questions about the footballs, both were incredulous. Belichick indicated privately what he said publicly: That he had little knowledge of what went into pregame footballs. Brady told someone close to him that he works on the footballs all week, then has no idea what happens to them on gameday.
>> Eleven of the 12 footballs used in the first half were judged by the officials to be under the minimum of 12.5 PSI, but just one was two pounds under. Many of them were just a few ticks under the minimum.
>> Many of the footballs used in the AFC title game, which all have Walt Anderson's initials on them, were returned to circulation among the rest of the Patriots game-day footballs. Because Anderson was the referee for two other Patriots games this season, there are more than 30 footballs with his initials in the team's possession. It appears the league has the football D'Qwell Jackson intercepted and took to the sidelines to ultimately hand over to his equipment staff.
And didn't Jackson state that he didn't feel anything abnormal about the ball? _________________ RIP mom. 11-21-1933 to 6-14-2023.
Joined: 14 Apr 2001 Posts: 144474 Location: The Gold Coast
Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 12:24 pm Post subject:
Aeneas Hunter wrote:
Basketball Fan wrote:
Quote:
>> Eleven of the 12 footballs used in the first half were judged by the officials to be under the minimum of 12.5 PSI, but just one was two pounds under. Many of them were just a few ticks under the minimum.
This fact hasn't gotten a lot of attention, but it changes the whole complexion of the matter.
It doesn't make as good of a story. _________________ RIP mom. 11-21-1933 to 6-14-2023.
Joined: 17 Nov 2007 Posts: 67716 Location: In a world where admitting to not knowing something is considered a great way to learn.
Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 1:42 pm Post subject:
venturalakersfan wrote:
Aeneas Hunter wrote:
Basketball Fan wrote:
Quote:
>> Eleven of the 12 footballs used in the first half were judged by the officials to be under the minimum of 12.5 PSI, but just one was two pounds under. Many of them were just a few ticks under the minimum.
This fact hasn't gotten a lot of attention, but it changes the whole complexion of the matter.
It doesn't make as good of a story.
This calls for an apology. _________________ Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.
Report: NFL fired employee who sold Deflategate footballs
The NFL has reportedly fired an employee who sold footballs that were used in the AFC Championship Game — footballs that later became the source of the Deflategate controversy when the Patriots were accused of playing with under-inflated footballs on offense.
Adam Schefter reported on ESPN today that the footballs used in the game were supposed to be donated to charity, but that one employee took some footballs and sold them instead.
“There are a few different league officials, according to people I spoke with today, at the game, who handled the footballs,” Schefter said. “League employees: League Employee 1, League Employee 2 and League Employee 3, we’ll call them, for lack of a better phrase, whose jobs are to handle the balls on game day. And League Official 1, he’s also supposed to take the balls out of play and then send them off to a charitable endeavor to raise money for a charitable endeavor that the league is embarking upon. Only on this day, and since that day, the league has since fired that employee for allegedly selling off some of those footballs on the side. So that employee — League Official 1 — has been fired since the AFC Championship Game.”
If this is true, League Official 1 is lucky if all that happens is he gets fired. From Schefter’s description, it sounds like League Official 1 could also be facing criminal charges for stealing NFL property and selling it.
This is, of course, a totally separate matter from the question of whether the Patriots deflated footballs in violation of league rules. But it’s relevant to Deflategate in that it shows just how little oversight there is on the footballs that are used on the field. So little oversight that it would be easy for a team to tamper with footballs — and hard for the league to conduct an investigation after the fact.
Goodell believes #DeflateGate investigation is “getting near the end”
Eight weeks ago today, Ted Wells said that the investigation into whether the Patriots tampered with air pressure in footballs during the AFC championship game would require “at least several more weeks.” Last week, Commissioner Roger Goodell expressed to Peter King of TheMMQB.com a belief that the process is moving toward a conclusion.
“I haven’t spoken to [Wells] for several weeks,” Goodell said. “I think he’s getting near the end, but there’s no requirement when.”
Goodell said that he gave no thought to making an effort to get the situation resolved before the Super Bowl so that it wouldn’t mar the week before the game (which it obviously did).
“I think the most important thing is to get the right information, to get the facts and to get the truth,” Goodell told King. “And not to make any judgments until you get that. We have been very careful on that. We followed the facts. We took the information. We determined that we should bring Ted Wells to further the investigation. We haven’t given him a timetable except to be thorough, be fair and get to the truth. When he’s completed his report, that will be made public as well as to all of us.”
As a practical matter, the investigation couldn’t have been concluded during the week of the Super Bowl, because the NFL’s gathering of facts has been supplemented by the performance of experiments by qualified experts regarding the changes in football air pressure under various conditions. Those experts also had intended to learn precisely how the Patriots prepare footballs before the game, with the goal of duplicating that process in order to determine whether the air pressure in any way changes.
“I think that if you’re going to be thorough, it takes time,” Goodell said. “You’re having to meet with a lot of people. I guess it’s always too long, because you want to get to that issue and deal with it. It’s important not to exert any pressure to short-circuit or do anything other than be fair and transparent.”
Some would say that the NFL would have preferred that the report not be released with the league meetings looming. Just as the then-fresh controversy cast a shadow over the Super Bowl, the report would have resulted in every coach, owner, and G.M. being asked to react to the outcome on and off the record at the league meetings.
Goodell also made it clear that he didn’t hear about the concern regarding potential deflation of footballs until after the game.
“Let’s just short circuit this a little bit,” Goodell said regarding the perception that Goodell knew about the situation and wanted to catch the Patriots in the act. “I’m not going to get into what we knew and when we knew it because that’s part of what he’s investigating. . . . I can tell you that I was not personally aware of it until after the game.”
While Goodell may not have been personally aware of it, some (including the Patriots) believe V.P. of game operations Mike Kensil knew about it before the game, because Colts G.M. Ryan Grigson has since admitted that he alerted the league office to the concerns in the week preceding the contest. The concern isn’t that the entire league office planned a sting operation, but that Kensil decided on his own that he would catch the Patriots red-handed, especially after Grigson contacted Kensil during the first half to complain that a ball intercepted by Colts linebacker D’Qwell Jackson seemed to be underinflated.
Despite the official absence of a timetable, unofficially a decision needs to come before the draft starts on April 30, since the stripping of one or more draft picks would be among the potential punishments, if there’s a finding of guilt.
Irsay “not really” surprised #DeflateGate investigation has taken so long
The owner of the team that sparked the #DeflateGate investigation recently talked about the absence of closure in the case. And Colts owner Jim Irsay doesn’t seem to be concerned about the fact that more than three months have passed since G.M. Ryan Grigson complained to the league about the air pressure in the footballs used during the first half of the AFC title game against the Patriots.
“I know that they are still finishing up their investigation, and there’s really nothing new to report,” Irsay told reporters at the third annual Chuckstrong gala on Friday night. “It could be a few days, it could be a month or more. I really don’t know. They’re working to be, again, comprehensive and thorough, and when [Ted] Wells gets done with it, he’ll let us all know.”
Is Irsay surprised it has taken this long to wrap up the investigation?
“You know, probably not really,” Irsay said. “He’s a very thorough investigator, and he’s gonna do what he thinks, sort of in his vacuum, so to speak. He’s not concerned about when he gets the results, how long it takes. He wants to be thorough. So I know he operates that way. So it’s not a shock, but I think everyone has wondered exactly when he’ll come through and let us know what he’s learned.”
Some suspect that a truly thorough investigation might reveal that the Colts took additional air out of the ball that was intercepted by linebacker D’Qwell Jackson during the first half of the game. The NFL previously has declined to comment on whether Ted Wells is exploring that angle. Others currently believe that the NFL has turned the investigation back on itself, hoping to placate Patriots owner Robert Kraft by determining how so many leaks of information that would tend to incriminate his team made their way to the media.
Regardless, it’s been more than a month since Commissioner Roger Goodell said the investigation is “getting near the end.” With the draft less than a week away, it’s starting to feel like the end will arrive on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.
For the reasons described in this Report, and after a comprehensive investigation, we have concluded that, in connection with the AFC Championship Game, it is more probable than not that New England Patriots personnel participated in violations of the Playing Rules and were involved in a deliberate effort to circumvent the rules. In particular, we have concluded
that it is more probable than not that Jim McNally (the Officials Locker Room attendant for the Patriots) and John Jastremski (an equipment assistant for the Patriots) participated in a deliberate effort to release air from Patriots game balls after the balls were examined by the referee.
Based on the evidence, it also is our view that it is more probable than not that Tom Brady (the quarterback for the Patriots) was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities of McNally and Jastremski involving the release of air from Patriots game balls.
Quote:
We do not believe that the evidence establishes that any other Patriots personnel participated in or had knowledge of the violation of the Playing Rules or the deliberate effort to circumvent the rules described in this Report. In particular, we do not believe there was any wrongdoing or knowledge of wrongdoing by Patriots ownership, Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick or any other Patriots coach in the matters investigated. We also do not believe there
was any wrongdoing or knowledge of wrongdoing by Patriots Head Equipment Manager Dave Schoenfeld
In the weeks and months before the AFC Championship Game, McNally periodically exchanged text messages with the Patriots equipment assistant primarily responsible for the preparation of the Patriots game balls, John Jastremski. In a number of those text messages, McNally and Jastremski discussed the air pressure of Patriots game balls, Tom Brady‟s unhappiness with the inflation level of Patriots game balls, Jastremski‟s plan to provide McNally with a “needle” for use by McNally,and McNally‟s requests for “cash”and sneakers together with the “needle” to be provided by Jastremski. A sports ball inflation needle is a device that can be used to inflate a football(if attached to an airpump) or release air from a football (if inserted alone into a ball).For example, on October 17, 2014, following a Thursday night game between the Patriots and the New York Jets during which Tom Brady complained angrily about the inflation level of the game balls, McNally and Jastremski exchanged the following text messages:
McNally: Tom sucks...im going make that next ball a (bleep) balloon
Jastremski: Talked to him last night. He actually brought you up and said you must have a lot of stress trying to get them done...
Jastremski: I told him it was. He was right though...
Jastremski: I checked some of the balls this morn... The refs (bleep) us...a few of then were at almost 16
Jastremski: They didnt recheck then after they put air in them
Jastremski: Omg! Spaz
On October 21, 2014, McNally and Jastremski exchanged the following text messages:
McNally: Make sure you blow up the ball to look like a rugby ball so tom can get used to it before sunday
Jastremski: Omg
On October 23, 2014, three days before a Sunday game against the Chicago Bears, Jastremski and McNally exchanged the following messages:
Jastremski: Can‟t wait to give you your needle this week
McNally: (bleep) tom....make sure the pump is attached to the needle.....(bleep) watermelons coming
Jastremski: So angry
McNally: The only thing deflating sun..is his passing rating
The next day, October 24, 2014, Jastremski and McNally exchanged the following messages:
Jastremski: I have a big needle for u this week
McNally: Better be surrounded by cash and new kicks....or its a rugby sunday
McNally: (bleep) tom
Jastremski: Maybe u will have some nice size 11s in ur locker
McNally: Tom must really be working your balls hard this week
On October 25, 2014, McNally and Jastremski exchanged the following messages:
Jastremski: Size 11?
Jastremski: 2 or 3X?
McNally: Tom must really be on you
McNally: 11 0r 11 half......2x unless its tight fitting
Jastremski: Nah. Hasn‟t even mentioned it, figured u should get something since he gives u nothing
On January 7, 2015, eleven days before the AFC Championship Game, McNally and Jastremski discussed how McNally would have a “big autograph day” and receive items autographed by Brady the following weekend, before the playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens.
McNally and Jastremski exchanged the following text messages:
McNally: Remember to put a couple sweet pig skins ready for tom to sign
Jastremski: U got it kid...big autograph day for you
McNally: Nice throw some kicks in and make it real special
Jastremski: It ur lucky. 11?
McNally: 11 or 11 and half kid
On January 10, 2015, immediately prior to the game between the Patriots and the Ravens, in the Patriots equipment room with both Brady and Jastremski present, McNally received two footballs autographed by Brady and also had Brady autograph a game-worn Patriots jersey that McNally previously had obtained.
It's amazing that all 4 of the Patriots championships are tainted by cheating. _________________ Nobody in the NBA can touch the Laker brand, which, like the uniform color, is pure gold.
Why does the league let each team play offense with their own set of footballs? How about just one set used by both teams? And if the consensus among quarterbacks is that underflated footballs are preferable, then why not change the rule to allow them a little more grip?
Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 52657 Location: Making a safety stop at 15 feet.
Posted: Wed May 06, 2015 6:30 pm Post subject:
JerryMagicKobe wrote:
Why does the league let each team play offense with their own set of footballs? How about just one set used by both teams? And if the consensus among quarterbacks is that underflated footballs are preferable, then why not change the rule to allow them a little more grip?
I'm guessing it's viewed as an advantage for the offense, because of softer ball is also easier to catch as well.
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