NFL probing Patriots' possible use of deflated balls during AFC Championship

I say it's a dumb rule because if it didn't exist (i.e. you allowed both offenses to supply their own balls at whatever PSI they desired) there would be no competitive advantage for either team. The best you could say is that both offenses would benefit from it, which is something I have no problem with.

 

Sure there is.

The biggest advantage comes when it's cold/wet outside. A QB that plays in Houston, like Schaub for example, would have no reference for how deflated he wants the football when he goes up to New England for a playoff game where Tom Brady knows exactly how he wants the ball. Result? Brady excels where Schaub struggles.

A damning stat I heard on 610 the other night. They went through 5 or 6 top quarterbacks that have played in cold weather games since 2010 and then listed their splits based on games where the temp was above or below 40 degrees or something. Every QB they ticked off was worse when the weather was cold EXCEPT Tom Brady, who was better. Tom Brady is the ONLY QB in the league that somehow defies logic, the history of the NFL and physics and is more accurate when the weather drops. Not because of a competitive advantage of course.

Another advantage comes down simply to the defense. They are used to practicing with their QB throwing a ball at X PSI. The other team jacks it up more and the defender isn't ready to catch something that hard, bounces off.

Of course there is an advantage.

 

Meh. That road runs both ways. What about Brady when he goes to an extremely hot weather climate? That's just part of home field advantage. The physics of the ball changes regardless. Doesn't bother me to let either QB try to manipulate the ball to their desired feel/comfort level.

Well duh, that's what happens when you're the only person doctoring the balls. This is not an argument against doing away with the rule, it's an argument against breaking that rule.

Yes, there is an advantage for the offenses, but not for a particular team. Since the advantage is shared by both teams, it wouldn't bother me whatsoever.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTNnQZgNtA0#t=142

this whole thing is overblown lol. everytime the patriots win someone has to make an excuse.

 

What a stupid video.

1) The footballs the Patriots were using were at least 2 lbs under the requirement, not just to 11.9

2) The footballs the Colts were using were fine

3) Somehow, even though the Patriots footballs were altered just by the weather, the NFL officials were alarmed enough to take them out of play and use different ones that withstood the elements.

Everytime the patriots cheat someone has to make an excuse.

 

I'm sorry, there has to be a minimum pressure. Really isn't a debatable point. Think about it a little more.

 

A deflated ball functions totally differently than an inflated one. At that point, why not just people use a baseball instead of a football? After all, if you let both teams do it, there's no competitive advantage for either team.

 

Sure, a minimum pressure is fine. But I think it should be a very generous range.

 

Because that would not be fun to watch?

(Well, it would be at first, then it would get old...)

The slippery slope argument isn't very compelling to me in this case.

I don't think teams will start trotting out balls that look like this or something to that effect.

Of course, the simplest fix here it to just let the NFL handle the game balls throughout... which is what it should have been doing in the first place.

 

Former Panthers GM

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Marty Hurney told <a href="https://twitter.com/DNewtonespn">@DNewtonespn</a> not “a day that goes by since 2003” w/o wondering if Pats cheated: <a href="http://t.co/IzT92CMhOE">http://t.co/IzT92CMhOE</a></p>&mdash; Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) <a href="https://twitter.com/WillBrinson/status/558661800838041601">January 23, 2015</a></blockquote>
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They are who we thought they were.

Massholes

 

Assume you meant it should be less than 12.5 psi. I don't know enough to really say. I'll leave that to current and former NFL QBs and RBs to debate.

Obviously the NFL will be handling game balls from now on courtesy of the cheating Pats.

 

Why not? You get 12 footballs. Why not keep one like that? Late in the game, when you're trying to run out clock and just not fumble, you could bring out that ball - much more difficult to strip.

Agree with this - I don't see any reason why teams should be able to determine how inflated a ball is at all. The goal should be to standardize everything.

 

(Source) ~ "Among the many people who had contact with the Patriots pigskin used in Sunday’s AFC championship — which were reportedly underinflated — were the ball boys. And one former ball boy (who did not take part in Sunday’s match) told NBC News that his goal was always to prepare the ball to the quarterback’s preference and hope they passed inspection, and that it would have been very difficult to tamper with them afterward. Eric Kester, who was a ball boy for the Chicago Bears in 2003, says he can’t speculate about the controversy dubbed “Deflate-Gate,” but he remembers how the preparation worked — starting with the delivery of factory-fresh balls a few days before a game. Two hours before kickoff, he would bring the balls to the referees’ locker room for inspection. 'I recall them having a pressure gauge in the locker room, but most often they just squeezed the balls, turned them over in their hands a few times each, and inspected the laces. I don’t recall them ever rejecting one of our balls,' he said."

Everyone keeps saying the Patriots tampered with the balls after the refs inspected them. No one is asking if the refs didn't notice or what their process for inspecting the footballs actually is. It's starting to look like they fumble around with them for a hot minute and rarely check PSI levels. We all know NFL teams do some wacky stuff getting these balls ready. They'll take them in the sauna, throw them in the dryer and even douse them in milk. This is really more of a non story being blown ridiculously out of proportion.

 

They should have been a long time ago. In the infancy of sports leagues, it probably made a lot of sense for teams to provide the balls, but that time passed decades ago.

Why would the NFL pay the ball boys, hold the balls before games & at halftime, supply the kicking balls, but then not supply the regular game balls and let the teams effectively hire NFL employees?

 

Yawn.

Except all the reports are they actually DID test these before the game in an official manner and they all passed. If you believe Jay Glazer (normally considered to be perhaps THE MOST reliable NFL insider, but I'm sure now he's a hack that he's against the Pats) the NFL may have intentionally run a sting operation on the Patriots by telling them in advance, testing them before hand and then testing them again at halftime. Or something like that.

 

A fair point, but like I said to A3PO, I'm not against a minimum pressure as long as the range is generous enough. Letting QBs adjust it to a comfort level is one thing, but bringing out a half-inflated floppy turd is another.

 

But what is the minimum that you would be ok with? They already do give a range of a full pound.

If you agree there should be a minimum, then why are you so sure the current rule is dumb? You just assume it is arbitrary and that they put no thought into it? Perhaps the minimum they have now is based on evidence.

 

I dunno. I'm sure something could be figured out.

I think it's dumb that there is a minimum/maximum pressure rule that is narrow enough to be broken by a QB merely adjusting for comfort/feel.

Seems excessively restrictive, because as I said, I wouldn't mind letting the QBs adjust it to their preference. Moar offense for the offense god.

There may be a very valid, evidence based reason the minimum is so high. I just don't know what that reason is.

 

Why do you assume this is the case?

"merely adjusting for comfort/feel"

Isn't it possible that the other QBs in the league DON'T break this rule when they adjust it for comfort/feel but that Tom Brady took it to another level? It seems like you are making an assumption that the rule is easy to break and is dumb with the only proof being that Tom Brady broke it. If that were the case, that it were easy to break by merely adjusting, I don't think the NFL would have pulled the balls out of play, you'd have an established guy like Aikman calling it more egregious than Bounty Gate, etc.