conspiracy thread dedicated to ridiculousness

Tomlin said it wasn't intentional, actually. League also sent out a memo that week about not standing so close to the sideline.

 

The Brad Johnson story is irrelevant, because they roll out the same slippery, collector's footballs for both teams in the Super Bowl....QBs have always complained about them. Not sure about Eli, but it probably has more to do with simply scuffing the balls to improve grip and there's nothing illegal about that.

I wonder if/when the NFL will talk to Brady.....will any potential discussions be delayed until after Super Bowl Sunday?

 

An action can be unintentional, but still wrong.

 

Not sure of the source but they were saying on the radio this morning Tahwmmy raised a lot of eyebrows by saying he likes the ball at 12.5 pounds and also that he didn't notice the ball was less than that (2 pounds pressure less) in the same QnA session.


" Queried about past on-the-record comments that he prefers a deflated ball, Brady responded, "I like them at 12.5 (PSI). That's the perfect grip for a football."

It's also the minimum PSI allowed by the NFL."

 

Best post of the thread

 

I couldnt believe he actually said what he did. I haven't seen or heard of one person who watched the press conference say they believed what he said and for the record the only reason he acknowledged the 12.5 lbs is because he made a comment a few years ago about it.

Now he's trying to sell that he likes 12.5lbs but he didn't notice in the first half when the balls were deflated and didn't notice in the second half when they were re-inflated. How the hell could you ever have a preference if you can't tell the difference?

 

Agree Beach, it makes no sense, he is contradicting himself as liars often do. I think Belichick is smart enough to not step in it like that so obviously but Brady is not.

Having said that, I just reposted my concern that this is all a big diversion from bigger issues affecting the integrity of the game (refs, suspected corruption internally/external to NFL affecting games,etc) but I deleted it because this is still AN issue (albeit smaller in comparison to what is at the very least completely incompetent officiating many games). Why isn't the media so persistent in looking into that? That's obvious, the media wouldn't want to risk killing the golden goose and this issue actually makes it look like even small issues get investigated by the NFL. In reality the more serious issues do not IMO. The league has no interest in improving the game with rule simplification and clarity and better refs and they prove it every year. Why isn't THAT the focus rather than this.

 

"Why hasn?t Brady been interviewed yet?
Posted by Mike Florio on January 23, 2015, 9:59 AM EST
Brady
Getty Images
One of the more surprising revelations from Thursday?s bizarre doubleheader Patriot press conferences came from quarterback Tom Brady, who said that the NFL has not yet spoken to him about #DeflateGate.

On Tuesday, NFL executive V.P. of football operations Troy Vincent confirmed that the league is investigating a potential violation of the rules regarding ball inflation, and that the league hoped to have the investigation finished within 2-3 days. As of Thursday afternoon, that process apparently hadn?t included a sit-down with Brady.

Some are reacting to Brady?s explanation by assuming that the NFL, as in the Ray Rice investigation, has its head inserted into an orifice where heads aren?t typically supposed to go. Indeed, why wasn?t Brady one of the first people the NFL talked to?

It?s entirely possible that the NFL opted to work from the bottom to the top, interviewing the ball attendants and other low-level employees quickly, before anyone from the team can talk to them or attempt to coach them. Eventually, Brady and Belichick will be interviewed ? or there inevitably will be another Robert Mueller investigation of the league office.

Belichick didn?t address on Thursday whether he has been interviewed. For both Belichick and Brady, there?s a real risk in talking publicly before being interviewed privately by the NFL. If neither had been interviewed, the league now has press-conference transcripts that can be used to craft questions and to explore (and exploit) any holes or gaps or curiosities in the stories to which the coach and quarterback are sticking.

As to Brady, it?s also important for the NFL to cooperate with the union. Like all players, Brady has the right to have an NFLPA representative present for any interrogation.

It could be that the NFL has opted to tap the brakes when it comes to interviewing the principals because the NFL has realized that, if enough damning information is harvested before the week of the Super Bowl, the league will be expected to take dramatic action for the Super Bowl. After all, the NFL was ready to suspend Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh for a playoff game after he stepped on the leg of Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Shouldn?t the league also be ready to suspend Brady if the league eventually concludes that he knew or should have known that the ?perfect? balls he?d selected for the game were magically made even more ?perfect? by the time he actually started throwing them?

So maybe the truth is that the NFL doesn?t want to conclude the investigation so quickly that it has no choice but to force the Patriots to be coached by Josh McDaniels (assuming he?s not caught up in this mess) and/or quarterbacked by Jimmy Garoppolo against a team that obliterated Peyton Manning in the Broncos in last year?s Super Bowl.

As Commissioner Roger Goodell has said, he always roots for the team that?s behind, because he wants the games to be exciting. If Belichick and/or Brady are prevented from participating in Super Bowl XLIX, Goodell would find himself rooting increasingly harder and harder for the Patriots."


To me the biggest reveal of the above info is the the commissioner of the NFL admits he wants every game close in score.

Obviously its in the NFLs best financial interests for every game to be close to drive highest ratings which pay off in higher future advertising revenue for subsequent year's games.

Maybe we need an inflategate investigation into the NFLs internal mechanisms to possibly inflate TV ratings by trying to keep games close. It is was documented on this board this year how some (not all but some) games the inferior opponent magically gets way more calls, no calls, or offsetting calls that end up bailing them out at various times in games and keep the scores closer. They can't fix it that way every game or it would be obvious but it is my suspicion based on watching many many games every year for the past 35 years that officiating crews are moreso now/ these days told to call a game tight or loose at times, and given other instructions that help keep games close based on who is playing at times.

Why would that possibility be surprising in a league literally set up to legally be able to do just that. Also,in a league with overly complex rules, refs who are utterly gagged and banned from talking to media and others about games and their role in them, make way too many mistakes that affect games etc etc.....the league commissioner admits he wants every game close and for obvious reasons.

 

Pi

Beloved AJM, if it wasn't providing an advantage then why do it? The fact that they didn't ultimately need an advantage is irrelevant to the bigger issue as you know. However, I still contend if NE had properly inflated balls there was more of a chance they turn ball over early on and I attribute the blowout 2nd half more to NE already having Indy's backs against a wall in a big game on the road and that factor.

Or maybe NE had nothing to do with the deflation despite no other reasonable possible explanation to date? Maybe I am rushing to judgement on that but it sure looks that way, yes?

 

I'm not trying to imply that the deflated balls would have definitely changed the outcome either way. I think the Pats are a better team and should have won regardless. All I was saying is that there are alot of variables in a football game and changing just one event can have a trickle down effect on the entire game. For example, if on one of the Pats TD drives in the first half, if Brady throws a pick 6 maybe the momentum changes dramatically. Maybe Brady gets rattled. Maybe the entire game changes. We don't know.

The point is, cheaters cheat for a reason. They think it will help them win, otherwise why do it? Sure, the Pats probably would have won regardless, but I don't believe that you can point to the final score and say "Hey, look at the score! Cheating didn't matter!".

 

If the NFL is fixing games, they will be doing everything in their power to make the Seahawks win next week. They are probably pumping Adderall in through the air ducts of their practice facility. Last thing the league wants is most scandalous team in sports holding the banner as cheating champion.

 

Damnit Kid!! Don't give them any more ammunition!! Now, if the Seahawks win, and I think they certainly can win, this thread will go crazy!! *WALL* *WALL* *WALL* *WALL*

 

We will find something to speculate about either way . Lol

 

"Aikman Explains Why The Patriots Should Get A Historic Punishment
Business Insider By Cork Gaines 3 hours ago
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Jim Young/Reuters Tom Brady may have to sit out some games in 2015. Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and current Fox NFL commentator Troy Aikman is one of many people in and around the NFL who think Tom Brady is directly responsible for deflating the footballs used during the AFC Championship Game, a 45-7 Patriots victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
Aikman also believes the punishments for Brady, head coach Bill Belichick, and the rest of the team needs to be severe, historically so, and that it doesn't matter who was actually involved or who knew what.

While commenting on the scandal on Sports Radio 1310 in Dallas, Aikman said the NFL should give the Patriots a harsher penalty than the New Orleans Saints received in their recent scandal in which players were rewarded for hits that knocked opposing players out of games.

[Saints head coach] Sean Payton did not cheat ... There was nothing that Sean Payton and the Saints did that was illegal. And they did not give themselves a competitive edge. I maintain, regardless of whatever was said in the locker room, and in that locker room, is not anything different than what's been said in any other locker room around the league. There's no proof on the field of what took place that guys were targeting players. You can always pull out a play here and there. They were one of the least penalized teams for unsportsmanlike conduct. So there was no evidence that anything translated to the field that they were trying to hurt players. And they did not give themselves a competitive advantage.

On the other hand, Aikman argues, the Patriots have now been suspected of cheating on multiple occasions and have been caught doing things that give themselves a competitive advantage.

Here are the punishments handed out in the Saints' scandal:

Head coach Sean Payton was suspended for a year without pay
The Saints received a $500,000 fine
Former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was suspended indefinitely (he has since been reinstated)
Saints assistant coach Joe Vitt was suspended without pay for six games
The Saints lost two second-round draft picks, one in 2012 and one in 2013
GM Mickey Loomis was fined $500,000 and suspended for eight games
Linebacker Jonathan Vilma was originally suspended for the entire season but ended up playing in 11 games after an appeal and delay
Three other players received suspensions of varying lengths, but after an appeal and delay none missed any games because of the suspension
Aikman also cites NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's own words. W hen Payton was suspended for the entire 2012 season, Goodell said "ignorance is not an excuse," suggesting the head coach was ultimately responsible.

If the NFL finds the Patriots responsible, they and Belichick will be repeat offenders. Even if the league can't prove who deflated the footballs, it may have no choice but to come down hard on both the team and its future Hall of Fame coach."


I agree with Aikman the penalty should be severe, they are repeat cheats, ignorance is no excuse, and precedent was set for year long suspensions. I disagree with him about the Saints not getting a competitive edge (part of their obvious Bounty system seemed to be repeated and late hits on QBs like Favre who they maimed that way in playoffs to help get the win.

 

The patriots are simply absolute garbage, and this is coming from someone who rooted for them to go 19-0. I can't stand the fact that this team isn't good enough to go 1-1 against a team and needs to search for any extra amount of edge it can find which obviously includes cheating. Then add them lying directly to you in news conferences, and you'd have to be one of the dumbest humans on the planet to believe that organization. To me, they are Barry Bonds and Mark McGuire. Simple cheaters who have no business being entered into the "All time greats" discussion.

Let the Seahawks roid up again, and give them all the home cooking from the refs. I'm fine with that.

 

Meanwhile according to ESPN radio Goodell is saying he doesnt know the difference between a "formal request" for information about the Ray Rice video and/or some other kind of request. The fact the owners won't fire this scoundrel reflects badly on them. Guilt by association. Imo he is their kind of liar, goon, ringleader.

Magically in all of this that whole matter has been pushed out of the headlines (a much more damaging one to the NFLs supposedly honest reputation and a matter that drawing attention to causes the alienation of its growing female audience).

 

Both teams use the same footballs in the Super Bowl, but not in the regular season and postseason. I guess it could have provided an advantage if Johnson liked having his balls cared for differently than Gannon (I think?), but both teams shared the balls.

 

This isn't really a true statement. In the 2012 Super Bowl, on the first play of the game, Flacco completed a pass and told the refs immediately after that the ball he threw was a 49ers ball and not a Ravens ball. The refs acknowledged and corrected it on the next play.

(That also goes to show how easy it is for a QB to tell the difference in footballs again proving brady to be absolutely full of horse S!.)

 

"Mark Brunell doesn?t believe Tom Brady
Posted by Mike Florio on January 22, 2015, 8:41 PM EST
Brady
Getty Images
If the aftermath of Patriots coach Bill Belichick?s remarks to the media on Thursday, during which Belichick shifted the focus to quarterback Tom Brady, some speculated that Brady would follow Belichick?s press conference by taking the blame for knowing that someone was letting air out of footballs. Brady didn?t say that. He claimed he knew nothing about the balls being deflated.

Appearing on ESPN?s NFL Live in the aftermath of Brady?s press conference, former NFL quarterback Mark Brunell made his opinions clear.

?I did not believe what Tom had to say,? Brunell said. ?Those balls were deflated. Somebody had to do it. And I don?t believe there?s an equipment manager in the NFL that would on his own initiative deflate a ball without his starting quarterback?s approval. I just didn?t believe what Tom Brady had to say.?

Brunell explained that starting quarterbacks (and he started 151 games in the NFL) routinely check the balls to ensure that the balls have the right feel, from an inflation standpoint.

?That football is our livelihood,? Brunell said. ?If you don?t feel good about throwing that ball, your success can suffer from that.?

Appearing in the same segment, former NFL running back Jerome Bettis and former NFL safety Brian Dawkins also expressed skepticism about Brady?s explanation.

Brunell?s remarks mesh with the common-sense explanation from Hall of Fame coach John Madden that the blame rests with the quarterback, who wants the balls a certain way and gets what he wants, and nothing else.

?When I pick those footballs out, at that point, to me, they?re perfect,? Brady said Thursday. ?I don?t want anyone touching the balls after that, I don?t want anyone rubbing them, putting any air in, taking any air out, to me those balls are perfect and that?s what I expect when I?m on the field.?

But that?s not what Brady got. So either the measurements were inaccurate or the air spontaneously left the balls or someone let the air out of the balls without regarding to Brady?s belief that the balls already were ?perfect.?"

 

A popular theory on radio (ESPN, Limbaugh, local, etc) today is that NFL will wait until after super bowl to complete "investigation" as they don't want to have to punish the Patriots before it and face the increased scrutiny (why was Brady allowed to play and not suspended next game, etc etc, why didnt Patriots have to forfeit the Indy win etc etc).

The asterisks crowd (of which I am a part) certainly has one more asterisk to add to the Patriots reign of shame.