NFL Playoffs

LOL, the Patriots could have been playing with beach balls and defeated the Colts. Did the Colts even show up? I'm not a football fan but found the whole "deflated gate" story ridiculous. I'm sure if the balls were somehow tampered with, the referees who handle the ball after each play would have noticed.

toMACsh said:

Ok Ashwin, what about this Inflate Gate thing?

the Patriots - outside of New England, the most unpopular NFL team... wonder why?

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As a Patriots fan this is just ridiculous, but then I've seen this with ANY team that has a blown out win MUST have cheated, there's no way that they could have done it without cheating. The Yankees when they were dominating and winning like 145 out of the 160 games per year had to deal with the same thing.

Additionally, if the deflated ball were SO much of a help in general, wouldn't you think that it would have helped the Colts as much as the Patriots?

chscag said:

LOL, the Patriots could have been playing with beach balls and defeated the Colts. Did the Colts even show up? I'm not a football fan but found the whole "deflated gate" story ridiculous. I'm sure if the balls were somehow tampered with, the referees who handle the ball after each play would have noticed.

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Spot on there, none from the sheer number of people; referees, ball boys and players, that touched the balls noticed that something was off. Luck is a quarterback and his JOB is to throw or hand the ball off and he didn't notice that he could somehow grip MORE of the ball or that his throw was somehow altered..

All very interesting to me. The biggest thing is that the person who broke the news came out of the Indianapolis press, not that this fact alone makes the whole thing moot, but it is interesting..

Of course, the NFL is doing itself a huge disservice by no immediately commenting on this story and ending the speculation. They were just balls (and from what I read, just 12), so take them, weigh them or whatever and indicate if they were as specified by the rules or non-regulation..

If the latter, then deal out whatever punishment and move on..

All of this has a very conspiracy theorist ring to it..

Now they are saying they test the balls and they were under inflated by a pound. My question is - why do they not take the balls each team brings and put them under the control of the referees who could check them and keep the teams away from them during the game? Is it too simple of a solution? And would a pound of pressure changed the fact the Colts (and I am a Colts fan) were very out matched? NO!

So on to the Super Bowl where I am rooting for the Seahawks to kick some serious booty and win over the Patriots. So there!

Lisa

My understanding is that the balls are checked before the game but could easily be tampered with during the dame. Andrew Luck wouldn't necessarily have noticed the pressure difference because when the Colts had the ball they were using balls they provided. In other words Colts use balls they provided and Patriots do likewise.

If that's true it's an absolutely stupid arrangement. The balls should be checked by the league and under their control throughout the game.

Under inflated balls are not the reason the Colts lost the game but if the allegations are true there should be a penalty for breaking the rules. Losing a few draft picks or paying a fine isn't going to get their attention. It hasn't in the past.

Lots of misunderstanding here, according to what has been reported on ESPN.

The Home Team is responsible for supplying all balls for a game, 12 for each side. The teams do not use balls from the same set. The 2 sets of 12 balls are released after inspection. If tampering occurs on the sideline, chances are it's on film somewhere. 11 of the 12 balls on the NE side were under inflated. That's not a coincidence, but how did it happen??

ESPN did an unscientific test with 3 balls, one to spec, one over and one under inflated. They were handed to a former NFL quarterback who threw each one to a former running back. They were then asked to identify the spec ball, etc. and they nailed it. Why didn't the refs notice? Good question. It was only when a Colts linebacker caught a Brady pass that the refs were alerted to the issue.

Nixon didn't have to cheat in order to win either. That's not the point. Cheating is cheating.

Anyone tuned in to the Tom Brady news conference on ESPN? This whole "Deflate Gate" thing is drawing all the news hounds like Vultures over a dead body. Pretty soon we'll have a special congressional hearing to find out what happened. Maybe the Colts need to figure out why they were outplayed and not what the PSI of each football was. ;D

I just read a story that said some players from the Ravens alerted Colts players that the Patriots were letting air out of their game balls. I wonder if the NFL's investigators will look into whether this was not just a one-time thing, but habitual. As a result of these things swirling around, the AFC Championship referees were said to be planning to check the pressure of the balls at halftime. However, I have not read or heard that they actually did so. I did see several Patriots players telling media types that they would not be able to tell if the ball was some 16% under-inflated. (not actually citing that number, which I picked up elsewhere) According to several other players, and the ESPN "analysts" mentioned above, such a claim is nonsense, at least for "skill" players who handle the ball frequently.

P.S. I've heard from co-workers that each team provides its own footballs for inspection. That is not what I heard on ESPN. Not surprisingly, the story isn't straight yet.