Deflategate

From what I know, and have been heard on talk radio around here, both the Pats and Colts give the NFL a dozen game balls (two dozen if the weather is bad) like 2.5 hours before the game starts and the league has control of them from there. If this is true, I'm not sure how exactly the Patriots could have cheated as it would have been the league's responsibility to oversee the game balls. If it's not true, then why the hell are EITHER team allowed to handle the game balls?
This just seems ridiculous to me and screams of sour grapes. (I am a Patriots fan though so I'm admittedly bias here)
What's next? The Pats beat Seattle in two weeks and we revoke the title because Brady didn't shake Richard Sherman's hand after the game?

 

I don't think you understand how this works.

The two teams don't play with the same balls. They have their own for offensive possessions.

 

Funny you should mention Nixon. Mel Renfro once said George Allen was the Richard Nixon of the NFL.

 

I know Patriots fans are sick of the cheating talk, schiez, but that is the price of what they did with Spygate and having the commissioner do everything in his power to sweep it under the rug as quickly as possible. Trust me. I get it. Seahawks fans didn't really stop whining about Super Bowl XL until their team won it all last year. Some of them still do it when given the opportunity. The difference being the Patriots really did get caught cheating in Spygate and the league did something shady in destroying the evidence so quickly without really explaining why it was done.

As SnarkShark explained, the Patriots use the balls they supply when on offense. A slightly deflated ball is easier to throw and catch, especially in cold, wet conditions. My understanding is the officials felt something was wrong with the ball. This doesn't come from the Colts. Perhaps we will find out differently in time, but assuming sour grapes sounds more like a fanboy thing to me. Your guys are going to take some heat on this one and even if they are innocent, the history under this coach simply makes that something you have to live with.

Do I think deflated balls made a difference against the Colts? No. I'm not even sure they are guilty this time and they blew that team out. Do I think Spygate was the reason they won those three Super Bowls? No. Do I dismiss that it played some role completely? Not really, but even if none of it changed the result of a game, it would still be cheating.

 

Don't the refs usually weigh the balls anyways before they go out on the field?

 

Some good information
Reports: D'Qwell Jackson's INT Triggered Deflated Ball Investigation

 

Because I have yet to see it addressed anywhere, am I to assume it is impossible for a ball to naturally lose deflation in the five hours between it is inspected and the end of a game? This kind of situation never comes up organically?

 

How do we know that The Colts equipment mgr did not deflate the Jackson ball ?
It's the Ryan Braun chain of custody argument.

Perhaps in bad weather The NFL should look to deflate the balls if it makes them easier to
throw and catch. It would seem to make for a better game.

 

I understand how it works. The media running with the story doesn't because when it broke, they all agreed it hurt Luck and the Indy passing game because Kravitz said the deflated balls would hurt Andrew Luck and the Indy passing attack, but by the afternoon the angle changed to the deflated balls would help Brady throw the ball.
So, which one is it? Because if the original story premise is bogus, anything that comes after it is probably BS too.
But facts, right?

 

First, I'm going to say that this is a crazy conspiracy theory, but I'm only adding this before the theory so people understand I'm saying this very tongue in cheek.
Isn't it equally as possible Jackson picked the ball off, gave it to a manager who deflated just enough to make the Patriots look bad, got it put back into play so the refs would notice and all this was done as a way to take the focus off the Colts getting their faces beat in?
Because that sounds just as likely as the Patriots finding a way to deflate 24 balls that have been in possession of NFL officials in the hour before game time.

 

This all presumes they have those little inflation needles handy to do the deflation.

I don't know about you folks, but whenever I need one of those needles, I can't find one.

 

Equipment managers have everything.