rodeo

Of course it was his decision, he's the person who it benefits. The thing we don't know though is when the deflating happened, as there's so far no actual evidence it happened on the sideline. If it happened before the initial inspection it's perfectly legal. If it happened after that, why can they not find any evidence or footage of someone deflating the balls on the sideline?

At this point from what I've seen, the most likely scenario is that the balls were improperly tested in the pre-game approval. Adam Schefter has reported that the league is having trouble finding any evidence of tampering, despite over 50 cameras in the area. Combined with a former Bears ball boy coming out and saying that most often the pregame inspection consisted of the refs holding the footballs and looking at the laces, without actually measuring anything, and that in all his time as a ball boy the refs didn't reject a single ball. I think what is gonna end up being the case is that the Patriots deflated the balls before the pre-game, in the same manner that the Packers overinflate theirs, and the refs failed to properly test them before approving them for use.

Sports Science today illustrated that 2psi deflation comes out to 1 millimeter of grip and makes the ball travel .003 seconds slower. Probably provides as much advantage as Marshawn's cheating gold cleats, so thankfully he'll be suspended for the Super Bowl.

If that's true then I misinterpreted what Simms is saying. If it's not true then I'm right. Either way, I win.

Apparently every NFL player and coach to have made a comment on the issue is a biased Patriots supporter.

Right. A video of Phil Simms talking about how the Packers overinflate footballs beyond the legal limit doesn't support any claim. Maybe I have a stroke every time I hear it and pick up different words than you. My sources for the process to check balls was an article by Peter King and a screenshot of the NFL rulebook posted in this thread. They inspect each ball for inflation 2 hours before the game, then give the balls to the sidelines at game time. http://mmqb.si.com/2013/12/06/peter-king-week-with-officiating-crew-part-three/

I didn't make up a fuging thing. It's right in the video I posted. Rodgers admitted the Packers cheat and overinflate balls.

A good sign that this is agenda driven. The guy who broke this story confirms a report that the Baltimore kickers were concerned about balls in the NE game. Except, Harbaugh says it's not true, all the balls were fine against Baltimore, and in fact the team doesn't even have access to the balls used by kickers. In other words, people are making poo up.

#investiGATE

tbh they need to just shut up until they release a full report. This trickling incomplete bits of info every 3 hours gets ESPN a lot more views but is not at all the proper way to investigate something.

It actually does. Everything went how it is meant to. It's the ref's responsibility to keep track of the balls and their pressure, they found the balls didn't meet specs so they replaced them. That's exactly what the rulebook says.

The teams don't get the balls until after they're deemed ready for play by the refs. The refs inspect the balls 2 hours before the game, approve them, then give them to the teams on the sideline. That's when the tampering takes place, then they're put into play by the refs, who again inspect the ball before it's fielded. That's when they've caught the Packers overinflating balls and had to let air out.

They weren't caught. There are examples of other teams actually being caught altering balls and it seems to be a regular weekly thing.

http://vid809.photobucket.com/albums/zz11/mascho030916/Football%20Central/ScreenCaptureProject295.mp4 The refs inflate the balls, give them to the Packers who then inflate them more, beyond the legal limit. Cheating. Then when the refs notice they let fix it and let the extra air out. It's literally the exact same situation except apparently the refs didn't notice (or did and didn't care) and played these underinflated balls from the Patriots.

Seems to me the reason they give the teams the balls is so they can be altered to their preference. Hence the Packers over inflating for Rodgers with no issues.

Yes, Rodgers admitted that the Packers overinflate balls beyond the allowed limit. That's cheating.

Reminder that the Packers have been caught overinflating balls.

They actually haven't been caught at all.

In what way is it at all like that?

I love this idea in this thread that any breaking of the rules = suspended. "Holding, #67 on the offense. 2 game suspension."

No, because it would be applying the rules to one team/coach and not the others who have come out and openly stated that they regularly break the rules and alter the balls. Do you suspend Mcarthy? Do you take Brad Johnson's Super Bowl away? Of course not. People want to punish the Patriots specifically for something numerous people admit that they do, because of their personal opinions on the Patriots.

It would be the most absurd thing in NFL history to suspend anyone for this lmao

It means they let them slide because it wasn't a big deal, like how they'll let the Packers overinflate balls.

Here's a video about how the Packers will add extra air to over-inflate footballs for Aaron Rogers, beyond the allowed limit. http://vid809.photobucket.com/albums/zz11/mascho030916/Football%20Central/ScreenCaptureProject295.mp4

So let's see if we can trace this timeline. The refs tested the balls 2 hours before the game and kept the balls in their possession until the start of the game. The balls then went to the Patriots sideline, where presumably some guy stood there in front of 100+ cameras emptying the air out of them without being spotted. Then the balls were given back to the refs, who used them in the field of play. A Colts equipment staff guy noticed a ball was deflated, even though it was the refs job to test them, and if they didn't meet specifications, to not use them. Now, 2 days later they've been tested and found to be low by the NFL. Were the Colts balls tested and found to not be low? This story is full of holes, they need to release more info.