Maison Bleue

January 21st, 2015 at 11:01 AM ^

You know what would stop this from happening?

The NFL provides the balls used on the playing field.  Frankly, allowing teams to provide their own balls is just asking for something like this to happen.

Someone tell Mike McCarthy about this, he seems to have a habit of deflating balls at the end of the games. ZING!

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B-Nut-GoBlue

January 20th, 2015 at 11:38 PM ^

This is so silly.  Did people not see that pass to Edelman down the seam?  It was horrible.  And another underthrown one to Vereen( I think)?!  An underinflated ball did not help Tom Brady throw the ball or his receivers catch it.

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Space Coyote

January 21st, 2015 at 8:58 AM ^

I'm rooting for the Pats and I always root for Brady, but this argument doesn't make sense.

The lighter ball may have gotten caught in the wind more easily. It may have come off of Brady's hand in a way he wasn't used to. The throw may have been worse if the ball was properly inflated.

I was relatively skeptical of this report at first. Weather could have some effect on the ball (and luckily, air not being a perfect gas means that the temperature would have caused the ball to deflate even more), though probably not to the degree that is being reported.

Either way, it's often the high road to just say "Pats killed them, doesn't matter." But it may have mattered. It may have changed momentum. It may have put the Colts in a postiion where they had to do some things they otherwise wouldn't have needed to, both on offense and defense. It may have changed a play here or there that would have ended up with significant implications. The Pats very likely still would have won, but that's not really the point. This doesn't look very good. And the change in reaction here now compared to when Kiffin did the same thing at USC is a bit of a change...

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B-Nut-GoBlue

January 21st, 2015 at 11:24 PM ^

I get your and other's point, to an extent.  We just won't change each others opinions.

The balls had nothing to do with momentum and/or keeping Indy on the field longer, it didn't effect Tom Brady's play (good or bad), it didn't effect the receivers as they were going to catch/not catch the ball anyway.  Etc., etc..

It just didn't matter and I, again, think it's the topic/drama du semaine that people want to bicker about.  Fine them for being stupid and having ~10% underinflated balls.  But let's not make it out to be an impeachable-like offense.*

*Again my opinion.

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mGrowOld

January 20th, 2015 at 11:33 PM ^

This report, if proven to be true is not good and is sure to draw Belechick's ire.  He is going to go ape-shit nuts at somebody in the Pats organization and I wouldn't want to be the person responsible for the inflation of the footballs if this report is correct.  He's more than likely to be fired at the very least and may face even more severe consequences for his actions.

I mean how did he miss one?  That's what's going piss Bill off more than anything.  Why were there only 11 deflated and not all 12?

Can't leave anything to chance.

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Sports

January 20th, 2015 at 11:33 PM ^

If the league ends up punishing this, how would they do so? Could they force the Colts and Pats to play again? That seems extreme, but I really wouldn't know. Beyond wagging a finger and a bumbling statement from Goodell, what will the NFL's reaction be?

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Auerbach

January 20th, 2015 at 11:34 PM ^

If this provides an advantage then why did Luck have the worst game of his career when he also had the advantage of playing with the deflated balls?

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RJMAC

January 21st, 2015 at 12:39 AM ^

They probably had someone with a stop watch timing how long it took to stick a needle in the ball and deflate 2 lbs psi.out of it, to get them JUST RIGHT .Then, when they were given the game balls back after the refs inspected them, they could quickly and efficiently deflate the balls before the game started.

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mGrowOld

January 20th, 2015 at 11:42 PM ^

Cause his balls prolly werent underinflated.  Each team provides 12 balls and when you're on offense you use your balls and not your oponents balls.  So Brady had underinflated balls (allegedly) and Luck and fully inflated balls (allegedly) if the reports are true.

Now - are we talking about Gay porn here or football?  I've gotten a bit confused.

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name redacted

January 20th, 2015 at 11:34 PM ^

Third string high school QB here, so take this as gospel... But I always thought the under inflated balls were yes easier to catch, but harder to throw. Maybe it explains why Brady threw so many ducks?? Anyway, figured the catching advantage would be offset by the throwing disadvantage.

In the end, while I am sure it was on purpose, hard to understand the logic behind this one.



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aplatypus

January 21st, 2015 at 9:41 AM ^

they are inspected by the refs pre-game, held by an official ball keeper all game, checked before being put in before ever play. The referees are supposed to feel every ball before a play when setting it and toss it aside if it doesn't feel right. 

If it was thsi significant and could make that much of an impact why did that never happen? 

 

I'd also be really curious to see how many of the Colts's footballs were underinflated if the NFL checked those. 

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