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2014-15 NFL season thread

I've been watching a lot of different commentators,QB's etc. over this new deflategate thing and have come to a conclusion.

I think it's much to do about nothing. Overblown so to speak.

If Bilicheck did know something all that tells me is he is just stupid. And I don't think he's stupid.

I think if anything it was probably Brady. Just like Madden said.
QB's are a particular lot and like the football to feel a certain way.

Does it give an advantage ? Maybe psychologically but not in a way that would allow a team to win over another.

Just a little thing. It seems the Ravens coach alerted the Colts coach about this a few weeks ago.

If this was done on purpose the perpetrator should be disciplined in some fashion. But in my opinion it should happen after the Super Bowl.
This type of thing does not help the reputation of a football program.

It happened to the Patriots so they have to deal with the fallout.
 
Great, football games are long enough already. Are we now going to have to wait for the ref to check the ball pressure before every play? Sheesh! :rolleyes: This whole thing is just silly in my opinion. Especially if we are talking about coaches on different teams tipping off other teams about things they can complain about. That's just ridiculous! It's like a bunch of grade school kids tattling to the teacher about something because they are upset at a peer. It certainly feels like that since the complaints appear to be coming after the fact. If one is truly worried about a rules violation then you report it to the league prior to the game or as soon as you are made aware of it. You don't wait until the game is over or pass it off to the next team who is playing. It just comes off like sour grapes from both Baltimore and Indy.
 
citizenzen said:
According to everything I've heard (avid listener of ESPN radio), a few pounds of pressure isn't all that big of a difference to those who've tried to feel the difference.

However, to the expert hands of a professional QB, it sounds as if it makes a difference to them. I'm also getting the impression that the difference might be psychological ... but at that level, any edge is seen as advantageous.
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fiddysent said:
that's not what I've been hearing. On NFL Live yesterday the ex-players tested different balls and they noticed a significant difference in the deflated balls
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Which should indicate, that a referee who holds the football time and time again, especially over the course of a season or career should know the difference if the ball has been over or under inflated. You would think they would pick up on it first. Could be wrong........
 
mscriv said:
Great, football games are long enough already. Are we now going to have to wait for the ref to check the ball pressure before every play? Sheesh! :rolleyes: This whole thing is just silly in my opinion. Especially if we are talking about coaches on different teams tipping off other teams about things they can complain about. That's just ridiculous! It's like a bunch of grade school kids tattling to the teacher about something because they are upset at a peer. It certainly feels like that since the complaints appear to be coming after the fact. If one is truly worried about a rules violation then you report it to the league prior to the game or as soon as you are made aware of it. You don't wait until the game is over or pass it off to the next team who is playing. It just comes off like sour grapes from both Baltimore and Indy.
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Officials were supposedly tipped off before the game started. They checked the balls before the game, and then found a discrepancy at halftime.
 
MacNut said:
Officials were supposedly tipped off before the game started. They checked the balls before the game, and then found a discrepancy at halftime.
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Thanks for that bit of information. Hmmm... so then was the discrepancy corrected at halftime? Were the Pats footballs at the correct pressure during the 2nd half? Did the Colts tip the officials before the game or was it the Ravens? What I'm saying is if the Ravens felt the Pats were violating a rule during their game then they should have immediately reported it to the league and let the league take appropriate actions for any remaining playoff games. All this back door whispering and tipping off of officials just seems immature and unprofessional. And, if it was discovered and not corrected for the remainder of the game then the officials and the NFL are culpable to an extent.

I'm not a Pats fan, but I do like and respect both their team and their coaches. This whole thing just seems overblown. Fine them according to the rules and move on. From what I understand there's no proof of intent and no solid evidence to state any of the coaching staff ordered this action or approved of it.
 
mscriv said:
Hmmm... so then was the discrepancy corrected at halftime? Were the Pats footballs at the correct pressure during the 2nd half? Did the Colts tip the officials before the game or was it the Ravens? What I'm saying is if the Ravens felt the Pats were violating a rule during their game then they should have immediately reported it to the league and let the league take appropriate actions for any remaining playoff games. All this back door whispering and tipping off of officials just seems immature and unprofessional.

I'm not a Pats fan, but I do like and respect both their team and their coaches. This whole thing just seems overblown. Fine them according to the rules and move on. From what I understand there's no proof of intent and no solid evidence to state any of the coaching staff ordered this action or approved of it.
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Before the start of the third quarter there was a delay when the officials were checking the footballs. They used the Patriots contingency balls for the second half.
 
fiddysent said:
that's not what I've been hearing. On NFL Live yesterday the ex-players tested different balls and they noticed a significant difference in the deflated balls
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The one difference possibly being that I heard radio broadcasters say they couldn't tell the difference ... not ex-players.
 
MacNut said:
Before the start of the third quarter there was a delay when the officials were checking the footballs. They used the Patriots contingency balls for the second half.
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Were the "contingency balls" also underinflated? Really, all of this hullabaloo is just over the 1st half? :eek:
 
rhett7660 said:
Which should indicate, that a referee who holds the football time and time again, especially over the course of a season or career should know the difference if the ball has been over or under inflated. You would think they would pick up on it first. Could be wrong........
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The zebras do not hold the ball the same way the players do. They could easily miss the pressure difference because they do not have to grip or squeeze it to make a catch or avoid fumbling.
 
Peace said:
All of this hullabaloo is over cheating not the first half of a football game.
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I guess I see it different. "Cheating" is an accusation that contains within it the belief that a team was seeking to gain an unfair advantage. If the unfair advantage was said to have occurred during the 1st half of the game, but was then corrected then there was no advantage during the second half. The score was 17-7 at the start of the 3rd quarter. If it's true that only "doctored footballs" were used in the first half than anyone claiming this affected the outcome of the game is crazy. Heck, the Pats played better with the correctly inflated balls putting up 28 points in the second half. :D

To me, this is an oversight or an error that is indeed a rules violation. Treat it as such, fine the team, ensure they have a plan of corrective action, monitor them more closely in the future and move on. To jump to the accusation of cheating is blowing this out of proportion. As I said before, as far as I know, there is no proof that the Pats were intentionally trying to gain a competitive advantage over the Colts. Nor is there any proof that this was ordered by a coach on the team.
 
mscriv said:
I guess I see it different. "Cheating" is an accusation that contains within it the belief that a team was seeking to gain an unfair advantage. If the unfair advantage was said to have occurred during the 1st half of the game, but was then corrected then there was no advantage during the second half. The score was 17-7 at the start of the 3rd quarter. If it's true that only "doctored footballs" were used in the first half than anyone claiming this affected the outcome of the game is crazy. Heck, the Pats played better with the correctly inflated balls putting up 28 points in the second half. :D

To me, this is an oversight or an error that is indeed a rules violation. Treat it as such, fine the team, ensure they have a plan of corrective action, monitor them more closely in the future and move on. To jump to the accusation of cheating is blowing this out of proportion. As I said before, as far as I know, there is no proof that the Pats were intentionally trying to gain a competitive advantage over the Colts. Nor is there any proof that this was ordered by a coach on the team.
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Were the balls deflated in an attempt to gain an edge. That is what the debate is. Not neglect in not having the balls inflated properly but tampering with the balls.
 
MacNut said:
Were the balls deflated in an attempt to gain an edge. That is what the debate is. Not neglect in not having the balls inflated properly but tampering with the balls.
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I get it and I think that accusation is mighty difficult to prove. For me, the far more likely truth is neglect or unintentional oversight. I would say the same regardless of the team accused.
 
mscriv said:
I get it and I think that accusation is mighty difficult to prove. For me, the far more likely truth is neglect or unintentional oversight. I would say the same regardless of the team accused.
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The officials inflate the balls to proper specs before the game. For them to lose 2 pounds of pressure by halftime seems more than neglect.
 
mscriv said:
I get it and I think that accusation is mighty difficult to prove. For me, the far more likely truth is neglect or unintentional oversight. I would say the same regardless of the team accused.
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So you think Jim Harbaugh is lying when he said he told the Colt's coach ?

2-3 or more weeks in a row ( minimum ) is not "oversight". It's intentional.
 
Sydde said:
The zebras do not hold the ball the same way the players do. They could easily miss the pressure difference because they do not have to grip or squeeze it to make a catch or avoid fumbling.
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Just holding the ball period would show a difference in weight. Shouldn't matter which way it was held.

But they obviously didn't because nothing was said during the game.
 
rhett7660 said:
Just holding the ball period would show a difference in weight. Shouldn't matter which way it was held.

But they obviously didn't because nothing was said during the game.
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This is supposedly when they took the under-inflated balls.
 
MacNut said:
The officials inflate the balls to proper specs before the game. For them to lose 2 pounds of pressure by halftime seems more than neglect.
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I hear what you are saying, but here's how I see it.

The NFL knows that QB's like to "personalize" the ball and that is why they give them access to the game balls and allow customization within the leeway of the rules. I'm sure all QB's in the game have their pregame routine which probably includes checking over and throwing some with the game balls. I have no doubt there's a team manager, ball boy, or whatever that assists with this process including either taking a little air out or putting a little air in per the QB's instruction. It is entirely plausible to me that Brady and his helpers could have missed the mark as specified for inflation levels in the rules. That's what I call an oversight or an instance of neglect. They failed to properly check their finished product with the standard given by the NFL. It's also entirely possible that Brady knew he was taking a bit more out than he should, but didn't think it was a big deal or didn't care. Again, neglect.

The accusation of cheating conjures up images of the Pats coaching staff sitting around a table intentionally hatching a plot to do whatever it takes to gain an unfair advantage. "Okay boys, how can we best defraud other teams and cheat our way to victory? I know, let's not inflate the footballs to the proper PSI, that will give us a definite advantage. Brady will have his highest QB rating ever and none of our WR's will drop a pass. It's brilliant... muh hoo ha, ha, ha!" That's just ridiculous.

So, which of these scenarios seems more likey for an NFL team?


Peace said:
So you think Jim Harbaugh is lying when he said he told the Colt's coach ?

2-3 or more weeks in a row ( minimum ) is not "oversight". It's intentional.
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To be honest and fair, I've not read any of the articles or "in depth analysis" on this issue. I've just seen the headlines on ESPN and read the comments here. Thus, I didn't know Harbough said he told the Colt's coach. If that's what he said then I have no doubt that's exactly what he did. What did I say to make you believe that I would think otherwise?

Someone earlier in the thread mentioned that a member of the Raven's coaching staff told someone in the Colts organization about it. Does that not seem odd to you? Not odd in that I doubt the truthfulnes of the statement, but odd in terms of questioning the decision making process. Why would you tell the Colts about your suspicions that the Pats are violating a rule? That's gossip or heresay. Tell the league directly. I'm sure there's a league process set up for reporting suspected rules violations. Report it and let the league follow up and investigate. That's their job. Telling anyone other than the league is just causing drama and seems in poor taste to me. As I mentioned before, it comes across like sour grapes.
 
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