The Assasination of Tom Brady by the Cowardly NFL

Ever since the public shellacking of the Indianapolis Colts, the Patriots have been accused of deliberately changing the air pressure of game footballs in said game. There was a long investigation that concluded in a 243-page long report published last week. The report depicts two game-day assistants as being active and fully aware of their transgressions. It also provides circumstantial evidence that Tom Brady was involved (the wording used in the report is "more probable than not").

As you can imagine, I'm not happy about the 4-game suspension given to Brady (the Patriots got docked two 2016 draft picks and got fined $1 million, although the money is the least concerning of the three). There are no precedents to work back from in handing out such a harsh suspension. There are a few cases that can be viewed as similar, although not the same.

The first one is from a Minnesota - Carolina game a few years back. It was discovered during the game that the teams were heating the balls during the game, using heaters on the sideline. No penalties were handed down; the teams were simply told not to do it again.

A second case involves the San Diego Chargers. Towels laced with Stickum, a banned substance, were found on the sideline. These were used to provide the receivers with better grip. The Chargers were fined a massive $25,000 and that was the end of it.

Based on these two ball-related infractions alone, the penalties given to New England seem unreasonably harsh and quite arbitrary. Bringing in statements from other QBs as well; Aaron Rodgers has publicly stated that he wants the balls overinflated and that he alwasys hopes the refs never check the actual pressure - this quickly becomes farcical. If one chooses to dissect the report even further, it becomes obvious that the NFL had little evidence to support the suspension, and that they have overrreacted to a minor infraction.

Today, May 14th, 2015, the Patriots came with their response. In a 20,000 word piece presumably written by their legal team, the club debunks many of the conclusions of the Wells Report and shows how much guesswork and wrongful inference based on a very haphazard collection of evidence the investigators have used to conclude that there was deliberate tampering. The report, with its lack of convincing presentation, got Brady suspended for 4 games.

I won't reiterate the Patriots defense here - if you care enough about the case to have an informed opinion you can read it yourself. However, at length, it shows how single messages, arbitrary conclusions and lack of routine is supposedly "evidence" of wrongdoing with intent. After reading the piece in full, I am (as a Patriots fan, admittedly biased) confident that Brady's suspension will be overturned.

One last piece of information: Brady stated that after a game in the fall of 2014 he wanted the footballs inflated at 12.6 psi, within the limits provided in rule 2. He has publicly said he likes game balls at the lower end of the legal spectrum, which 12.6 psi can be viewed as. Nowhere has he said he wants them below 12.5, and nowhere in the exchanges between the two team assistants is there any mention of deflating the balls to below 12.5. In fact, several times they talk about overinflating them. Brady, like most quarterbacks, have a preference for what footballs he likes to throw. And he likes them at 12.6 psi, rubbed and prepared as allowed by the league rules. If a locker room attendant were to let air out of the balls after the officials inspection, would it not be fair to assume that the amount of air to be let out had to be very specific? Would you be able to let air out of 12 footballs (there were actually 13 balls in the bag) to a specific psi within 1 minute and 40 seconds? Not likely. Although if you think you're up for it, I'd love to see video of such a feat.

Bottom line is, the Wells Report is shoddy investigation reaching for conclusions that appear to have been set before the investigation even started. The document would never hold up in a court of law. There are just too many instances of the investigators jumping to conclusions. The evidence does not support those conclusions. Free Tom Brady.