My personal opinion with a few educated assumptions, posted in the friendly confines of .Net:
There are so many indications that the Patriots have been using a deflated football to gain an unfair advantage since 2007 that it goes way beyond the revealing of Tom Brady’s true character. Dishonest, spoiled, unaccountable. It goes beyond the insult from an organization that lays a straight-faced claim to having fairly earned their success. The Patriots have stained the last eight NFL seasons. A permanent stain? Probably not, but right now it is a disgrace and a dishonor to the fans and players that make this our greatest game.
Gaining an advantage on every single offensive play in the NFL for seven years would be akin to finding out that the NBA Laker’s great runs were a result of them always having a hoop that was 8% wider than their opponents. Or that the MLB’s great Yankees dynasties were a result of the opposing pitchers unknowingly throwing an 8% livelier baseball to Yankee hitters on
every single pitch. Why 8%? That’s the deflation percentage from 12.5psi to 11.5psi. The mediot on ESPN who likened Deflate Gate to “Phil Niekro scuffing a baseball” should resign out of respect to the human brain.
Brady’s average passer rating for his six years as a starter prior to 2007 was 88.4. For the seven seasons since, his average passer rating per season has been 101.9. According to this article his fumble rate also dropped considerably in 2007,
http://www.boston.com/sports/football/p ... story.html. The article also reveals some interesting stats of Patriot players fumble rates when they played for other teams. There’s too much to ignore, and we all know that Roger has already set the precedence that ignorance is not an excuse (note to Belichick).
Now we know that the initial complaint from the Colt’s organization indicates that it was widely known that the Patriots cheated. Did it continue for years because nobody wanted to be a tattle-tale or sound like they were making excuses after a loss? This might explain some of the disdain toward the Patriots from other team’s players that seemed to ascend the typical emotions of the game. Thank you Indianapolis for finally calling them out.
Of course there will be no more digging by the NFL, nothing good will come of it for anyone. But an objective look at the statistics, combined with the results of the investigation and of Tom Brady’s lies and lack of cooperation are very telling. As far as the pretense of contention from Robert Kraft toward NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the investigation itself, Kraft has no other choice. But he must surely know – they were caught cheating again. And cheating in a big way.
Should Brady get the Pete Rose treatment? I personally wouldn’t bat an eye of sympathy if he was banned for life. It’s not just the act of cheating, it’s his arrogant lack of cooperation and lack of accountability afterward. Think of Tom Brady shaking the hand of the opposing quarterback with that smirk of victory on his face knowing that he cheated them. What more about his character do you need to know? A fair punishment for a seven year pattern of cheating? One year suspension for the cheating and one year for the lack of cooperation and lying.
ukeface:
