There are reports that 11 of the 12 footballs used by the New England Patriots last Sunday were underinflated. Normally this would be a non-story, but we are talking about the New England Patriots and they are, well, famous for cheating in the past. Tom Brady tried to laugh this away. But there is a serious problem here. Now we learn that Baltimore complained to the NFL, in November, about the Patriots using under-inflated footballs. That puts this into a whole new stratosphere. The NFL was already in big trouble because of the mixed signals regarding Ray Rice. Now they look pathetically inept. The big issue here may not be whether or not the Patriots were taking the air out of the ball. The question is how could the NFL let this happen? If the Colts had complained in November, shouldn’t the NFL have assigned someone to watch over the Patriot footballs during the game? That seems really obvious. This is unbelievable.
There is no good answer here. Eleven out of twelve footballs is not a coincidence. It seems obvious that someone let the air out of the ball and it seems equally obvious that this was not the first time. I don’t know if it is easier for Tom Brady to throw an underinflated football or not. The point is that why have a rule if you don’t enforce it. Regardless of the outcome, this year’s Superbowl has already been tainted. If the Patriots win, the NFL has a huge problem.
Today, to make this worse, Coach Belichick tossed the ball to Tom Brady and walked away. He said that he had no knowledge of the under inflated balls until Monday morning and that he was shocked to hear the news.
“I would say I’ve learned a lot more about this process in the last three days than I knew or have talked about it in the last 40 years that I’ve coached in this league,” Belichick said. “I had no knowledge of the various steps involved in the game balls and process that went through.”
I interpreted this press conference as an admission by Belichick that there is solid evidence that someone deliberately under inflated those footballs. He probably knows that if they pin this on him, he could literally be banned from the game for life. Last time he was fined $500,000. If that size fine wasn’t enough, then what’s next? This is as strong of a denial as one can get. Either Belichick is telling the truth, or he is history. Only Bill Clinton could get away with this type of bald faced lie. Belichick’s statement looks and smells of desperation.
The fickle finger of fate is pointing directly at Tom Brady. To make it worse, former quarterbacks have been bragging about how they paid equipment managers to mess with their footballs. This is a reminder of how much things can change in the blink of an eye. Last Sunday, Tom Brady was being discussed as one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the game. Today he is holding a press conference in a desperate attempt to salvage his reputation. He is in serious risk of being suspended from playing in the Superbowl. He is also at risk of going from a unanimous first round Hall of Fame candidate to the football version of Barry Bonds. I sincerely hope Brady had nothing to do with this, but fear that is increasingly unlikely. One thing is sure; this Superbowl will be less about the football game and more about the football itself. It is also time to start speculating on who will be the next commissioner of the NFL.
TDM