There are reports that 11 of the 12 footballs used by the New England Patriots last Sunday were underinflated.\u00a0\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Tom Brady tried to laugh this away.\u00a0 But there is a serious problem here.\u00a0 Now we learn that Baltimore complained to the NFL, in November, about the Patriots using under-inflated footballs.\u00a0 That puts this into a whole new stratosphere.\u00a0 The NFL was already in big trouble because of the mixed signals regarding Ray Rice.\u00a0 Now they look pathetically inept.\u00a0 The big issue here may not be whether or not the Patriots were taking the air out of the ball.\u00a0 The question is how could the NFL let this happen?\u00a0 If the Colts had complained in November, shouldn\u2019t the NFL have assigned someone to watch over the Patriot footballs during the game? \u00a0That seems really obvious.\u00a0 This is unbelievable.<\/p>\n
There is no good answer here.\u00a0 Eleven out of twelve footballs is not a coincidence.\u00a0 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\u2019t know if it is easier for Tom Brady to throw an underinflated football or not.\u00a0 The point is that why have a rule if you don\u2019t enforce it.\u00a0 Regardless of the outcome, this year\u2019s Superbowl has already been tainted.\u00a0 If the Patriots win, the NFL has a huge problem.<\/p>\n
Today, to make this worse, Coach Belichick tossed the ball to Tom Brady and walked away.\u00a0 He said that he had no knowledge of the under inflated balls until Monday morning and that he was shocked to hear the news.<\/p>\n
“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.”<\/strong><\/p>\n I interpreted this press conference as an admission by Belichick that there is solid evidence that someone deliberately under inflated those footballs.\u00a0 He probably knows that if they pin this on him, he could literally be banned from the game for life.\u00a0 Last time he was fined $500,000.\u00a0 If that size fine wasn\u2019t enough, then what\u2019s next?\u00a0 This is as strong of a denial as one can get.\u00a0 Either Belichick is telling the truth, or he is history.\u00a0 Only Bill Clinton could get away with this type of bald faced lie. Belichick\u2019s statement looks and smells of desperation.<\/p>\n The fickle finger of fate is pointing directly at Tom Brady.\u00a0 To make it worse, former quarterbacks have been bragging about how they paid equipment managers to mess with their footballs.\u00a0 This is a reminder of how much things can change in the blink of an eye.\u00a0 Last Sunday, Tom Brady was being discussed as one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the game.\u00a0 Today he is holding a press conference in a desperate attempt to salvage his reputation.\u00a0 He is in serious risk of being suspended from playing in the Superbowl.\u00a0 He is also at risk of going from a unanimous first round Hall of Fame candidate to the football version of Barry Bonds.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n TDM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are reports that 11 of the 12 footballs used by the New England Patriots last Sunday were underinflated.\u00a0\u00a0 Normally this would be a non-story, but we are talking about the New England Patriots and they are, well, famous for … Continue reading