this years super bowl

[MikeO]

So now we have conflicting reports on this ... wow!  Meanwhile greenbay qb has admitted to cheating by over inflating on national tv and no investigation

I don't see how its conflicting at all. Can you provide a source saying he likes game balls over-inflated?

[Spider-Dan]

When did a "greenbay qb admit to cheating on national tv"?

I only know of a retired NYG QB claiming that another QB told him blahblah.

[MikeO]

http://espn.go.com/boston/story/_/id/12202450/nfl-says-new-england-patriots-had-inflated-footballs-afc-championship-game

ESPN reporting 11 of the 12 Patriots balls were under-inflated. This should cost the Pats a draft pick or two

[ArtieChokePhin]

http://espn.go.com/boston/story/_/id/12202450/nfl-says-new-england-patriots-had-inflated-footballs-afc-championship-game

ESPN reporting 11 of the 12 Patriots balls were under-inflated. This should cost the Pats a draft pick or two

Not surprised one bit. 

[Phishfan]

Part of it is that, as Dave said, whether NE wins or loses they will still be fellated by the media as demigods (based on achievements from a decade ago).  So if the media is going to slobber over Brady and Belichick no matter what, then at least an NE win makes the "the AFC East is the worst division in football" clowns shut up.

No it doesn't. They can easily be the champs but from the worst division  (not that I think it is). One team does not make up for the others that much.

[Tenshot13]

Serial cheaters. 

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/01/20/report-nfl-found-11-of-12-patriots-footballs-under-inflated/

[suck for luck]

Death, taxes, patriots cheating.

[CF DolFan]

My mother in law woke up one night and caught my wife who had snuck out to be with me. She thought it was the first time we had done it when in reality we had done it so many times I couldn't even begin to count. For this reason and other similar examples ... I never believe most people get caught the first time they do something wrong and it would be pretty hard to convince this was the case here.

The biggest thing in all of this is how it affects the perception of the game. Many casual fans will see this as the NFL lacking integrity. The popularity of basketball dropped after the ref was caught betting and this won't help the NFL who is trying hard to revive its image after all of the negative press in regards to concussions, brain damage, bullying and wife abusers. For this reason they need to hand down a severe punishment IMO.

[Pappy13]

I heard on the Ticket (sports radio in Dallas) that New England is considering firing the equipment manager....because the 12th ball was found to be regulation. 

I'm hearing a lot of talk about whether or not this would have given New England an unfair advantage in the game and this much is certain, at the very least Tomfoolery and Belicheat thought it gave them an unfair advantage or else the balls would have been regulation. If they thought it did then it did.

Also I'm hearing that it wouldn't have changed the outcome of the game since it was so lopsided and perhaps that is true and New England would have won the game regardless, but even if the score would have been 35-7 instead that's unacceptable and as has been mentioned, if they did it in the AFC championship game who's to say they haven't been doing it all year and just now got caught.

In my opinion this is another shining example of Belicheat thumbing his nose at the NFL. A fine or a draft choice isn't going to make him stop. You know what will make him stop? A 1 year suspension. That will make him stop at least for a year. And if he's caught cheating again when he comes back it should be a lifetime ban. If they can suspend Sean Payton a year for bounties after he'd been warned, they can suspend Belicheat for cheating after he'd been punished. Once can be forgiven as a mistake. Twice is a pattern. Time to send him and the rest of the NFL world a message. Cheating will not be tolerated.

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

[MikeO]

I'm hearing a lot of talk about whether or not this would have given New England an unfair advantage in the game and this much is certain, at the very least Tomfoolery and Belicheat thought it gave them an unfair advantage or else the balls would have been regulation, so at the very least they thought it gave them an unfair advantage and most likely did.

Also I'm hearing that it wouldn't have changed the outcome of the game since it was so lopsided and perhaps that is true and New England would have won the game regardless, but even if the score would have been 35-7 instead that's unacceptable and as has been mentioned, if they did it in the AFC championship game who's to say they haven't been doing it all year and just now got caught.

To me this is like the steroids debate in MLB. All the guys who get caught say taking steroids say it doesn't help you in any way.....well if it doesn't help you then why are you taking them?!

If deflating the football is no advantage and doesn't help or mean anything....then why are you doing it?

It's cheating at the end of the day and the NFL should punish them by taking away draft picks.

[Pappy13]

When I heard that Shula had referred to him as Belicheat, I thought that was kinda uncalled for, now I'm thinking that I should have known better than to question Don Shula's judge of character.

[Fau Teixeira]

When I heard that Shula had referred to him as Belicheat, I thought that was kinda uncalled for, now I'm thinking that I should have known better than to question Don Shula's judge of character.

seriously .. i thought he was just having a grumpy old man moment .. but apparently he was dead on balls accurate

[Phishfan]

Hoodie sure has gone quiet with all of his explanations on how this wasn't intentional and how the refs surely would have been the ones to notice. Two pounds of pressure (each) in 11 balls was no accident and wasn't caused by a spiked football.

[Brian Fein]

In my opinion this is another shining example of Belicheat thumbing his nose at the NFL. A fine or a draft choice isn't going to make him stop. You know what will make him stop? A 1 year suspension. That will make him stop at least for a year. And if he's caught cheating again when he comes back it should be a lifetime ban. If they can suspend Sean Payton a year for bounties after he'd been warned, they can suspend Belicheat for cheating after he'd been punished. Once can be forgiven as a mistake. Twice is a pattern. Time to send him and the rest of the NFL world a message. Cheating will not be tolerated.

I actually whole-heartedly agree with this...  Suspend him, starting now.  Make him miss the Super Bowl.

[CF DolFan]

This is part of a story from a Patriots beat writer from Comcast. I had never heard the story about Kraft and Belichick after spygate but it's pretty funny. I think Kraft is a top notch guy and if anything ... I fell bad that he keeps getting caught up in this kind of stuff.

http://www.csnne.com/new-england-patriots/curran-somebodys-going-down-deflategate

This is officially a big deal.

It doesn’t matter if every other team in the league screws with the PSI. It doesn’t matter if Bill Belichick didn’t even know the balls were manipulated (if they were). It doesn’t matter that they would have bludgeoned the Colts anyway.

The Patriots cannot comport themselves with a “do business as business is being done” mentality. They forfeited the right to that mentality in 2007 when they got pinched for filming defensive signals and the 72 miles of fire and sharp glass the team got dragged through as a result should have convinced them.

If it didn’t, in March of 2008 should have. That’s when Belichick and Robert Kraft had to stand up at the NFL Owner’s Meetings in West Palm Beach and apologize to the assembled owners, head coaches and general managers of the other 31 franchises for the Spygate scandal.

At those meetings, owners unanimously approved a policy proposed by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell titled "Integrity of the Game and Fair Competition." It required all owners, executives and head coaches to certify annually that they have complied with league rules and policies and have reported any violations they know.

Real big deal was made of it. It was Goodell’s baby. Goodell is Kraft’s boy, probably more so than Belichick.

Spygate caused the league embarrassment. It caused Kraft humiliation. In Gary Myers’ 2012 book called Coaching Confidential Kraft recounted this exchange

"How much did this help us on a scale of 1 to 100?" Kraft reportedly asked Belichick.

"One," Belichick replied.

"Then you're a real schmuck," Kraft said he told Belichick

Even if Belichick had no clue this was being done (if it was being done), it will be painted as a lack of institutional control. It will also be implausible because Bill could be on another floor and know within 20 seconds if somebody misses a trash can with an apple core in that place.