Getty ImagesAs the #DeflateGate controversy continues to overtake Super Bowl XLIX, the first tangible evidence other than footballs being underinflated (which the NFL has acknowledged) emerged Monday, when Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reported that a Patriots employee took a bag of football that had been inspected and approved by officials into a separate area. That individual has become, per Glazer’s report, a “serious person of interest” as to the question of how the footballs came to be underinflated.
As PFT reported last night, adding to Glazer’s bombshell, the separate area was a bathroom in which the employee spent approximately 90 seconds. The red state/blue state nature of the debate has caused those predisposed to assuming the Patriots are guilty to say it’s enough time to deflate the footballs. Those predisposed to assuming that this is a league- and/or media-driven witch hunt say the only leaking came from the guys urinary tract (or perhaps elsewhere).
Obviously, the report from Glazer shows an opportunity for foul play existed. And Glazer’s report became the first clear indication since this issue first arose of a chance by someone to do something to the “perfect” footballs as hand-selected by quarterback Tom Brady to make them even more perfect.
A separate question has emerged regarding whether a team employee should have even been taking the footballs on his own to the field without supervision. One source said it’s normal; another source believes it’s entirely abnormal. Regardless, Glazer’s report puts a Patriots employee in a room with a locking door alone with the footballs for, based on PFT’s addition to that report, approximately 90 seconds.
So can 12 (or in this case 11) footballs be deflated in that amount of time? One league source with extensive knowledge and experience in the NFL believes that 90 seconds provides enough time to do it — especially if the type of bag allowed the valves to be accessed without individually removing them. (The bag in the photo, for example, has a large zipper that when open permits quick access to the balls.)
The source called it as “easy” thing to do. “Needle in each ball for a couple of seconds,” the source said.
Indeed, if this is something that had been going on for some period of time, the employee would have developed a certain expertise in this regard, allowing him to do it quickly — which in turn would allow for the plausible argument to be made that there was no deflation but merely urination.
Is it conclusive evidence of tampering? Not without a camera in the bathroom or an admission from the employee. But it also becomes difficult to declare innocence, given that the contents of the surveillance video as first reported by Glazer reveal an employee of the Patriots taking the footballs into a place where, in theory, something could have been done to them.
That’s the most important thing to remember from Monday’s report. Whether it was 90 seconds or longer, whether it was the Patriots who surrendered the video or the NFL who found it, Glazer’s report shows an opportunity for tampering that had not previously been disclosed.
12 can’t, but 11 can.
Of course, the equipment guy, who will soon be living in a 500k mansion, acted on his own accord.
No way.
90 seconds is plenty of time to swap bags. Who needs to deflate the balls in that amount of time if you already have a bag of deflated balls stowed away in the bathroom?
I’m sure the guy did it every week. he is probably pretty quick by now.
Did it all on his own, of course. Because that makes total sense.
No one told him to do anything. Blame the ball boy.
Why wouldn’t the employee take his leak before getting the balls so that he wouldn’t have to lug the footballs into the bathroom with him?
OK GENIUSES…What happens if they deflate too much air out????
How can you ever be perfect..not a shot.?
You think that Patriots would TRUST a locker room attendant???
How long does it take you to relieve yourself????…90 seconds???
More importantly..if you were required on NFL field for 2 hours, don’t you think last thing you would do was use the rest room?
Check previous weeks videos, if this happens regularly you’ve got your evidence. Case closed. If it doesn’t, well…more of the same.
Practice makes perfect.
He had to pee before being on the sideline for 3 hours.
Can a football deflated 2-2.5 PSI make any difference in the out cone of a game?
NO. Are people really this dumb?
Sill let’s throw science out the window. Many scientific experts and organizations have tested, and proven, that footballs will naturally loose air pressure, PSI, when moved from a warm environment to a cold wet environment. Test have shown an average loss of 1.8-psi with the simulated experiment.
Why as reported the only ball when checked to loose the “2-psi” was the ball in the hands of the colt’s equipment manager?
All the reports are conjecture, opinions, and not facts.
Science is factual, and without bias.
Embrace the Hate!
Or maybe he was actually using the bathroom for its intended purpose and the footballs got deflated elsewhere.
Also, why does “evidence” of tampering need to exist? It’s the Patriots’ responsibility to have the balls be within expected standards. The officials’ check before game time doesn’t absolve them of that.
If that is your job and you’ve done it a bunch of times before, plus with some expediency then yes, of course they can.
A decent air gauge has a release. You would literally just pop in the gauge and release the desired amount. Probably talking a few seconds / ball.
“Sources who indicate that it’s abnormal to carry around the balls and it’s easy to deflate them in 90 seconds” (a/k/a John Harbaugh and Jim Irsay)
“Sourcres who see nothing abnormal” (a/k/a everyone else in the league)
Also, doubt it was his first rodeo. This kid has been doing it for years and is probably a pro. Ben Jarvis Green Ellis owes his whole career to this kid.
90 seconds does not seem like a lot of time.
I’m just glad the attendant went to 7/11 for a big gulp instead of taco bell.
Maybe he just took a piss and we’re overanalyzing this?
@mljohns, “swap bags”? Yes and accurately forge the ref’s marking on the ball in the process of 90 seconds! [shakes head]
no way can you do that in 90 seconds, its enough time to pee.
It’s normal for every team in the NFL to bring the balls to the field unsupervised, EXCEPT the Patriots.
They are also the only team in the NFL where the ball boy is not allowed to take a piss on his way to the field.
#Patswitchhunt
Obviously.
“90 seconds is plenty of time to swap bags. Who needs to deflate the balls in that amount of time if you already have a bag of deflated balls stowed away in the bathroom?”
The officials mark the balls, but nice try.
The real question should, did he wash his hands? I think every time your touching a dozen balls hand washing is a necessity.
Why check the balls if you give them back to the team and someone can do whatever they want to them? Classic NFL. I would say there’s no way it’s possible to deflate 11 footballs in 90 seconds for the average joe.. but if he’s been practicing and doing it every week since Belichick’s been there he’s probably much more efficient than the average ball deflator.
Of course, it’s plenty of time.
Have you guys not filled up or deflated a football before?
It would take 2 or 3 seconds per ball, that’s it.
Are you serious? Guy went to take a piss. Unreal.
you can’t have another bag of balls stowed away, because the refs mark the balls with a unique mark as part of their ‘inspection” process.
What would be crazy is if he disappeared with the bags of balls for 5 minutes – that would have set off alarms. He probably learned to do his deflation job quickly and efficiently to escape notice – a hallmark of Belichick coaching. Get prepared for multiple suspensions, fines and loss of draft picks.
Another unconfirmed report that soon will be shown to be false. First it was the 11 balls 2 psi under to 1 ball 2 psi under. The problem with the NFL is the leaks and those foolish enough to report unsubstantiated facts. The NFL needs to find the “leak” and get rid of it and forget about this foolishness of under/over inflated footballs. Some qb’s want them over and some under, because this is the Patriots it becomes a cause celebre because of their 15 year run of success. Jealousy and envy run rampant in this league.
Guilty as charged!
I assume the Pats did something, but this isn’t it. Considering that the Pats were the ones who turned the tape over, they’re obviously trying to pin the blame on a low-wage employee who was an “overzealous staffer.”
The Pats gave the NFL the video last week and the attendant was one of the first interviewed.
Considering Kraft and BB knew about this right from the get go and gave the video to the league its unlikely they’d then go out and give the press conferences they gave.
Plus, if this was it then why would the NFL need another few weeks of investigating. Surely this would now be case closed.
This whole nonsense gets stupider by the day.
and who says this was a Patriots employee….if he had the Colts balls with him as well, wouldn’t that indicate he was an NFL employee?
Yes it can be done……because I’m sure he has plenty of practice!
Sounds like a job for Bill Nye the Bathroom guy.
90 seconds is plenty of time to swap bags. Who needs to deflate the balls in that amount of time if you already have a bag of deflated balls stowed away in the bathroom?
—————————————
You cannot swap them out because the officials put a mark on the ball with a colored marker.
“especially if the type of bag allowed the valves to be accessed without individually removing them. (The bag in the photo, for example, has a large zipper that when open permits quick access to the balls.)”
NAILED IT!
Because most bags don’t provide such easy access. I imagined the attendant would have had to traverse a maze of mirrors and locks and enter secret codes in order to get into the bag.
In policing this is called tunnel vision. Looking for evidence and theories that fit your own conclusion as opposed to looking at the evidence as it is and letting it guide you.
The guy went to the bathroom. If you hear hoofs think horses and not zebras. things are often just what they appear.
The person of interest has been identified as David Blaine.
All of the remaining Pats fans are out in force again today.
If it is a camera outside the bathroom, then there would be footage of someone bringing a bag of balls to the bathroom earlier, right? Or is there a secret tunnel? And did they forge the refs mark on the replacement balls, too?
or 90 seconds to take a leak because he is about to stand in the rain on a field in front of 80K people on live television for 1 1/2 hours (until halftime)?
I don’t know, but the secret passage theory and forgery seems more plausible because….Spygate.
Biggest witchhunt ever. I cant believe the media is still trying to make it look like the pats did this when its obvious nothing was done
Wouldn’t he also have to check all the balls to make sure they’re right feel/PSI?
This is seriously getting absurd now.
“Can a football deflated 2-2.5 PSI make any difference in the out cone of a game?
NO. Are people really this dumb?”
Maybe not. And that means Belichick is the idiot, because he clearly, clearly is up to something. The Pats keep cheating and people keep saying that they didn’t need to cheat. They video tape defensive signals and then say it didn’t help. They deflate balls and say it doesn’t matter. So then WHY DO IT??
11 of 12 Patriots footballs were deflated. 0 of 12 Colts footballs were deflated. Explain how.
Are we going to change the name to “deflate-piss-gate”?
Anyone remember, the Super Bowl is coming up? Sunday.
johnodocks,
if you remember the game was delayed 10 mins due to the overtime in Seattle-Green Bay. Maybe he suddenly found himself with an extra few minutes.
This is outrageous. Theres no way 90 seconds is enough time to take a leak and then adequately wash one’s hands.
This is getting pretty silly. Consider what we know for sure so far:
The NFL is investigating.
I don’t think we have any other official statements from the NFL, everything else is from anonymous sources.
Bob Kraft owes us all an apology. Except for Pat’s fans.
A guy waits around for the officials to give him the balls. He has one chance to take a leak before going out on the field (no taking a leak out there). He takes 90 seconds (allegedly) to enter a bathroom, take a leak, wash his hands, and leave. All of the above is logical. The wild accusations are all highly improbable. Only a biased observer goes with the improbable over the logical.
tvjules says:
Jan 27, 2015 9:27 AM
12 can’t, but 11 can.
Of course, the equipment guy, who will soon be living in a 500k mansion, acted on his own accord.ord.
—————————————————-
LOL, maybe near the dump you live in a mansion costs 500k. That’s a starter house here in NE. A ‘mansion’ is more like $5 Mil+
of course that’s because everyone wants to live here, wants to be us, wants to cheer for the PATS!!!!
GO PATS
EMBRACE THE HATE
this is just stupid. the kid had to go to the bathroom and now he is some mastermind criminal?
Looks like the Haters are now on to Zippergate.
Do you know what else can happen in 90 seconds in a bathroom? Urination.
If every scientists who has given more than a cursory glance at the physics of the ball inflation/deflation, and every scientist who has run an experiment, has indicated that the Patriots balls would deflate by the amount reported – why is there any burden of proof on the Patriots to prove that an NFL employee, not a Patriots employee, went to the bathroom to in fact urinate before a 3.5 hour football game.
This whole story is ridiculous and someone is going to take a hit for this failed sting and many hope it’s Goodell. Could any executive have a worse season than Roger?
Half the children in America were conceived in 15 seconds… Anything is possible
A lot can go on in a bathroom in 90 seconds.
Sincerely,
Bathroom Ben
Motive, opportunity and and admission by Brady he likes his football underinflated. Case is coming together.
Yeah but did he/she lock the door?
For those still claiming that weather is the cause of the balls being deflated…. So what, it was only cold on the Pats side of the field? You cannot explain why the balls submitted by the Colts and the ones provided by the league didn’t deflate. I cannot be weather related if the same thing didn’t happen to the other 24 balls that were used that day. So stop with that crap.
Been doing it for years.
Is Bill going to conduct another scientific experiment in the bathroom?
MlJohn’s,
If that was the case you’d also have it on video of a guy going into the bathroom earlier on with a bag of balls and coming out without them.
Unless, of course, you now suppose there’s a secret trap door in that bathroom, which will no doubt be the next leak from a source coming up soon….
Used to respect Kraft. Now he seems more interested in covering up facts than the truth
For everyone bashing the media. You have it all wrong. Goodell’s first big decision after taking over as commish was destroying the spy gate evidence. By doing that and not letting the public view it, rightly or wrongly, he created a belief that there was something worse in those tapes than has ever been admitted. And that has created a lingering doubt in the minds of most people. It was THAT decision combined with the success of Brady and Belichick that led to this. As to how 11 of 12 balls on one side and none on the other side came out of spec, any 1st semester statistics student can tell you that’s not random. Even if Brady didn’t know, does anyone really believe the attendant wasn’t a HUGE Patriots fan who knew how Brady liked his balls? What would most HUGE fans do given a chance to help out a hero?
This one is easy! Check the same camera for the previous home games.
Yes. I just did 15 in 90 seconds….
Can’t wait for the lawsuits to start flying over this smear campaign.
I think I have an idea of what Belichicks next fifth grade science experiment might be.
Fact – Patriot balls were deflated at some point after the refs checked them and the beginning of the game and Colts balls remained the same. Game was at Patriots facility where they knew cameras aren’t in a bathroom that locks from the inside!! Yes you can deflate 11 balls in 90 seconds…..and I would bet a good amount of money he did.
There is a tool that is used for soccer. When inflating the balls they are over inflated then the tool releases the air until it is at the point the gauge is set too by holding a button. Each soccer ball takes between 2-10 seconds to release air. This can be done.
So the evidence is that pressure dropped about 1 psi in the footballs (per Florio) after the balls were taken from room temperature to outdoor climate and the locker room attendant stopped in the bathroom for 90 seconds en route to the field? Even if you’re a Patriot hater… think about that for a second.
PV = nRT
This is the most nonsense thing I have ever heard. The guy carrying the balls went to take s leak before going to the field. If the NFL believes that he ran into the bathroom to tamper with the patriots game balls, they should be ashamed of themselves. This is the most nonsense accusation I have ever heard in my life. Good luck NFL
Tom Brady is the kind of guy that would walk thru the hallways of high school with his jock buddies and laugh at dudes like me #lancebradyexposed
NO
Is the locker room attendant also the ball attendant? The rules state the balls are to be delivered to the ball attendant just prior to the start of the game. (Not picked up by the attendant.)
Sounds like the officials should have been in control of the balls. Why are they releasing them to a locker room attendant?
It’s becoming fairly well documented that maintaining control and uniformity of the balls’ inflation has not been a league priority. It’s reported the officials sometimes inflated Aaron Rogers balls beyond the legal limit because they knew he liked them that way.
Investigation also needs to focus on the officials handling as well as the culture of lax control by said officials.
1. Was this a private restroom. Was there any witnesses?
2. To fully deflate a football it takes quite a bit of time. How many pounds short of regulation were they? And how long does it take to remove a couple pounds of pressure?
3. In the above scenario how many needles would it take to deflate that number of balls in time?
4. If he used an Inflate/Deflate needle.. those need some sort of lubrication to prevent damage to the airvalve. The most common lubricant is Saliva. Did he leave any DNA on the inflation valve?
5. Would he have done this of his own volition if not approved by the Quarterback?
6. Was there any other reason he would have taken them into the restroom? Such as they were his responsibility. And was not to let them out of sight. and he had to go?
I suppose it could be done, but it seems unlikely. He would have to enter the bathroom, turn and lock the door, set the balls down, take them out, then he would have to insert a needle, let out air, take out the needle, and then repeat for each ball. Then he has to put the balls back in, unlock the door, and exit. I suppose he could insert a needle into each ball through the bag but that seems rather difficult to do as far as moving the balls around inside the bag and making sure you reach each one. Hard to believe.
Also, if psi is so important to Brady, such a rushed and haphazard method does not seem like a way to get consistent pressure in the footballs.
You would also have to break and replace the seal the officials put on the bag.
I’m sure someone has already said this, but I’m laughing because Bob Kraft makes his “grand” speech demanding an apology from the NFL when he ALREADY knew who was going to be the eventual scapegoat. Kraft, Belichick, Brady, all big shot millionaires and they’re going to hang out to dry a lowly ball boy in order to cover all their asses. They have no conscience.
They have to find the smoking needle.
just pull video for every team for the same time period. Doesn’t matter what you think, only what you can prove.
For people saying “he could have swapped bags” the refs sign each ball they approve much like a red in boxing signs the taped goats if a boxer before his gloves go on. Try again.
11 balls 7 – 10 seconds each. Could be done especially if this was a habit, rumor is they had a lot of practice doing this.
CHALLENGE EXPECTED!!
Man up source, grab two duffle bags with 12 bas each. You have 90 secs and time starts now.
Never believe a man who says something is easy but his name appears as source. He may be a source of something but it isn’t truth, probably more like bullpucky.
I hate the Patriots as much as the next guy, and I think that is very possible to do it, but in all honesty, if that’s the smoking gun, us, the haters, have no argument and must apologize to TB and BB
As a gym teacher with extensive experience inflating various types of balls, I can say that with the proper equipment (an electric pump) 90 seconds would definitely give you enough time to slightly deflate 11 footballs.
“Needle in each ball for a couple of seconds”
This is what this is all about be it done legal or illegally, this whole fiasco is about seconds of air in or out of a f’n football.
SECONDS OF AIR.
It’s just not that big a deal.
I hope the NFL starts checking how much air is put into helmets. Pointless, yes but just as pointless as this.
hahaicansezbelicheat says:
Jan 27, 2015 9:35 AM
“90 seconds is plenty of time to swap bags. Who needs to deflate the balls in that amount of time if you already have a bag of deflated balls stowed away in the bathroom?”
The officials mark the balls, but nice try.
—————–
But what if the Patriots know what ref marked the balls and are familiar with his mark? Scenario: Ref is checking and weighing footballs….Attendant alerts someone outside the room of who is doing the marking and what mark is used (even sending a text with pic)…..tampered footballs in another room are marked and placed into the same type of bag….placed in bathroom….Attendant goes to that bathroom and swaps bags.
Standard disclaimer: I am not saying this happened, nor am I saying the Partiots are cheaters or did anything wrong. Just offering an explanation in response to “The officials mark the balls, but nice try.”
Taking the bag into the bathroom is all the proof you need to know they were tampered with.
Why?
Any normal person would leave the balls outside the bathroom if he had to use the bathroom. He is in a secure, controlled environment in that building. Leaving them in the hallway is fine. This is not in the middle of Grand Central.
If you tell me that he could not leave them in the hallway due to chain of custody concerns, and that the balls must be guarded at all times, then that type of intense scrutiny would involve having another person accompany the guy with the balls. Meaning, if it was that high level that balls could not be left in the hallway, then that same line of thinking would demand someone guard/protect the delivery.
You can’t have it both ways. Here, there is no additional layer of concern, just the one person. That is relaxed attitude. That same attitude would leave balls in the hallway.
They were not left in hallway – they were tampered with,
This is going to become the O.J. glove of this scandal. That’s why the Patriots (and the NFL?) were so keen to zero in on it. Once it’s demonstrated that it can’t be done, they’ll be off the hook in the minds of the public — omitting the very obvious question of whether it might have been done at some other point between inspection and kickoff.
You are forgetting that this guy has been doing this for *Tom Brady’s entire career. He is a professional ball deflater at this point. I am sure he is very efficient and has a solid plan of action.
The Patriots turns over a video of their employee taking a piss with the game balls. Demands apology from the NFL
“But it also becomes difficult to declare innocence, ” wow…so first we declare guilty then we find if they are innocent ?
“Can a football deflated 2-2.5 PSI make any difference in the out cone of a game?
NO. Are people really this dumb?”
The feel of the football is everything to a QB. There are rules and the Patriots skirted them. Score of the game is insignificant. Although due to the history of the Patriots….one might wonder how all of a sudden they went from looking li one of the worst teams in the league against the Chiefs to a juggernaut. Patriots lost all benefit of the doubt due to their past.
ygkr85 says:
Jan 27, 2015 9:31 AM
Check previous weeks videos, if this happens regularly you’ve got your evidence. Case closed.
———————————-
Seems simple enough to put this to bed.
chiadam,
“0 of 12 Colts footballs were deflated.”
Got some proof of that, chief?
Exactly. Aren’t ball boys employed by the league and not the franchise?
11 of 12 Patriots footballs were deflated. 0 of 12 Colts footballs were deflated. Explain how.
_____________________
The last report showed that only one of the Patriots’ balls was 2 PSI under inflated, not 12.
If the Colts inflated to 13.5 PSI (legal) and the Patriots to 12.5 (legal), then there’s your explanation right there. Both teams’ balls could have lost air, but only the Patriots’ would have gone below the limit.
The desperation people are showing to believe the Patriots are guilty of cheating is hilarious.
Needle with a tire deflator screwed into it. Will deflate an exact amount without any screwing around.
Look around. Rock crawlers use these all the time. Look up Coyote Enterprises tire valve deflator. Adjustable from 0-10psi (and there are many, many others).
This would be a breeze in 90 seconds.
How long has the employee been with the org?
So, your theory is that Brady wants the balls to his specifications but some guy can enter a room, meet Brady’s specifications for 11 balls, and then exit the room all within 90 seconds. That’s just absurd.
When I have to take a leak, the first thing I do is grab a couple of bags of footballs, then head to the bathroom.
That’s the only thing that seems weird about it. Why not go before hand? Doesn’t make sense.
All we know is 11 of 12 balls were deflated to approximately the same psi for the Pats but, not the Colts. Seems to fishy to believe this wasn’t a deliberate act.
In the Ted Lewis investigation, he is a “person of interest” and this kid is now the focus of the investigation. I want this law firm to investigate who left the floater in one of our office toilets.
This question of whether a bag of footballs can be deflated in 90 seconds reminds me of the single gunman question on the Kennedy assassination about whether 3 shots could be fired with quality marksmanship on a slowly moving target from the schoolbook depository.
And by the way, I do believe 11 footballs can be deflated in 90 seconds. Anyone with experience with a football, knows all you do is insert the needle and release the air. Then, pull out the needle and move to the next ball. And so on.
Also, how many people were in that other room? If ball boy rolls in there, and he’s got a couple accomplices who “know the drill” —- it’d be even easier to accomplish.
The Patriots have long established that they do not deserve any benefit of the doubt. It’s not just Spygate and the BURNED evidence and tapes. It’s so many other things — one of which is how they make half their roster “Questionable” on the Injury Report. They’re just a sleazy, scummy, do whatever it takes to win team — even if what it takes bends or breaks the rules.
If the ball boy has the opportunity to do the deflation:
1. Why would he deflate only 1 psi (as most of the balls are close to 1 psi as per PFT), why not 2 psi? 1 psi difference hardly provides any advantage.
2. Why only 11 balls? Why not all balls?
3. If he deflated by 1 psi, by the end of the half, all balls should be down by 2 psi because of the atmospheric conditions.
This one is easy! Check the same camera for the previous home games.
That is a GREAT idea!! However, for some reason I have a feeling those are destroyed!
Try this one more time, boxing ref signs taped fists. I need coffee.
The bags couldn’t be swapped. All of the balls are stamped by the referee with a special stamper when they are checked so they arent swapped. One theory busted.
The thing that’s ridiculous about this is how stupid the nfl is to create a system so to allow questioning like this. They gave the patriots ball boy the Colts balls too. I would’ve just over inflated their balls.
Maybe not, but an entire bag can be swapped with the one in the ceiling in much less time than that…
And FYI, no one ever said the Colts balls didn’t deflate. They only said that they weren’t below the limit.
Of course balls can be deflated in 90 seconds when you’ve had years of practice at it. Let’s face it; the Patriots just didn’t do thos for one game. The Ravens reported it in their game and told the Colts. That’s why the Colts had the balls taken.
The Patriots have been doing this for countless years. Their just now getting caught.
And for those saying why didn’t the Colts lose psi in a cooler temperature…. all the NFL leaks have said (which haven’t always been accurate) is that they didn’t fall out of regulation. If they started at the upper range around 13.5, they wouldn’t necessarily fall out of regulation.
Also, why does “evidence” of tampering need to exist? It’s the Patriots’ responsibility to have the balls be within expected standards. The officials’ check before game time doesn’t absolve them of that.
—
No, according to the rules it’s the refs job. With is why Rogers said he likes to “push the limits and over inflate them and SOMETIMES the refs catch it and let some air out”
mljohns says: Jan 27, 2015 9:28 AM
90 seconds is plenty of time to swap bags. Who needs to deflate the balls in that amount of time if you already have a bag of deflated balls stowed away in the bathroom?
————————————————————-
The balls are marked by the refs, so someone re-marked all the balls in 90 seconds? And took the chance that no ref or other non-team employee used that bathroon and saw the other set of balls waiting in there? And avoided detection on video bringing 12 deflated balls in there earlier to prepare for the swap?
I’m sick of both sides of this argument. Tired of the martyr complex from Patriot fans, but equally tired of the cheater and asterisk comments.
The Pats were responsible to have their equipment to specs. Not 3 hours before the game in the locker room, but on the field of play. If, as they’re so wont to point out, 5th grade science tells us they’ll shrink when cold, it should’ve been obvious and they were responsible to compensate accordingly, i.e. inflating them outdoors.
Likewise, those people who want them to vacate victories and be thrown out of the league or whatever sound equally ridiculous. I have no doubts other teams manipulate equipment (looking at you Peyton). So get off your high horses. They’ll get a slap on the wrist and be watched more closely and that’s about all it deserves.
So this guy has two big bags slung over his shoulder, in a small area he has to lay one bag down open the other, take out the balls one by one or rotate the balls in the bag so the all face valve up locate the valve then deflates each one to exactly 2 lbs below the limit, zips up the bag and walks out like nothing has happened. In 90 seconds a navy seal could not do this- this is what the NFL has? A guy going to pee before he has to be on the field for 2 hours? Trolls crawl back into you holes and get ready for major lawsuits and backtracking.
Who ordered the Code Red?
We all know that there is so much money on the line in the modern NFL that, now more than ever, every team in the league looks for even the slimmest of competitive advantages.
The sad point here is that, with the league bumbling its way through any and every controversy it faces this year, there’s less chance of willing suspension of disbelief than ever.
Sadder still, the Patriots have made their bed and they have to lie in it; if there hadn’t been nefarious doings in the past, we wouldn’t be doubting or defending the organization’s credibility now.
And a follow up comment. Reverse the process.. Fill a ball up outside in 40 degrees then take it into a warm 70 degree enviroment and let it warm up. the air would expand increasing the air pressure. Doing this you would be able to figure out what the orininal air pressure in the ball was and see if it matches. then you would know if they were “Deflated” naturally or had some assistance.
… or he just went in to take a wizz.
p.s.– QBs should be allowed to have the balls set to the way they like or is this a sport that is designed to reward big hands more than skill and courage?
pats1251
Whenever I see a statement about science that begins with ‘When EVERY scientist’, my BS flag immediately goes up.
In fact, no such thing has happened. Has ‘every’ scientist explained why the ‘physics’ of Boyles Law only applied to the balls the Patriots supplied (and not all of them either), and not to ANY of the balls the Colts supplied. Both were subjected to the same conditions.
You know what else explains footballs that deflate in the elements, when those that aren’t exposed to the elements or are overinflated by the Colts don’t deflate to the same level either?
PHYSICS
ialwayswantedtobeabanker says: Jan 27, 2015 9:51 AM
Also, how many people were in that other room? If ball boy rolls in there, and he’s got a couple accomplices who “know the drill” —- it’d be even easier to accomplish.
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If there was an accomplice already in the bathroom waiting, this would be very easy to prove on the video.
Someone has to make a movie out of this. What a comedy it would be!
If Brady is such a perfectionist as all the reporters was reporting when it was hit turn on the witches stake. Why would he have a ball attendant get his balls just right in the bathroom?
You cant make this stuff up. Someone better be taking notes and make a screen play out of this.
90 seconds just might be enough time to let some air out (I still call BS on this) but is it enough time to get the PSI exactly to Toms specs? We was all told this had to be Brady just a few days ago because QB’s what their balls just right not a PSI under or over..
Garbage.
ygkr85 says:
Jan 27, 2015 9:31 AM
Check previous weeks videos, if this happens regularly you’ve got your evidence. Case closed. If it doesn’t, well…more of the same.
>>>>>>>>>>>..
I don’t understand your point. My son is in elementary school. Every morning he gets dressed and packs his book bag and waits for his ride, which usually arrives between 7:05 and 7:10.
Like clockwork, at 7:03, he uses the bathroom to pee before his ride comes…sometimes he has his book bag in his hand and brings it into the powder room with him and sometimes he drops it at the door outside the powder room.
So, do you mean that each week, the Ball Boy pees before going onto the field with the balls or each week he deflates the balls?
Pats’ fans are classic!
First, they want us to believe scientific mumbo, jumbo about how the ball lost 2 psi, instead of the most realistic reason that someone let the air out of the footballs.
Now, it’s scientificly impossible for someone for to deflate 11 balls in 90 seconds. They conveniently choose to take easy answer…oh, he just took a leak. LOL
Pats’ fans are like biased parents protecting their guilty kid at school. Johnny, would never do that!
#UrinateGate
“Previously disclosed”? Nothing has been disclosed period, except for the 11 balls being under inflated. That is the only NFL confirmed report. Everything else is unconfirmed reports from unnamed sources.
“1 of 12 Patriots footballs were deflated. 0 of 12 Colts footballs were deflated. Explain how.”
They started with more air in the balls before they were brought outside. I don’t care what your ‘insider’ said, you would have to be a moron to think that someone could ‘expertly’ deflate 12 footballs in the 90 seconds between the time he entered the room and exited it. Minimum 2 seconds to walk in and 2 seconds to walk out, 2 seconds to get out your needle and 2 seconds to hide it again. You’re now down to 82 seconds. Each ball would take at least 5 seconds grasp and position the ball to access the valve, and another 3 to deflate. If you were PERFECT, it would take you not less than 104 seconds. More likely it would take you at least 5 minutes.
Could very easily have been done. There were only 12 balls. 90 seconds is about how long it would take to unzip a bag and stick a needle gauge in each ball for approximately two to three seconds each. That’s the time needed to release 2 lbs of air pressure.
The fact he did it so quickly only reinforces that he didn’t want to get caught and he had probably done it many times before so he had the system down.
Really? Attendant is going from the officials room all the way out to the field and there is a bathroom on the way.
He does the right thing, brings them in with him so they’re not unattended, and hits the head before the long three-hour-plus game. One leak. Not eleven leaks.
There are no $500,000 mansions in NE, that would be a normal 4 bedroom home.
So is this “Approximately 90 Seconds” going to be changed soon to “closer to 60 seconds”, much like the 11 balls 2psi underinflated going to “closer to 1psi”…
Hmm…
What if he had a second bag of balls in the bathroom already ready to go, and left the bag of balls the refs checked in the bathroom…..Vito Corleone style.
johnodocks says: Jan 27, 2015 9:31 AM
Why wouldn’t the employee take his leak before getting the balls so that he wouldn’t have to lug the footballs into the bathroom with him?
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OK Sherlock Holmes, let me tackle this one:
1. Maybe he didn’t have to go until after.
2. Maybe he was on his way to the can and the refs said “Hey, come pick up these balls”
3. Maybe the bathroom is on the way to the field.
4. Maybe the last thing all coaches and players do before going out to the field for 2 hours is to go to the bathroom.
5. Is this really what the NFL is going to use as “evidence”?
No,, and now it’s time to apologize to Brady, Belicheck, and the ball boy.
This is ridiculous.
A Raven expert?
A Colt expert?
A Jet expert?
Can we get an expert versed in urination duration as well?
The ball boy is about to go stand on the field for two hours before halftime arrives. Is draining the lizard out of the question? This investigation is absurd. Let the guy piss in peace
Has Tom Brady been asked if he ever had a conversation with the ball boy about his football likes and dislikes. Has Tom Brady been asked, if as reported done by other NFL QB’s, has he ever tipped the ball boy.
They gave the patriots ball boy the Colts balls too.
_________________________
This isn’t the Patriots’ ball boy, he’s an NFL employee.
Did anyone really think the sinister “other area of the stadium” would turn out to be anything other than a bathroom? The guy had to take a leak. Which do you think is more reasonable to do in 90 seconds, urinate or deflate a bag full of footballs? This witch hunt has run its course. Enough already!
“Has ‘every’ scientist explained why the ‘physics’ of Boyles Law only applied to the balls the Patriots supplied (and not all of them either), and not to ANY of the balls the Colts supplied.”
Easy. You’re basing your question off of false information. AT NO POINT was it established that the Colt’s footballs wouldn’t be susceptible to the laws of physics. (In fact, it would odd if they didn’t.) Like most everyone in this society of inbred morons, you’re basing your entire pool of knowledge on this topic from unconfirmed twitter rumors.
The fact is, the Colt’s footballs would almost certainly also have been affected by the temperature. They most likely either started off high or–knowing their equipment manager would try to “rat out” the Patriots–even intentionally over-inflated to start off with.
We now need a video from somebody that shows you can take 12 balls out one by one, deflate them, and put 12 balls back in the bag in less than 90 seconds.
Then we’d have 2 plausible reasons for deflated balls. Either of which is believable. Can’t completely exonerate the pats, but can’t implicate them either.
pinkmist4… teams are under no obligation to continuously check the psi and keep them within regulation. They get approved by the refs before the game and they’re good. Nobody can tell a difference in 1 psi and a federal case was never made about a tiny bit of pressure before 9 days ago.
I hope this ball boy goes Henry Hill and brings down the whole organization
hoosiercolts says:
Jan 27, 2015 9:44 AM
For those still claiming that weather is the cause of the balls being deflated…. So what, it was only cold on the Pats side of the field? You cannot explain why the balls submitted by the Colts and the ones provided by the league didn’t deflate. I cannot be weather related if the same thing didn’t happen to the other 24 balls that were used that day. So stop with that crap.
—
Are you stupid??
What if the Colts balls are inflated to 13.5 and because of the weather they went down to 12.5. STILL LEGAL!
The Patriots balls are at 12.5 the legal min to start. Then lost pressure do to the weather and fell below the legal limit. Why is this so hard to grasp?
ialwayswantedtobeabanker says: Jan 27, 2015 9:51 AM
Also, how many people were in that other room? If ball boy rolls in there, and he’s got a couple accomplices who “know the drill” —- it’d be even easier to accomplish.
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carloswlassiter says: Jan 27, 2015 9:57 AM
If there was an accomplice already in the bathroom waiting, this would be very easy to prove on the video.
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But what if there’s a hidden panel where a number of accomplices could sneak into the bathroom?!? The conspiracy deepens!!! Get your tin foil hats and let’s go down the rabbit hole!!!
They must be guilty because in the absence of substantial proof people who dislike the team think they are guilty which is apparently good enough.
This is starting to get downright ludicrous.
They should just stop the investigation until next Nov & Dec. Have league check every outdoor cold game . If they see deflation in other games, Pats are innocent if no changes occur some sort of tampering happened.
either way, let’s move on!
Let me get this straight…
The ball boy carries the bag from a warm environment (while inflated to 12.5 PSI and approved by refs) and on the way to the field he stops in the bathroom. I’m sure the bathroom was not 51 degrees, we’re still inside the stadium which is still a warm environment.
He deflates, by letting out 2lbs taking it to 10.5 PSI within 90 seconds (uh huh).
Then he takes them to the field in 51 degrees, wet, and damp weather where they spend the entire 1st half. Then when tested they’re still just 2lbs under (10.5)? But science says it should have been even less (8.5 or 9.0). But it wasn’t that low.
For the footballs to have been only 2lbs less he would have had to NOT have deflated them.
This has gone from ridiculous to utterly absurd. By the end of the week, the Deflategate truthers will be screeching for Brady’s birth certificate.
No way you would just stick a needle in the ball and randomly let air out. If QBs are as picky as they say, they would all need to be let out to the exact pressure Tom Brady likes. There is no way at all this could be done in 90 seconds when fumbling through a bag. Even if you were going to get it done in close to that amount of time, you need to hustle and there’s no reason for this guy to believe he’s on camera and needs to hurry. If there was anything to this video, possibly he already had the footballs in there and he just swapped them out, but then he’s on camera at some other point taking a bunch of footballs to the bathroom and later on taking a bunch out. It all seems pretty unlikely that this is where the problem occurred.
I have no idea whether or not this kid messed with the balls but i did a test of my own for the heck of it.
I inflated a regulation football to 12.5 psi. I used a standard Tachikara pressure gauge to deflate it to 11 psi.
Time to deflate the ball– about 3 seconds! And I only partially opened the valve because i was afraid of overdeflating the ball.
I’m sure that with practice somone could do it faster.
I think doing 11-12 balls in 90 seconds is possible.
How could Colts balls pass? 2 reasons
1) They were inflated to 13.5, very plausible as Colts were planning on this “sting”
2) Colts balls were checked after Patriots balls in locker room and had many more minutes to reach equilibrium with locker room air.
But unfortunately, we’re all left to speculate because the fools at the league office…
Oh yeah…here come the tinfoil hat’s.
Ah yes…the old balls in the bathroom trick.
mljohns says:Jan 27, 2015 9:28 AM
90 seconds is plenty of time to swap bags. Who needs to deflate the balls in that amount of time if you already have a bag of deflated balls stowed away in the bathroom?
——
Except for the minor problem of the Ref stamping the balls after they’ve been tested, which means any other balls in there, well, wouldn’t have the stamp…
In other news, #Deflategate has now move onto #PeeSIgate…
I’m sorry, but this has reached the absurd. I can see it now…
Investigator: Why did you take your balls into the bathroom?
Ballguy: Uh, so no one could do anything to them while I was in there.
I: What did you do in there?
B: Um… Used the bathroom.
I: Anything else?
B: Uh, what? What do you mean?
I: Did you do anything else in the bathroom? This is important!
B: FINE! Ok. Jeez. I didn’t wash my hands, alright? Sorry! God. Seriuosly? I know I should have, but I needed to get the balls out on the field so they could practice with them. My bad, ok? Besides, I’d taken a shower just a couple hours ago, so I figured I was probably still clean enough to not worry about it, you know?
Well the media has certainly ruined the Patriots image forever. Patriot fans obviously love their team as they should but everyone else thinks they cheat a little and their accomplishments are tainted.
For those who are saying 90 seconds is enough time to deflate 11 footballs you are either a Patriots trolls or lack common sense. Maybe if it’s a race and your just popping a needle in quickly to lose air, you can maybe hit 11 but to drop each ball precisely by 2 PSI in 90 seconds?
I don’t care how experience this ball boy is, you are not dropping a precise amount of air pressure in 11 footballs in 90 seconds before an AFC championship game.
Did the guy deflate the balls in only 90 seconds because he has years of practice or was he just taking a leak? I have no idea. Here’s an idea though: let’s look at the video from the week before against Baltimore. Did he bring the balls to the bathroom? If so, it starts to look suspicious. If not, case probably closed.
People keep bringing up this fumble study that Patriots did this does not watch football. How do you explain Stevan Ridley and all his drops over the last couple of years
Show me a bag with a big zipper like the “source” says and the “source” knows it can be done in 90 seconds
Wonder how he knows???
So, I guess SNL was right – life imitates art. You CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH….
If you understand the “locked down” process of who can handle the 12 balls that start out in spec, then it is easy to trace this down to the ball boy. The ball boy delivers all balls to the refs to specification, as they are checked by the Ref. At that point, the only person left to tamper is the ball boy or the ref.
Therefore, why was the Genius Bill Bellichek talking about doing research on the stitching, on how many PSI gets created when they rub the ball, etc? Bill didn’t have to spend too much time tracking down anything else than what did the ball boy do with the balls that started at 12.5 psi.
Answer: Bill is smart enough to know to give Patriot fans and the national media that fawns over them something else to think about. Bills kno9ws that Patriot fans and the Media are dumb enough to take the bait and look the other way. The only thing Bill didn’t explain in his press conference, was the one thing that it could be – ball boy tampering.
Of course you can’t deflate 11 balls in 90 seconds….BUT
Brady said he prepared 24 balls on Saturday. If you can only submit 12 gameballs, why did he prepare 24??
Is it because 12 of the 24 balls were at the illegal air pressure he really wanted and they were loaded into the ceiling tiles of the bathroom, where his lacky stops for a ‘piss break’, I mean ball switch-a-roo???
Patriots gave up the 90 second tape, lets see if they give up the 24 hours of tape at which some point the lacky is seen going into the bathroom with a bag of balls and leaving with nothing…or how about after the game when he has to retrieve the 12 balls out of the ceiling tiles…..
#TomShadyBrady is going down
@daviddarlak
So some of you think that the attendant brought a duplicate bag in the bathroom and knew how the referee signed the balls and copied it? Listen you yourselves would you? How about he took a leak? Occam’s Razor for me one time.
2001asterisk2003asterisk2004asterisk says:
Jan 27, 2015 9:33 AM
Also, doubt it was his first rodeo. This kid has been doing it for years and is probably a pro.
=================================
If he’s been Brady’s boy, he certainly isn’t a kid any longer – he would be over 30 anyways.
I’m sure one doesn’t aspire to be a “ball boy” and it’s a position that probably sees new personnel at least every few years; which means there should be more interviews to follow.
One also has to wonder how or why these folks have kept their “secrets” so well over the past 12 years. Even Matt Walsh couldn’t hold out and then lied about what he did and knew. In this day and age, somebody always sings – there are no well kept secrets.
The media rolled out “Bill Nye the science guy”
Does that make Jay Glazer “the bathroom boy”?
Of course someone would say it was possible. Major tinfoil hats.
Here’s what the attendant will say… had to go pee before going out on the field… didn’t want to leave the footballs in the hall. I think that is reasonable.
How can anyone say that is not reasonable when they are trying to claim something almost completely unreasonable.
Argue that the ball boy did it on the sideline maybe, I can understand that, but there’s not much chance anything will stick to this guy.
There’s literally no good reason to haul footballs into the bathroom with you.
90/12= 7.5 seconds per ball.
I’m not a scientist but I’m guessing that a pin only needs to be in a ball for 3-5 seconds to remove that amount of air. 2 pounds of pressure in an area that small (the ball) would go quick. If you say 5 seconds per ball with the pin in (which would be conservatively high) the balls could be deflated in 60 seconds leaving 30 seconds for that handling of the balls.
It’s possible.
ratsfoiledagain says:
Jan 27, 2015 9:51 AM
“…
All we know is 11 of 12 balls were deflated to approximately the same psi for the Pats but, not the Colts. Seems to fishy to believe this wasn’t a deliberate act….”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Actually, it has been reported that there was a RANGE of PSI readings…if Brady needs the balls to be exactly 12.5 (or 11.5 or 10.5), then how do you account for there being a range of PSI readings? Should the footballs not all lose air at the same rate? Could it be that the balls in the bag that were in contact with ground lost more air than those that were resting on top of other balls in the bag? Also, how do you account for the reported fact that the ball with the LOWEST PSI reading (2 PSI under the 12.5 minimum) was handled by the Colts’ Equipment Manager before it was handed over to the NFL officials.
One other question: If the balls are such that air does not simply leak out during the course of the game – which could see an average of 65 Offensive snaps per team, then why does each team need 12 balls available to put into play? Is 12 an arbitrary number or is it known that the average football in an NFL game is use for between 5 and 6 plays before it is replaced?
Question is can you swap two bags of balls in 90 seconds. This could have been done ahead of time if it was regular practice.
keltictim says:
Jan 27, 2015 9:59 AM
“Previously disclosed”? Nothing has been disclosed period, except for the 11 balls being under inflated. That is the only NFL confirmed report. Everything else is unconfirmed reports from unnamed sources.
=================================
The NFL leaked the ball boy story to Glazer after they were upset that Belichick took them on. Now Kraft is taking them on. We’ll see if Goodell has the balls to take on Kraft and leak another story. The NFL league office is off the rails. If the owners don’t clean up the league office (and that starts with Goodell), then they have nobody to blame but themselves. Goodall has taken on Kraft, Belichick, and Brady. With that last leak, he joins the ballboy in #Leakgate.
Comical to think the Patriots are trying to “cheat” the system by carefully deflating each football to Tom Brady’s exact standard in a 90 second window and people are actually buying it. Not only that, but this one attendant has “been doing this for years!”. Just to re-state what a few have already mentioned, to put this thing to bed, go back and check the Ravens game tape and see if he does the same exact thing in the same approximate amount of time…..I highly doubt it.
1. PATS: WIN
2. YOU: WHINE
3. REPEAT
For those of you that think it would be impossible to switch out the balls bag for bag… think again. Each crew has a one letter designation that they mark below the NFL logo once the ball has been checked. Scaratore crews uses a “L”. So if want to abuse the sysytem I just make sure the exact copy of the team ball bag on the side line with the underinflated balls are all marked with the usual L for that crew, drop the inspected bag next to the team doctored bag. No need to mess with the balls in the bathroom…
#Leakgate – (1) Kravetz, (2) Mortensen, (3) Glazer
I suppose Peter King is next.
Thank you Mike Florio for calling out the NFL.
Freeze your television just after D’Qwell Jackson steps off the field with his interception. Put it in slow motion and you can see that he pulls the old switch-eroo on the football as he hands it to the equipment manager. There was even an incident where I’m pretty sure Vontae Davis picked up an incomplete Brady pass and stuck it in his shirt while a teammate pulled another ball out from under his helmet and handed it to the ref. I’m guessing if we watched the tape very closely, we’d see 11 times where the Colts players switched the balls around. Hmmm….
So due to the zipper, you’re saying his ball bag was easy access?? The plot thickens……..!!!
When Belicheat said he was embarrassed with the amount of time he spent on learning about bladders, I thought he meant footballs not the ball boys.
mljohns says:
Jan 27, 2015 9:28 AM
90 seconds is plenty of time to swap bags. Who needs to deflate the balls in that amount of time if you already have a bag of deflated balls stowed away in the bathroom?
=====
Not possible. The balls are signed by the referee after inspection. The balls had to be deflated.
If you know you’re not being watched why even try to rush to deflate a bag of footballs in a bathroom?
bullcharger says:Jan 27, 2015 10:14 AM
Of course someone would say it was possible. Major tinfoil hats.
Here’s what the attendant will say… had to go pee before going out on the field… didn’t want to leave the footballs in the hall. I think that is reasonable.
How can anyone say that is not reasonable when they are trying to claim something almost completely unreasonable.
Argue that the ball boy did it on the sideline maybe, I can understand that, but there’s not much chance anything will stick to this guy.
—————
Also… what you guys are claiming is that the Patriots instructed an entry level employee to take the footballs that Tom Brady already tested, go into a bathroom with them, race to deflate them all at lighning speed (5 seconds to unzip, 7.2 seconds per ball, and 5 more seconds to zip up), for no real reason (why not 3 min, who would care) to gain an advantage in the game that was barely impactful given the fact the Patriots did better once the balls were inflated further.
That or the guy had to pee.
Occam’s razor people. The simplest answer is most likely to be true, at least until all the facts come out and a more complex case is supportable.
So it takes someone 90 seconds to switch out a bag of balls? Think about the questions before asking them
You do know that this guy is a relative of Houdini right? Yea, he’s the one that specializes in ballon tricks; so footballs was naturally right up his alley.
Let’s completely ignore the possibility that the guy had to take a leak or that the bag was the same as used in the picture above.. of course it must be because it’s now been proven so with yet another slanderous assumption.
Witch hunt onward!
Ask any ball boy of the other 32 teams, if you can find one that will talk.
The Ball Boys are singularly responsible for delivering the ball with a strict check in/check out process to the refs with 12 balls that fall within the exact PSI spec prior to the game.
Any of the ball boys will tell you, it is obvious, the ball boy is in trouble.
This is so simple if you know the NFL process, so why was Bill spending so much time and then explaining what happens to the PSI while they are rubbing them up? All of that is meaningless because the ball boy touches them last?
Answer: Bill is smart enough to know how to take advantage of dumb people. His point…if I can get you to believe that I can raise the PSI 1.5 psi, then the Patriot fans that are eager to believe them will make the connection for how the PSI could easily be lowered by 1.5 PSI.
Yes..Bill is a genius to take advantage off dumb people and the sycophant media that covers him.
If they have evidence that this person goes to the bathroom with the ball before every game, I’ll believe it. Until then, I’ll wait for the confirmation.
mistrezzrachael says:
Jan 27, 2015 9:31 AM
OK GENIUSES…What happens if they deflate too much air out????
How can you ever be perfect..not a shot.?
You think that Patriots would TRUST a locker room attendant???
How long does it take you to relieve yourself????…90 seconds???
More importantly..if you were required on NFL field for 2 hours, don’t you think last thing you would do was use the rest room?
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If this had been going for a while, that ball boy would know EXACTLY how long to deflate each ball. He probably practiced doing it all the time. He probably just missed one, or ran out of time in this case.
The more we learn, the more I actually believe Belicheck and disbelieve Tom Brady. I think it’s clear that the ball boys know he likes footballs under-inflated, and he absolutely knew that those balls were being altered before games.
11 of 12 Patriots footballs were deflated. 0 of 12 Colts footballs were deflated. Explain how
==============================
Simple. Considering the report (on this website) that states the Pats balls were closer to 1 psi below than 2, The Colts’ balls were inflated to 13.5 PSI, and the Pats balls were to 12.5 pregame.
Weather conditions reduced the Colts’ balls to 12.5 (within range) and the Pats’ balls to 11.5. The only ball below 2 psi was the one the Colts handled after the interception.
There have been no reports since the above stated article to contradict that scenario. We’re running out of possibilities now. It is most obviously the case and the NFL (and the media) will owe the Pats an apology.
The record was 58 seconds in Indianapolis last November….
There’s an easy way to solve this.. 90 seconds would indicate that he took a leak and washed his hands. Too long for a guy to just whiz.
So, ask him what color the soap was. If he doesn’t know he was deflating balls.
The refs, not the ball boy will take this fall.
The real question is … can you really take a piss in 90 seconds?
Grasping at straws still.
I would think you would need to remove the balls from the bag in order to keep it straight those you had deflated and those you hadn’t.
Smoking gun being a 90 second trip to the bathroom is weak at best. I’m just glad he didn’t whip out his phone and start to play Angry Birds (or whatever the kids are playing these days).
Will the next bit of analyzing of film concentrate on the positioning of his pants? His shirt? We must know if they were tampered with enough to sufficiently indicate it was a bathroom break of something more nefarious. Did he have a mustache? A goatee? Some sort of facial hair to indicate an evil twin?
I would pay $100 to anyone who can pee for let’s say 70 seconds straight as I’m taking into account washing hands and what not.
I don’t think you people realize just how long 90 seconds is.
Go ahead and count aloud and let me know if you think you could pee that long.
Let’s not forget that the Colts’ footballs suffered no such 2PSI deflation due to “atmospheric” conditions-not one of the twelve. It will be even harder for the Patriots to explain what took place if the Colts’ footballs actually maintained their pressure.
By the way one sure fire way to determine if the footballs were deflated is to weigh them. If the NFL weighed them before the game and weighted them after and they weighed less, the air was let out. Temperature does affect pressure but not mass. As my Physics class taught me–matter can be neither created nor destroyed.
As far as the time allocated to his hand washing, it’s not necessary. As James Caan said in Cinderella Liberty:
Marine: In the Marine Corps they teach us to wash our hands after we urinate.
James Caan: In the Navy they teach us not to piss on our hands.
BB knows all about the Navy.
I don’t think there is this “Other Bag” off pre-prepared balls with which to swap. The video camera would have then detected some other fella walking in there empty-handed, and out with the bag. Also, that puts another mouthy-mouth into the mix, and a ‘scandal’ of this proportion needs as few moving parts as possible.
Another thing that comes to mind, is that “if” Brady and this equipment guy have been an exclusive cheating tandem for years (since perhaps 2006), and this guy has gone undetected for years… Then why would the speed element need to be involved? At some point you’d confidently take your time more comfortably. Seems to me the 90-seconds to take a piss is more plausible, because there’s then no need to stay once you’re done.
Mythbusters!
Im sure Jay Glazer wouldn’t take cash from the Kraft family to report this lie….
Absolutely ridiculous the guy took a whiz. There is no rule saying you have to go directly to the field and if you had a video on every team you would probably find this happens more often than not.
As a Pats fan, gotta admit, it doesn’t sit right. The swap out makes sense except wouldn’t that show up on the video, assuming it’s recording all the time and there’s at least a few days worth?
Wow, how did those footballs every make in that -59 wind chill Cincy playoff game?
There must have been 6 PSI left in those balls. ha-ha!
do balls actually deflate when you take a piss?
I thought the leak already said the Patriots supplied the tape early in the process. You’re questioning that info, but not the rest of it? The whole thing could be wrong. If you are going to play the what if game at least treat the whole information supplied as either true or false.
Okay all you scientists defending the Pats. Since they re-inflated the balls to the proper psi at halftime, why didn’t the balls they use in the 2nd half lose the same amount of air?
I’m guessing they checked them after the game and they were fine so they launched an investigation.
Let’s not forget that the Colts’ footballs suffered no such 2PSI deflation due to “atmospheric” conditions-not one of the twelve. It will be even harder for the Patriots to explain what took place if the Colts’ footballs actually maintained their pressure.
—————–
Because each team prepares it’s balls differently
IMO, deflategate is as serious as Marshawn wearing the wrong colored cleats. Fine them and start talking about the matchup on Sunday. The longer this goes on, the more we’ll hear about it after the SB.
Is it conclusive evidence of tampering? Not without a camera in the bathroom or an admission from the employee. But it also becomes difficult to declare innocence.
——————
That’s the benefit of the any kind of legally structured process like this (two lawyers are conducting the investigation after all). Innocent until proven guilty. You don’t ever have to declare innocence.
@Spencer says:
Jan 27, 2015 10:14 AM
There’s literally no good reason to haul footballs into the bathroom with you.
———————————–
Unless the bathroom is directly between the locker/equipment areas and the field. Which apparently it is.
Listing to patriots insiders joke about the report yesterday half halfheartedly predicting the ballboy deflating blatters in the bathroom which is directly between the locker rooms and field may be closer to a reality than a joke. Well its still all a joke but…
If the Colts inflated to 13.5 PSI (legal) and the Patriots to 12.5 (legal), then there’s your explanation right there. Both teams’ balls could have lost air, but only the Patriots’ would have gone below the limit.
The desperation people are showing to believe the Patriots are guilty of cheating is a joke ..
Wait until the spy camera from the small hole in bathroom wall is found…
This all adds up…
Stick the needle in, count to two seconds – done.
That is why the pressure wasn’t exact on the 11 tampered balls. Normally the ball boys take the balls and deliver to the refs EXACTLY to ONE spec. That is why all the balls were slightly different.
Doubt there is time to deflate 11 balls in 90 secs. The ol’ switcheroo idea is intriguing though.
Here is a question Florio…
With the STRICT procedure of check in/check out access to the balls, ask any ball boy if spending 90 seconds in the bath room is allowed. It is not, exactly to remove any possibility of tampering.
90 seconds is certainly enough time to swap a bag with one you have hidden in the restroom ready to go. This should definitely be a two man job or the ref should take them to the field, or someone from the NFL not associated with either team.
If Nascar pits can take off and put four tires on a car in seconds, cant see why 90 seconds for one guy who i can tell had practice could do it no problem.
Just saying…
We don’t know if the Colts footballs were deflated, they could have deflated and still been above 12.5. No one has said what the starting pressure of each ball was (Patriots or Colts), without that information, everything else is just a guess or assumption. Please Google air pressure gauges, none of them are very accurate, in fact most are graduated in 1/2 psi increments. Accuracy is nonexistent. In fact the worst thing about this issue, is that can someone tell me if 12 balls came back at 12.4 or 12.3 psi, which is below the 12.5 psi level, would that be the same integrity issue? If not, why not? In fact, why have such a minimum range.
I’m with another poster, why take the bags into the bathroom in the first place unless your aware, no camera’s allowed. The one place you can get away with deflatagate.
IMHO this was going on forever and the guy had it down to 90 seconds from doing it so long.
IMHO I think Mr Brady had to know this was going on, orchestrated it and its been an on going thing for a long time, they just got caught is all.
As an employee he can be required to take a lie detector test which should have been done last week on all of these people. You refuse, your fired.
Well at a minimum, it sounds like he didn’t wash his hands. Gross!!
nite2al says: Jan 27, 2015 9:58 AM
Pats’ fans are classic!
First, they want us to believe scientific mumbo, jumbo about how the ball lost 2 psi, instead of the most realistic reason that someone let the air out of the footballs.
Now, it’s scientificly impossible for someone for to deflate 11 balls in 90 seconds. They conveniently choose to take easy answer…oh, he just took a leak. LOL
Pats’ fans are like biased parents protecting their guilty kid at school. Johnny, would never do that!
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Balls didnt lose 2psi there hoss. The “new leak” says it was only 1psi.
Hmmm sure seems like these early leaks are anti-pats while the recent ones are not. Maybe we should wait for ONE SINGLE FACT to come out.
mljohns says:Jan 27, 2015 9:28 AM
90 seconds is plenty of time to swap bags. Who needs to deflate the balls in that amount of time if you already have a bag of deflated balls stowed away in the bathroom?
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The balls are signed by the officials after inspection. Can’t be swapped.
If it was 90 seconds, the answer is either “Absolutely not” or “When you do it this much, you get good at it.” There really no middle ground, and I’m dubious of the latter.
But I don’t know. Has anyone corroborated the “closer to 1 psi” report yet? That will directly affect how much I believe the “90 second” report.
At this point, it’s pretty clear two directions this will go:
1. Evidence directly implicating the Patriots will not be found or destroyed. Pats fans will puff their chest up about the haters, Critics will still push the asterisk in every public debate.
2. Any actual “Rice elevator video” evidence will be leaked TMZ style to the public. Critics will puff their chests up with the power of “I told you so,” Pats fans will never believe it and call everyone else “haters.”
All your haters in here. I’ll bet none of you that want the patriots convicted are patriots fans. I’m glad you guys are not the judge and jury.
Supposedly, the PATRIOTS turned over the surveillance videotape of this employee over to the league. Why would the Patriots turn on their own employees? Because they know this was SABOTAGE and that they were FRAMED or it was a rogue ball boy acting on his own. I stand by my stance that the Baltimore Ravens were involved with this.
Let’s not forget that the Colts’ footballs suffered no such 2PSI deflation due to “atmospheric” conditions-not one of the twelve. It will be even harder for the Patriots to explain what took place if the Colts’ footballs actually maintained their pressure.
—————–
Because each team prepares it’s balls differently
________
No each team does not prepare balls differently. They hand them to the ball boy in the last step before giving to the refs. The ball boys inflate them to something between 12.5 and 13.5 and the refs certifies them.
Bill took you down a path of how the balls are prepared differently, only because he wanted you to look there, not at the only logical place tampering could have occurred.
Yes….with 2 needles — easily…
Because each team prepares it’s balls differently
___________________
If you’re referencing Belichick’s comment about the effects of ball rubbing–LOL. Let me tell you that that is nonsense. There would have to be some industrial type rubbing going on to generate enough heat from friction to actually raise the internal air temp of the balls.
If you mean they blew the balls up in a hotter room than the Colts’ it’s possible, but I doubt that would account for the two PSI difference–unless of course the Patriots injected steam into the footballs. I highly doubt this though.
Still my latter point stands, which is the weight won’t lie. If air was let out the balls will weigh less regardless of temp.
My gut tells me the NFL weighed them. The only thing they are trying to prove is who did it and on whose authority.
“Hope you had one hell of a piss, Arnold.”
This started with the regular season game at IND. What about the security cameras there?
Does a security attendant get away with this procedure in every away game?
What team supplies ball attendants to visiting teams?
Bill Belichick to hold a press conference at 12:13 PM to discuss the results of his independent study in which it took him exactly 90 seconds to pee.
I lost money on several Pats game since 2006 when the Pats were cheating so the win should be vacated. The NFL owes me money for that loss.
Signed,
Las Vegas
The Colt’s footballs did not deflate because they were never warmed up, obviously.
The footballs are out on the field for hours before the game, and it was 50 F out there.
The Patriot’s footballs had their temperature increase to around 75 F by mechanically adding energy to the system. Look up James Joule if you are confused.
Stagnant air retains heat very well, which is how hot air balloons stay up in the air so long. So even if the officials checked the balls in a 72 F room a half hour after the balls had been brought in the temperature of the footballs would still be pretty darn close to the temperature they were brought in at.
Therefore once they were then subjecting to not only cold air but cold rain for the entire first half about 2 hours the temperature in the Patriot’s footballs would then be near 50 F resulting in a pressure drop, where as the Colt balls also at 50 would have only had a 1-5 F drop.
The question at hand is did pressure in the Patriots balls get set to 12.5 psig (27.2 psia) after the equipment staff worked them over?
I gotta admit, this is hilarious. Keep the theories coming!
Did anyone check the toilet cams Brady had installed?
ygkr85 says:Jan 27, 2015 9:31 AM
Check previous weeks videos, if this happens regularly you’ve got your evidence. Case closed. If it doesn’t, well…more of the same.
————-
Lets assume for a second the Patriots did it. It’s a big ol’ devious plan.
If the attendant does it every single time it doesn’t matter… there’s no proof the balls were deflated in any other games, so that information couldn’t be used against them.
You only need to switch with a bag of already deflated balls. Takes less than 90 seconds, still have time to do your business too.
But, for sake of argument, HELLO, he could have deflated them ANYWHERE between the time he received them and the Pats first offensive possession.
That being said, the Pats have a culture of cheating that their blind fans and apologists like to spin into “hate”… yeah, we hate CHEATERS BRO.
Putting aside the conspiracy theories for a moment, you could make an argument either way.
But the NFL needs to show there was deliberate action. The Patriots don’t need to prove that they didn’t deflate them. There appears to be 3rd party studies that show it is plausible that natural forces could account for the balls being deflated.
The rebuttal is why didn’t the Colts balls deflate then.
And here lies the most critical facts. What were the exact measurements before the game and at halftime for all the footballs?
Speculating without these facts (and already conflicting reports) is useless.
And if each individual ball was not measured and documented before and after, then you really have a tough time proving anything unless there is clear video evidence or testimony.
When Brady and Bellichek enters the Stadium…I hope to hear non-stop Cheater, Cheater, Cheater.
Anybody who cares for the game is going to have to handle this, don’t wait for Goodell who is running scared of Vegas and has only an option of clearing Brady and Bellichek.
Papageorgio: There is no way it is possible. You haven’t thought of all the steps in 3-D and real time.
You would have to get balls into room, put down both bags and get hidden needle out of pocket: At least 10 seconds ( and even that is moving at rapid pace).
Each individual ball would need to be either taken out of bag or at least repositioned in the bag to make the needle accessible (if it was a mesh bag say). That would have to be a few seconds per ball. If it is a zipper bag you would have to unzip the bag and position each ball to make the spigot accessible. That would be even more time.
Each ball would then need to be precisely deflated to the desired level. There is ZERO room for error. If even one ball were done improperly it would cost even more time to refill to desired level.
Then Each ball may, depending on bag need to be reloaded into bag, and the bag would need to be rezipped.
He would need to walk out of room with balls back into hallway. All in 90 seconds.
Figuring conservatively 25 seconds to get into room, get out gauge, open/unzipperbag, pick up two bags again after done and walk out into hallway.
That leaves 65 seconds to deflate the 12 balls. That would be 5.4. seconds per ball. Including in that 5.4 seconds you would have to position ball so as to access the spigot (Im sure refs did not arrange them for you, remember this is happening in 3-D). You would have in 5.4 seconds to Place the needle in the spigot, penetrate the ball, remove the air with 100% precision, remove the needle, and then begin the cycle again 12 times in tandem????
Are you kidding me?? The mere thought is just stupid and near impossible.
ofcourse the far more likely explanation: he was just a ball boy and he wanted to take a whiz before the first half.
It is so implausible. If that is what you are hanging your position on I am sorry, but you don’t have much of a case. What are the odds you are right and this is possible? Very, very, small.
Spencer says: Jan 27, 2015 10:14 AM
There’s literally no good reason to haul footballs into the bathroom with you.
—-
He would be fired if anything happened to those balls. Of course he brought them in with him
MAKE THE MADNESS STOPPPPPPPPPP
90 seconds is not enough time to deflate them to a specified/precise PSI.
So some are saying it’s more likely he took out random amounts of air to a non-specified PSI rather than simply go to the bathroom before heading out to the game for 90 minutes- 2 hours for 1st half? Please. I guess one way to check that is to see if this detour always occurs, then maybe you have something. If it happens randomly a few times with no particular weather pattern, then he more likely went to bathroom for #1 for a leak (no pun intended) or very quick deuce.
Wow – this is what we are still talking about. Great job Roger. Perhaps listening to Mr. Tagliabue would be wise.
Kraft knew about this video before he came out so strongly. He does not do that if concerned about the video/detour to men’s room. If I were Goodell, I would be more worried about my future now as Kraft likely represents the view of other older owners (e.g., Rooney) who do not like the direction “The Enforcer” is taking the league. Profits, image, and competence are not mutually exclusive.
A report just came in from Jay Glazer. The ball boy has bad aim and will be fined for not cleaning up after.
Why aren’t the balls in Green Bay flat when they play late season games in temperatures far colder than any other team in the League?
#Defegate
I don’t see what the hub bub is about.
Of course I take my balls with me when I go into the bathroom.
Well, this appears to be the final nail in the coffin for the haters. Now time to investigate the league. If you allow 8 seconds to go each way from door to toilet, that leaves 74 seconds. then the kid would have 6 seconds deflate each ball just the right amount, then put it back in the bag and grab one he hadnt deflated already. IMPOSSIBLE.
A separate question has emerged regarding whether a team employee should have even been taking the footballs on his own to the field without supervision. One source said it’s normal; another source believes it’s entirely abnormal. Regardless, Glazer’s report puts a Patriots employee in a room with a locking door alone with the footballs for, based on PFT’s addition to that report, approximately 90 seconds.
————-
This is a good point. I heard Polian on Colin Cowherd’s show yesterday, and he said there would have been an NFL person watching at every step in the process because it was a championship game including in the officials room. I guess not. It’s too bad because that would have prevented this controversy. Once the balls are handed off for inspections why a team employee would ever be allows to touch them is beyond me. That process is flawed to start with. It’s like letting a team supply the coin to start the game.
If the balls deflate you must exonerate.
You have got to be kidding. The guy took a leak.
Mommy…Make it stop!!!
Bring in Vsauce! (if you don’t know Vsauce, then search him on Youtube)
Probably deflated 11, realized it was taking too long, panicked and left the extra one at legal PSI.
He also could of been using the bathroom as he was deflating them as comical as it sounds.
If he swapped a bag THAT WOULD BE ON CAMERA. Someone would have had to put the bag in the room and the camera would have caught it!!!!! Duh!
Plus the balls would have to have been left in a restroom, where presumably anyone could have walked right in and found a bag of 12 balls just lying there with a presumable forged mark from Walt Anderson on it, just lying there. That would be pretty stupid, for a team that many of you suppose is operating at a CIA level of covert skill. If one league official were to take a whiz, the jig would be up.
Oh and each ball has a unique mark from Ref!
90 Seconds. 90 Seconds people.
You want us to believe that Tom Brady, world class athlete and future Hall of Famer, is going to rely on a ball boy rushing into bathroom (which he knows is under surveillance) and FRANTICALLY reduce the PSI of 12 footballs to random untested unreliable pressures minutes before the biggest game of the year? Tom Brady. Control freak.
Really? Really.
Joe Vitt offered to take a lie detector test; just sayin’……
OMG PEOPLE. Nobody said the Colts footballs didn’t deflate; they said the Colts footballs were still inflated to the legal limit of 12.5 by the end of the game. So if the Colts balls were set at 13.5 psi and deflated by .05, they were still legal, BUT IT DOESN’T MEAN THEY DIDN’T LOSE AIR!!!
Q: did you unzip a zipper while you were in the bathroom?
A: why yes I did.
Q: ahha, then what did you do?
A: Ilet the air out.
Q: ahha! you admit you let the air out, is that correct?
A: yep, and I felt good doing it.
Judge…can we have a sidebar.
I got one. I want to know how many games this Ref called with the Pat’s. He marks the game ready footballs with an L showing he inspected them for the games he has called this season. Now what happens to the game footballs after the game. Do the Pat’s keep them. If they do then they can put them in a football bag and hide them in the restroom and after the Ref’s inspect them the ones they brought to the Ref’s. The football ball boy picks them up from the Ref’s and then goes to the restroom and switch them out with the other bag and stays in there long enough to make it look like he went use the restroom and then come out with the under inflated footballs that were marked by the Ref in a previous game. Just saying it could of happened like that.
audragon says:Jan 27, 2015 10:50 AM
The Colt’s footballs did not deflate because they were never warmed up, obviously.
The footballs are out on the field for hours before the game, and it was 50 F out there.
^^^^ Yea a scientist much smarter than you stated yesterday the air going in to the balls would have had to be 125 degrees to cause the 15 percent drop in the cold weather… nice try though.
I’ll keep saying it for those who insist this is impossible.
There is a tool called a tire deflator, used by 4WD rock crawlers. They are adjustable to deflate a precise psi, or can be purchased at a fixed 2 psi. You screw it into your needle and away you go.
BTW, they are little bigger than the needle so having it in a pocket for easy access is trivial. You simply insert the needle, pull out the ring and maybe 2 seconds later you have deflated exactly 2 psi.
You can buy them at any 4WD store…
who cares about deflation!
I’d be more worried about getting a MRSA Virus!!
If you’ve developed a specialized tool for it, it should be a piece of cake.
Was it 90 sec from when he opened the door to the bathroom and when the door opened to exit or 90 sec from when the door was closed and was it approximately 90 sec or maybe 65 or 70 sec. See how rediculous this reporting has become. When in our history did reporters decide that accuracy and fact checked sources were no longer necessary and that the internet can be their garbage dump for their own personal beliefs. Being a writer from years ago, I’m embarrassed to be associated with them.
I love the whole “the ball boy’s probably been doing this for years” and “doing it ever since Belichick’s been there.” How old is the ball boy? 35? Jeez Louise.
kvnhlstd says: Jan 27, 2015 11:06 AM
^^^^ Yea a scientist much smarter than you stated yesterday the air going in to the balls would have had to be 125 degrees to cause the 15 percent drop in the cold weather… nice try though.
You know the one about the spherical chicken in a vaccuum, this is why.
-2 is a 15% drop from 12.5, 12.5 is psig (gauge pressure) the ideal gas law is in psia (absolute pressure). Therefore you need to add back in atmospheric pressure to convert the two. Assuming 14.7 psia that takes it to a 27.2 psia. -2 is 7.35 percent drop in absolute pressure. Which would be about 90 F. Belichecks claim of 1.25 psi would be 4.5% drop which is 75 F. Which is why everyne doing the experiment going from 75F to 50F got a 1.2-1.5 drop in pressure.
Media bias plain and simple, read any article on the topic and you’ll see. Media has already convicted the Pats.
“…But it also becomes difficult to declare innocence, given that the contents of the surveillance video as first reported by Glazer reveal an employee of the Patriots taking the footballs into a place where, in theory, something could have been done to them…”
—————————————-
No. The presence of an opportunity to alter the footballs – which we all knew must have been there anyway – does not make it any more – or less – difficult to declare innocence. If the Pats are pleading innocent then this changes nothing because it still isn’t proof of anything.
There are countless opportunities to cheat or flaunt the rules. The presence of those opportunities does not change the innocence or guilt of the accused.
The spin of this story is still based ENTIRELY on circumstantial evidence and hearsay. It’s not good enough to say “it could have happened”, because just saying it doesn’t prove anything.
I’m indifferent to the outcome of this investigation, but it’s being overblown far beyond what it deserves – especially when NFL rules state that altering the football should be a $25k fine. Fine them and move on.
So the investigation has gone from “systemic cheating! Who ordered the code red???” to “some dude went to the bathroom before a football game”. wonder if the media will man up and apologize for the witch hunt.
So where is Troy “This will be wrapped up in 2-3 days” Vincent?
I’ve never been less excited for a SuperBowl. Let the Jameis Winston draft rumors and the Johnny Football’s comeback talks start in 3…2….1…
Here is whT I learned from this people in New England drive cars that have tire pressure readings on their dashboards and know cold weather effects the air pressure
People in New England live in homes that are apparently much more expensive than in buffalo
Basically I learned nothing
Keep hating and keep adding asterisks to the word
Championship
So Florio – then re-enact it! That should be easy for you, you are a leading reporter on NFL doings. Show us, how it is possible to get 12 balls deflated to exactly the same size, and then checked to confirm it in 90 seconds. If BB and TB were cheating, they would have done it perfectly, as they do almost everything else. The balls would have no variance. Please run this simulation would love to see the results.
“But it also becomes difficult to declare innocence, given that the contents of the surveillance video as first reported by Glazer reveal an employee of the Patriots taking the footballs into a place where, in theory, something could have been done to them.”
This is really brilliant analytical thinking, they can’t prove that nothing was done, even though no one can has proven wrong doing actually occurred…so that must mean they are guilty.
How can they possibly prove they did not do something before someone can prove that it actually happened? How can I prove that I did not rob a bank this morning if there is no evidence of a robbery occurring? Did I just rob a bank because I can’t prove that I did not?
And I thought spitballs were unsanitary.
Assuming something nefarious is happening, like the ball boy letting air out in the bathroom, you would probably also assume this isn’t the first time he’s done it.
Why would he only do 11 out of the 12? It’s not like he knew that the film would be later reviewed, or even if he thought it would, would he think that being in and out in 90 seconds is better than 98 (or whatever an incremental ball deflation would be).
Also, what were the pre-game and halftime measurements of the colts footballs? I’ve read that they were not below the limit, but I haven’t read any of the precise numbers. The ‘scientific’ argument would obviously affect theirs too, if they were measured inside…how much PSI did they drop?
90 seconds.
So said employee / ball boy / deep throat knew that he was on camera and went into the bathroom anyway knowing he had to be super humanly fast, and even then he is giving evidence of tampering.
Knowing the camera placements, was there nowhere else this super fast ball sucker might have chosen instead to do his dirty deeds without getting caught on camera?
I don’t know, something doesn’t smell right about this.
Piece of cake, when you do it every week.
[BUZZER] Thanks for playing. 90 seconds is not enough time.
BTW if you want to foster the argument that you can’t prove innocence so that people can presume guilt, you have to apply that same argument to other teams.
How desperate we are to assign guilt here? We want to believe the Patriots is the only team that has a lone employee carry balls to the field. We want to believe 90 seconds is PLENTY of time to release just the right amount of air from 11 footballs. (Sorry but as desperate as you were to believe as many balls as possible were compromised — 11 of 12 suited your purposes just fine — and as desperate as you were to believe up to 2 psi were let out of each of these 11 balls — it’s closer to 1 psi as it turns out — you would have put more pressure on the prosecution to establish this could all be achieved in a mere 90 seconds).
Sorry.
Somehow we managed to taint the SuperBowl, the NFL, and probably the game in our effort to taint the Patriots.
How much more evidence does Goodell need? The balls were either deflated quickly or the equipment manager had a bag of deflated balls waiting for him in the bathroom.
Disqualify the Patriots.
Good Morning America will follow Bill Nye into a New England area restroom on Wednesday to see whether he can deflate 2 psi from 11 footballs in 90 seconds.
A bladder can. Occam’s Razor.
Practice makes perfect.
I can take a dump AND deflate 11 balls in 90 seconds with still enough time to wash my hands.
Pats fans are desperate. Pats footballs were found to be deflated. Colts were not. You have a Pats employee entering the bathroom with the footballs. What more do you want? It takes all of 2 seconds to reduce a ball by 2PSI. I’m sure pats fans would rather believe bellichecks argument that “rubbing” the footballs raised the pressure. LOL
The bathroom stop provides the perfect opportunity/alibi to deflate the balls (or not). No video evidence so there can only be speculation, no actual proof one way or the other.
Genius, actually.
I don’t know…90 seconds is plenty of time for me to let out some gas.
So now we have established motive, means and opportunity. We have identified suspects (Belicheat and Brady) and we have expert testimony that puts the lie to the absurd idea that this happened “naturally.”
Verdict: Guilty.
Time to throw the book at Belicheat, Brady and Kraft. Give them the Death Penalty:
1-year suspensions for all 3. Loss of 2 1st round draft picks. $35 million in cap space rescinded this year and next. Lifetime ban for any further violations.
The haters that are trying to nail the patriots for something they didn’t do need to remember the story of the boy and the wolf . next time the media won’t come running !
Haha now some people have this kid like Darth Maul using both hands with stunning proficiency. Two needles working in perfect precision. Not likely? People he is a ball boy, not a master jedi.
It was really nice of Roger Goodell to throw this kid under the bus though so he could save face for another botched investigation.
“I’ll keep saying it for those who insist this is impossible.
There is a tool called a tire deflator, used by 4WD rock crawlers. They are adjustable to deflate a precise psi, or can be purchased at a fixed 2 psi. You screw it into your needle and away you go.
BTW, they are little bigger than the needle so having it in a pocket for easy access is trivial. You simply insert the needle, pull out the ring and maybe 2 seconds later you have deflated exactly 2 psi.
You can buy them at any 4WD store…”
—————–
I own one. But I still don’t think I can insert, release, grab and orient another football for insertion, insert, release X 11 in 90 seconds.
IF the issue is really important, and it’s not, but if it were, why wouldn’t the NFL instruct officials to check the ball on the field just prior to kickoff?
Because no one thought it was important.
I hope he washed his hands afterwards
audragon
your explanation is flawed because you are not accounting for changes in atmospheric pressure, relative humidity and specific heat. Add all those in and it would lead to even greater pressure drop.
The only thing worse than cheating is to continue to pound your chest about innocence when nobody will ever believe you.
Patriots fans are delusional. If the Patriots win the super bowl all their fans will be calling people haters. If the Patriots lose the super bowl everybody will say it’s because they were overly scrutinized and not allowed to cheat.
Either way, NFL fans (including myself) looks like idiots for being invested in something that’s starting to look more and more like the WWE than a professional sport.
Maybe, it doesn’t have anything to do with the ball boy or the bathroom…and this whole discussion is disinformation intended to divert attention from the true culprits (Baby Brady & Belicheat)
The Magic Bathroom!
It could happen in that time. If done with a gauge attached to the needle, you only have to look at the 1st ball. The rest can be done by inserting the needle based on time.
If the balls were inspected @ 12.5 psi, it would take 2-3 seconds to deflate each ball 2 psi. Add in 5 seconds per ball for handling and you get a maximum of 88 seconds to complete the deed or 8 seconds per ball. 8 x 11=88 sec.
Frankly, there must have been more time. So from the restroom, he went straight to the field?
The Pats fumble numbers (or lack thereof) are the most telling coincidental information on possible rule breaking from this whole dealio…still, just check the tapes of the last two years, if the Pats employed ball attendant makes regular stops to bathrooms or any room…book em Danno!
My first question: Is the equipment manager or ball boy under continued video surveillance except when he enters bathroom ? How quickly is he walking to get to the bathroom ? Does he hustle out of the bathroom and quickly gets to the field in an attempt to make up time ? Maybe Brady instructs the kid to deflate one ball,you know,the one that was intercepted and brought to the refs attention that was way off the legal inflation limits,THE BALL THAT STARTED THIS ENTIRE INVESTIGATION. I know ,the colts did it . At this point we know Kraft,and Belichick know there is no video of the footballs being deflated and they probably are confident the kid won’t talk . The entire bathroom 90 seconds deal could be a huge distraction. The league hasn’t been that worried about ball security, so there are plenty of possibilities .
“I need to go pee. Hey let me grab a bag full of 12 footballs first and drag that into the bathroom stall.”
Makes perfect sense to me.
Seriously!? He shouldn’t have brought the bags in with him when he had to use the can?
Well, I guess you are right, he should’ve just left them outside unwatched. True geniuses around here.
Just remember, your team is at home again and next year you’ll likely have to suffer through the same fate of losing all over – enjoy!
Its almost certainly NOT enough time to properly deflate 11 footballs under the given circumstances.
If you had 11 footballs laid out on a table in preparation for being deflated? Sure, you could probably do that in under 90 seconds. But this guy would have had to take the balls out of the bag (keeping them in the bag would make it impossible to know which ones were already deflated), deflate them, and then put them all back in the bag. Its just very unlikely you could do that without screwing up in 90 seconds.
Sounds like the league is really grasping at straws in an effort to not look like complete idiots.
Are for all of the stay at home scientists on here, yes cold weather can have an effect on air pressure in tires and footballs alike…but not in a three hour period. Over the course of a few days maybe coming from a warm environment then being left in the cold for several days. this was not the case. The messiah Tom Brady ordered this done! And why in the hell is HE choosing the balls to be played with by both teams. If you’ll lie, you’ll steal..it’s a proven fact! And we all know Tom and BB are not above telling a lie!
Guys: If the ballboy lets out 1 PSI of air from each 12.5 PSI ball when warm, the cold would put the ball an additional 1.1 PSI down. That’s without considering the rain, and the HeadSmart Labs experiment showed that cold and wet loses more pressure than just cold.
Feasibility concerns* aside, if the 2 PSI number is accurate, it’s possible that he did let some air out. If the 1 PSI number is more accurate, the ball boy couldn’t have let air out, because the balls would have measured about 2 PSI low.
*If you had a needle rig with a regulator, you could probably get the air out in under 90 seconds without worrying about under-inflation, but that doesn’t consider time to remove the balls, find the valves, and then put the balls back in. That’s all dependent on what kind of ball bag this was.
Occam’s Razor: The Pats gave the balls to the referees underinflated and the refs approved underinflated footballs.
It’s no big mystery. The NFL can’t admit its refs effed up, or that it was out to “sting” the Pats at the cost of the “integrity” of the AFC Championship. But, the rules clearly state, “The referee shall be the sole judge as to whether all balls offered for play comply with these specifications.” Simplest explanation for underinflated balls making it onto the field of play? Refs did not inspect them properly or purposefully cleared underinflated balls.
What’s the biggest NFL scandal? Its status as a non-profit.
kvnhlstd says:
Jan 27, 2015 11:06 AM
^^^^ Yea a scientist much smarter than you stated yesterday the air going in to the balls would have had to be 125 degrees to cause the 15 percent drop in the cold weather… nice try though.
—————————————–
First of all, the science battle has been all over the place…. with some saying its possible and others saying its not.
You seem to have missed one of the most important and under reported parts of the story though. In a PFT story over the weekend, a source was quoted as having said that the balls actually weren’t 2psi under inflated, but much closer to 1psi… which is 8%, not 15%. If that is the case, then the weather most certainly could have caused the drop.
This is the issue though with how the league has handled this. Virtually everything we know has come from anonymous leaks, and never been confirmed.
Glazer just wants his name up there .
Here’s the thing…the Colts accused them of deflating balls in the game in November, which was in Indy. That would mean it’s their locker room attendant taking the balls to the field for that game. I’m really thinking this is just nothing more than someone stopping to use the restroom. He was one of the first people they interviewed when the investigation took place. If they suspected him of actually doing anything we’d have probably heard from the league by now.
Prework
1) Purchase Staun Automatic Tire Deflators and adjust to desired PSI.
2) Attach needle to deflator.
3) test device to ensure consist PSI in football
4) practice to obtain speed
feasible, yes
Did it happen who knows.
“…This is the issue though with how the league has handled this. Virtually everything we know has come from anonymous leaks, and never been confirmed…”
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Exactly, which to me means the NFL is trying to demonize the Pats so that they can hand down a big penalty, rather than the $25k fine STATED IN THE RULES for altering a football outside of regulation.
“…Refs did not inspect them properly or purposefully cleared underinflated balls….”
——————————
Well, and here’s the thing – if the refs checked the balls, all speculation of if/when/whether/how much the balls deflated is useless unless the recorded the exact PSI of each football.
If Colts inflate to the high end of regulation and Pats to low end, the temperature could’ve made a difference. All we know is the Colts’ balls were within regulation when checked at halftime – but were they exactly the same as before the game?
If it’s true that the NFL was setting up a sting for the Pats, this is all laughably incompetent. We would’ve had proof already and it would be a done deal.
I think they found the “leak”
Belicheck probably had this guy practicing in undesirable conditions to perfect his craft.
Pretty obvious that if any of these balls were used for field goals, the person who deflated them would have been working surreptitiously for the other team.
Yea a scientist much smarter than you stated yesterday the air going in to the balls would have had to be 125 degrees to cause the 15 percent drop in the cold weather… nice try though.
===
Yeah. NDgT is probably smarter than me, but he made a dumb (but probably honest) mistake by plugging gauge pressure into gas laws. You have to use absolute pressure, and if you do, the balls only needed to be 95 F to get that kind of drop.
Ever since I read about this I have the strangest urges…..
Every time I gotta piss, I find myself looking for 2 bags full of footballs to take with me to the bathroom……
As far as if the attendant can deflate the balls in 90 seconds or not….. Of course he can…. Thats the amount of time it took him that day…….
This is something he does before every game…. As Brady told him this is what he wanted….
Forget the Patriots organization being embarrassing….the fans are even more embarrassing, how can you make excuses for this….to me the only thing to discus is how much of an advantage did they gain by deflating the balls, IMO not much so punish them for it and add a little extra because this is the second time they got caught trying to obtain an unfair advantage……please stop making ridiculous excuses every time another piece of evidence comes out that points to someone purposely deflating the balls.
This is beyond ludicrous. Why would he rush deflating the balls unless he knew about the camera? If he knew there was a camera there, he would have done it somewhere else. This would be so easy to do on the sidelines with a needle, the kind you insert to blow them up. The sophisticated gauges also have a way to let air out, for precision. All you would need to do is have a few guys stand around you, its done in seconds. This was not done in this bathroom. The fact that this narrative keeps being sold and hammered into the narrative is actually suspicious. >>>>look over here>>>>>. Wait, we will tell you later there’s no way to prove it happened in there, no punishment, no clear explanation. I cannot imagine a more embarrassing and laughable thing than this whole deflategate and how it has been handled.
I would suspend the franchise.
The entitlement attitude of Kraft’s staff will be suppressed. It’s worse than Switzer’s Cowboys ever were. They feel they have a license to exploit the rules.
The Belichick culture must end.
Seahawks better take notice because Coach Petey has his own demons with skeletons still hanging in closets.
Yes a bag of balls can be deflated in 90 seconds if your good at it. The balls were already deflated by the N.E. cheating staff whether it was in the bathroom or not, I can promise you that. There is reason this team is always in the news and its because they cheated the integrity of the game.
The ref’s marking on the ball vanishes because both teams are using, sweating on and weatherizing the marked football balls for 2.5 hours before the start of the game.
This guy probably has done this before, plenty of times….so he would be a pro at it. All he would need to drop 1 to 2 lbs of air pressure in each ball would be a needle and about 4 seconds, so yes, he would have enough time in 90 seconds. And who says he has to take the balls out the bag, he’s probably become adept to doing that while the balls are still in the bag. But that doesn’t have to be proven. What’s already been proven is that the balls on the New England side of the field were deflated below the specs, weather conditions had nothing to do with it since the Indy balls all managed to stay within spec during the same weather. IF anything, it’s encumbent upon New England to PROVE they didn’t do it, cause it certainly was done by the INDY locker room attendant.
Think we are splitting hair over the sophistication. 1. Stick needle in football. 2. Count: one-one thousand, two-one thousand. 3. Pull Needle out. 4. Hand football to Tom Big Baby Brady and ask how it feels. 5. Here’s the tricky part, if he likes it then you’re done, if he doesn’t GOTO step 1.
And there you have your ISO certified ball deflation process. Repeatable in any stadium bathroom.
Aside from all the obvious stuff, and the fact that it is sooo amusing, everyone is making a way too big of a deal about all this. Need to move on. Nothing to see here.
I can’t imagine there will ever be EVIDENCE. This is a huge waste of time. Speculation means nothing.
The employee had to take a piss before the start of the game to comfortably last the first half two hours.
He is a 78 year old gentleman suffering from age related incontinence.
No Mike, he would have had to have emptied the bag of balls out onto the bathroom floor. Otherwise, how would he have kept the balls he already had deflated separate from the ones he needed to deflate. It’s not as if the more deflated the ball is the better, so the attendant wouldn’t have to worry about deflating a ball twice. Deflating a football makes it easier to grip, but it also makes it more difficult to put a nice spiral on the ball that makes it easier to throw with accuracy and to catch. A balance must be struck between the two. This whole controversy is entering the theater of the absurd. Why assume some masterful and, since the Patriots offense performed better with more inflated balls in the second half, ultimately pointless cloak and dagger operation when the drop in air pressure in the footballs can easily be accounted for by the weather.
No
I have a feeling officials are reviewing more games than just the AFC championship. Their are stats over the last few years that says by mathematical probability the Patriots have done something abnormal to the balls to make them fumble the least. Do a google search and look for yourself. If you are unbiased you will see its true. If you’re a Pats fan than you will just ignore it like everything else.
aelsurf says:
Jan 27, 2015 9:33 AM
Still let’s throw science out the window. Many scientific experts and organizations have tested, and proven, that footballs will naturally loose air pressure, PSI, when moved from a warm environment to a cold wet environment. Test have shown an average loss of 1.8-psi with the simulated experiment.
Why as reported the only ball when checked to loose the “2-psi” was the ball in the hands of the colt’s equipment manager?
Science is factual, and without bias.
Embrace the Hate!
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Pressure will not drop that much when going from a 70-72 degree equipment room to a 55 degree air outside. Sorry but after working in HVAC field and having a knowledge of pressures and PSI I can honestly say that those balls were tampered with. A pin with a pressure gauge is all you need and can be found easily at any hardware store.
Now the reason the Colts equipment MGR had the ball was because it was just intercepted by D’Qwell Jackson and given to the MGR so Jackson could have a keepsake from the playoffs.
I understand blind loyalty to a team as I am an Eagles fan but seriously if the atmospheric pressure did help the 11/12 balls loose PSI why wasn’t the 12th ball underinflated or why weren’t the Colts game balls underinflated? Atmospheric pressure isn’t different on each side of the field.
cincyalldaway says:Jan 27, 2015 12:15 PM
Are for all of the stay at home scientists on here, yes cold weather can have an effect on air pressure in tires and footballs alike…but not in a three hour period.
^^^
Ok, not to be pedantic (too late) but if we ignore any differences in using forced convection due to rain, differences in condctivity of tire rubber and leather, surface area of the football, etc.
A standard car tire has about 10 times the volume of a football and is inflated to about twice the pressure (in absolute). That results in about 20 times the mass of air as a football.
So taking your estimate of 72 hours for a tire to lose the temperature, divided by the 20 times less mass, then you arrive at about 3.5 hours for the balls to reach equilibirum.
This is why anyone that has tried to replicate the drop going from 75 F to 50 F have gotten a 1.2-1.5 loss in 2-3 hours.
At least doubt something that has not been confirmed. Only Bill has yet replicated the pressure rise due to football preperation. Let’s see if anyone else can.
Back when this kid was in the bathroom nobody knew there was such outrage in deflating footballs. So why would we he try and set the world record of deflating footballs? Think about it morons he would have taken his time to get the pressure correct. So the conclusion the kid was just whizzing.
Back when this kid was in the bathroom there was no existing outrage over deflating footballs. So the question is: Why would he try and set the record for fastest deflation of 11 footballs? Think about it morons he was just whizzing.
Yes and they were.
Does Brady use an inflated ball when playing away and a deflated ball at home? I don’t think this would help his accuracy. What would the results be if the balls were inflated with 100 deg air just before given the the officials?
I don’t think you have to remove the balls from the bag if they were in a big duffle bag.
When you get into the bathroom, spend a few seconds arranging the balls with the valve side up. You could probably line them up in a 3×4 pattern.
()()()
()()()
()()()
()()()
Once aligned, simply start with the first football and make your way to the last. No need to pickup or move the balls and you won’t get confused.
Whether that’s how it happened, we’ll probably never know, but I think it’s possible. And if the Patriots have been doing this for a long time, I’m pretty sure they’ve had lots of practice.
Like Belichick says, he makes them practice in the worst conditions. So the ball boy probably had to deflate the balls right after Vince Wilfork took a massive dump. I’m bet 90 seconds was how long he could hold his breath.
Do they videotape EVERYTHING in New England????
A ball boy can barely pee in 90 seconds
I guess you clowns forgot to mention the 2 1/2 hours prior to kickoff? You people are so naive and ignorant, it’s laughable to try to explain how this happen. Let’s just blame the weather.. Whatever helps you sleep at night. hahaha
Okay-
I just conducted an experiment in our local high school locker room. We inflated 12 Wilson TDS leather HS Footballs to 13.5 psi.
I was able to deflate all 12 balls by 2 pounds in 126 seconds on my first attempt. By my 7th attempt, I cut the time down to 102 seconds.
Actually I think I could deflate 11 footballs more quickly than I could empty my bladder and wash my hands.
Safe to say that this wouldn’t have been the first time this ball attendant performed this procedure (deflating footballs) for the team. So he probably had a routine down pat.
Check video of previous games to see if there was a similar pattern.
The answer is yes, easily. That said, I don’t care about this issue. Not a Pats fan but this is absurd.
He was gonna use the hand dryer on the balls as well, but he would have been in there for another 60 seconds–too risky.
Not only is that not enough time to deflate a bag of footballs, but if the guy in question is over 40 it wasn’t enough time to pee either.
Pressure will not drop that much when going from a 70-72 degree equipment room to a 55 degree air outside.
==
Except that actual labs have run actual experiments in actual conditions similar to the AFCCG and found exactly that drop. I’m sorry, but experimentation trumps your experience in HVAC.
If I’m the guy whose job it is to carry 24 footballs every week, I’m not going to take them into the restroom as part of my routine. I know I’ll be on the sideline for a few hours, so I’ll pee before I pick them up. Every week.
It only takes a few seconds to let that much air out of each ball. And it goes faster if your accomplice is waiting inside to help, though that’s not really necessary. (If you’re willing to accept that they might have done it, then accept that they might have planned it well, Belichick style.)
The video does prove that an opportunity existed. The motive is obvious. The means, an inflation needle or paper clip, is easy to come by. It’s not proof, but it sure looks bad.
Patriots Fumble Rank Per Year
2014 — 2nd
2013 — 24th
2012 — 5th
2011 — 11th
Seems they are all over the place. Nothing to see here folks. Move along.
Embrace the hate
I just conducted an experiment in our local high school locker room. We inflated 12 Wilson TDS leather HS Footballs to 13.5 psi.
I was able to deflate all 12 balls by 2 pounds in 126 seconds on my first attempt. By my 7th attempt, I cut the time down to 102 seconds.
===
Did your footballs start and end in a ball bag or on a bench with the valves facing you?
It only takes a few seconds to let that much air out of each ball. And it goes faster if your accomplice is waiting inside to help, though that’s not really necessary. (If you’re willing to accept that they might have done it, then accept that they might have planned it well, Belichick style.)
===
Except that there’s a video camera pointed at the door and no mention of anyone else seen entering or leaving the bathroom.
This whole story is discusting! 90 seconds? Get real. There’s no way he had time to wash his hands.
obviously not
god this is stupid
way to go goodell!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can someone please answer this question for me:
If a ball inflated to 10.5 PSI is easier to throw, easier to catch and harder to fumble than one inflated to 12.5 PSI, why would the NFL mandate they be inflated to at least this higher level?
Is it because the NFL is trying to slow down offenses? If that were true, why would all the other rule changes in recent years favor the offense and have increased scoring.
The whole premise makes no logical sense.
Here’s a point I haven’t heard mentioned yet in all this: THE REFS THEMSELVES handled those footballs even more often than Brady did. They fondled them, tossed them around, placed them on the ground, etc.
Yet the refs either didn’t even realize they were underinflated (meaning this is really a non-issue) or they didn’t care (also making this a non-issue).
So the refs themselves made this even more of a non-issue than this non-issue was in the first place. This is now a double non-issue at the very least, and more likely a triple non-issue. And yet we get to read and read about it… and read about it… What we should REALLY be doing about this is exactly what the refs did – not caring. Really. Who cares? Tell Tommy to make sure his balls are squared away from now on, and move on. GOOD LORD!
NOOOOOOOPE.
Glazer does this every single time it’s like clockwork. He stands up screaming that he has some amazing smoking gun evidence that turns out to be absolutely nothing. As promised he’s delivered the same dud here again.
WHY do people continue to fall for this guy?
Take a ball stick in the needle, say “one mississippi” and pull it out. Proceed to next ball.
Use your imagination folks.
The Pat’s had this down to a science.
4-5 other staff members were already in the bathroom waiting for the balls to be delivered by the soon to be patsy.
90 seconds is time enough for them all to do the leaks, and each take a leak afterwards.
This is not a case of beyond a reasonable doubt. And it’s definitely not an impromptu muddy the waters science project ala Belichick to see if that will stick!
I’m holding out hope that Goodell will really really throw the book at them, for it’s the Pat’s organization that has soiled the integrity and reputation of the game…no one elses!
It only takes a few seconds to let that much air out of each ball. And it goes faster if your accomplice is waiting inside to help, though that’s not really necessary. (If you’re willing to accept that they might have done it, then accept that they might have planned it well, Belichick style.)
===
Except that there’s a video camera pointed at the door and no mention of anyone else seen entering or leaving the bathroom.
====
The Patriots provided the video clip to the league office. Do you think they would have included that part? Did you get what planning, Belichick style, means? He may have gone in five minutes earlier to provide a long leader.
The conspiracy theorists are out with their tin hats in force today
Also, in America we believe in innocent until PROVEN guilty. NOT guilty until proven innocent
I agree with Florio 100% on this. You can practice how long to hold the needle in, it is probably only a couple seconds. Even if you didn’t let out an exact amount of air it would be a better ball for Brady since his hands are so small.
No you cant, but you know what takes about 90 seconds… a piss. The kid took a piss. This is so absurd its beyond belief. I am a Bills fan, dislike the Patriots, I have and always will. But you play the game on the field, if you cant beat them, shut your mouth and move on. Petty. I am actually rooting for the Pats now, cant believe I am saying that.
Experts have established that balls would lose 1.5-1.8 psi due to the weather.
The reports say they were 1 psi under 12.5 psi.
Does that mean he inflated them in the bathroom?
I know this sounds like Mission Impossible but consider this.
A) small bathroom that locks from the inside
b) you have two big bags with 12 balls each
c) walk in, lock the door, kneel in the corner, use the Colts bag as a wall on the right. Now your body acts as a wall and you put the Pats bag right in front of you in the middle.
elapsed time: .04 seconds
d) pull your pressure needle out, unzip the bag
elapsed time: .05 seconds
e) pull a ball out, insert the needle and release 2 lb of air and set ball on floor in front of you
elapsed time: .06 sec times 11 = 66.0 seconds
f) put 11 balls back in the bag
elapsed time: .01 sec times 11 = 11.0 seconds
g) rezip bag, grab bags, unlock door and walk out
elapsed time: 4.0 seconds
Total time: 90 seconds
The kid is good.
We are witnessing the media collectively jumping the shark.
Wait, now it’s been determined that Brady has small hands? Yeesh. When will it end with the ‘speculation as hard facts’ crowd?
The sell programmable pressure gauges with bleed valves. Deflating 11 balls precisely in 90 seconds would be a snap.
I think you could dump a bag of balls out and work out quick with it and get a most of them done if in a hurry.
Has any one asked WHY would you take 2 dozen footballs to the bathroom with you?
Was he worried they wouldn’t be around when he left the bathroom?
Is he a big Moises Alou fan?
What did the Colts balls measure in at? This is a non story that the controversy starved media needs to exploit with science and urination.
Things that gain a competitive edge but not cheating???
Cmon man –
Stick em?
Vaseline?
Pumped in crowd noise
Icing the kicker?
Victory formation?
leaving the grass long against Adrian Peterson?
The whole Texans playing field?
Gatorade?
receivers gloves? – yeah Odell Beckham just has incredible 2 finger grip right?
Media selling practice videos? Yes media I am looking at you!
Adderall anyone???
Better get Ted Wells right on it. Doesn’t seem like the NFL can do anything without his input/assistance anymore.
I’m a professional soccer official and frequently have to inflate/deflate balls to an 8-9 psi standard which if hurried, typically results in a broken needle valve for even one ball! I highly doubt that 90 seconds is enough time to bring in both bags of balls, unzip Patriot’s bag of balls, remove each of the 12 balls from bag, locate air hole in each elliptical ball as it rolls around on the floor(?), jam needle valve in each to deflate to predetermined exacting spec for Brady (knowing its the AFC championship game balls that he’s holding in his hands), repeat the process flawlessly, and then gather up all twelve balls and put them back in the bag, exiting the bathroom in 90 seconds flat. It strains credibility that this process could be completed in this time frame and that it would be done in such a haphazard, rushed manner.
I have something Huge… Just watched the replay again… This same ballboy left the field at 5 min into the game to go piss again. This is HUge. This means he didn’t piss the first time! Wow!! That’s reportage.
Skawh I’m sorry but that is just plain ridiculous. So there are 5 people in the bathroom now? Is this a joke that went over my head? How did they get in there? They would have to be on camera. And have perfect coordination amongt them. Some of you people are just out of your minds on this.
so if the patriots r found guilty r their fans gonna tell us who else are cheaters?or they finally gonna give up on kraft and the cheaters he employees?
Except that there’s a video camera pointed at the door and no mention of anyone else seen entering or leaving the bathroom.
====
The Patriots provided the video clip to the league office. Do you think they would have included that part? Did you get what planning, Belichick style, means? He may have gone in five minutes earlier to provide a long leader.
===
Five minutes is nothing on security footage. And you really think they just gave the league the a few minutes to either side? How long do you think this mystery deflater was in there? Days? Weeks? Months? And how long do you think he stayed in there afterwards? The whole game? Maybe he’s still in there. Instead of “Charlie on the MTA” we’ve got “Sully in the Gillette Washroom”.
Gotta love the people that are like I deflated the same amount of balls in x amount of seconds! Can you provide a little more detail? Were they all in a bag and had to be brought out? Oriented all the same way? Did you factor in walking into a room and locking the door? All of these little things add time on to the situation when you really think about it.
Jan 27, 2015 2:25 PM – factman1000 says: The conspiracy theorists are out with their tin hats in force today
________________________________
No, some of us doubt the Pats’ integrity, but not their intelligence. You don’t think they’re smart enough to come up with an involved plan?
We’re talking about 90 seconds. Not two minutes, 90 seconds. Is that what we’re talking about? 90 seconds? (thanks Iverson)
Side note:
All mammals urinate for approximately the same amount of time. Doesn’t matter the size. An elephant urinates for about the same amount of time as a human.
Let’s get an elephant with two bags of balls in that bathroom and see if it can deflate 11 in 90 seconds.
Any chowd should know that air gauges (no, not the kind you use on your ’81 Lebaron) come with relief valves, in the form of a knob or button. It wouldn’t take more than a couple of seconds to stick the needle in, read the pressure and get those balls to the 10.5 psi that Tommy Boy wanted.
The Pats “prove we did it” attitude is amazing.
The staff of one of the teams had access alone to all the balls.
His teams balls were deflated below the required amount.
what proof is needed?
But I still say its a stupid thing to have a rule about. Let each team do what they want with their offensive balls. then its fair.
who cares?
hahaicansezbelicheat says:
Jan 27, 2015 9:35 AM
The officials mark the balls, but nice try.
__________________________
Yeah that should do the trick, because if the Officials NEVER miss ANYTHING.
It wouldn’t take more than a couple of seconds to stick the needle in, read the pressure and get those balls to the 10.5 psi that Tommy Boy wanted.
===
If you did that to warm balls, they’d be 9.5 PSI cold or lower on the field.
So that’s probably not what happened. If the ~1PSI low reports are accurate (and that’s a big if considering the NFL’s leak parade), then there’s no pressure drop between the checked pressure and the halftime pressure that can’t be explained by cold footballs. Dropping the pressure 1 PSI in the washroom and then cooling the balls would see at least a 2 PSI – if not larger – drop. Again: look at the work that HeadSmart did on this.
Of course it is impossible to deflate 11 balls in 90 seconds. But it is not impossible to switch a bag of balls in 90 seconds! Why would he take all those balls to the bathroom with him out of view of the cameras? Because it is out of view of the cameras and he could switch them out! Why not leave the balls on the field in view, why take them to a location where there is no cameras?? Bet he is getting paid a pretty penny to cover this up !! Maybe he will have some integrity and admit the truth, but I bet money will talk him out of that!!
He knew what he was doing, taking all the balls with him and out of view of the cameras so he could switch them out with another bag of balls and no one would see it!!
sting757 says: Jan 27, 2015 10:19 AM
If you know you’re not being watched why even try to rush to deflate a bag of footballs in a bathroom?
=======
Everyone rushes when they break the law.
What difference does it make whether he did it or not? He could have deflated them in plain sight. Pats broke the rule and they will pay!
This one ute……….
How do we know he came out with the same balls he went in with? Maybe there were identical balls bags in the men’s room just dangling behind the door.
Saw Boomer Esiason on Inside the NFL today show just how quickly you can deflate the balls. Literally takes 2 seconds, just a click or two and that’s it. If they’ve been doing it for a while, he could easily do 12 and still find time to piss and flush
mrtomlarson says:
Jan 27, 2015 10:28 AM
The record was 58 seconds in Indianapolis last November….
nfl1818 says:
Jan 27, 2015 10:47 AM
This started with the regular season game at IND. What about the security cameras there?
===================================
The home team provides the ball boys. That’s why this guy was carrying the 2 bags.
carloswlassiter says:
Jan 27, 2015 2:07 PM
Can someone please answer this question for me:
If a ball inflated to 10.5 PSI is easier to throw, easier to catch and harder to fumble than one inflated to 12.5 PSI, why would the NFL mandate they be inflated to at least this higher level?
****************
I’ll try to answer your question. The higher PSI allows the ball to travel farther and spiral tighter. The lower PSI allows the ball to be gripped tighter, but you have to sacrifice some distance on the pass. By providing an acceptable range, it keeps teams from manipulating the footballs to weather condition, QB preference, game plan, or anything else. Unless, of course, your owner happens to be buddies with the commissioner. Then you can pretty much do anything you want.
It’s not like he has a pneumatic regulator. Or maybe he does? Hmmmmmmmmm?
reading these comments i have come to the conclusion that everyone is crazy–this is a football–you actually believe the psi of pressure matters–these are amazing athletes with amazing skills that the average person couldn’t do in a million years–Tom Brady is one of the best ever and to think some couch QB actually thinks that psi of pressure makes any difference in Tom Brady’s greatness or is psi allows a team to win or lose is insane–if that is all it takes then i don’t know why the Raiders or any of those bottom dwelling teams just don’t let out a few psi and be done with it-We could be watching the Jets vs Titans if they just took out some air pressure–This is the dumbest thing i think i have ever heard–Facts are if you hate the Pats you actually believe this matters–What is is is jealousy towards Brady and Bellichek..They are great because they work their butts off..Not because of air pressure..Seriously–Where was all the noise when Cleveland twice this season were told not to heat the footballs on the sideline—No one cared because it wasn’t Tom and Bill–they are cheating they are cheating—PLEASE
There is some great theories here –did anyone notice that Indy’s football bag was under the heater the whole time–it wasn’t the Pat’s deflating the footballs–The footballs lost PSI because of the outdoor temperatures..Indy balls were holding their PSI because they were under the heat lamps—watch the films of the game–the bag was right under the heat lamps just like Cleveland were caught twice this year doing–and for all you that want the book thrown at the Pats lets see what your team does–i bet your teams players take steriods..I bet they do..I bet the QB does his own special thing with the ball—What’s the saying –People in glass houses–