NFL Finds
Brady &. Co. Guilty of DeflateGate
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
May 6, 2015 All Rights Reserved.
Releasing National Football League’s
special investigator Ted Wells’ 243-page
report about the New England Patriots deflating footballs for 37-year-old
quarterback Tom Brady in the Jan. 18 AFC Championship game at Gillette Stadium
in Foxborough, Mass., Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft dismissed the findings. Kraft rejected any allegations Jan. 27 of breaking NFL rules by deflating footballs,
attributing pressure differences to the cold weather, something he heard from
scientists and engineers. Patriots’ coach Bil Belichick also denied knowing anything about Brady’s deflated
footballs, suggesting pressure changes in game balls were related to rubbing
balls before they were put into play. With 11 out the 12 Patriots’ game balls under the league minimum of 12.5 psi, NFL
Commissioner Roger Goodell asked Ted Wells to conduct and independent
investigation.
NFL’s long-awaited report confirmed the shenanigans presenting a series
of text messages between Patriots’ employees Jim McNally and equipment assistant
Jim Jastremski, essentially detailing the calculated and deliberate attempt to
deflate game-balls at the request of quarterback Tom Brady. Wells report concluded that “it is
more probable than not” that a locker room attendant and equipment assistant
“participated in a deliberate effort to release air from the Patriots’
game-balls,” fingering Patriots’ employees in breaking NFL rules about proper
ball inflation. Denied by Brady and
Belichick at press event in the strongest possible way Jan 22, Wells findings
raise serious doubts about Brady and Belichick’s truthfulness when the faced
they media shortly after scandal broke Jan. 18. Brady and Belichick’s forceful denials raised more doubts about a possible cover-up.
Whether or not the deflated footballs gave Brady a competitive advantage
in the AFC Championship game or any other game is anyone’s guess. Wells’ report points to subterfuge
and NFL rules violations, whether or not it helped the Patriots win games. “I didn’t alter the ball in any way. I have no knowledge of wrong doing,”
Brady said at a Jan. 22 press conference with Belichick. Brady’s comment that he didn’t personally alter the ball doesn’t rule out that he asked
his equipment assistant to perform the dirty deed. McNally in text messaged referred to
himself as the “deflator,” warning that “they didn’t go to ESPN yet . . .” “Based on the evidence, its also is
our view that its is more probable than no that Tom Brady . . . was at least
generally aware of the inappropriate activities. . . involving the release of air from
Patriots’ game balls,” wrote Wells, refuting Brady and Belichick’s Jan. 22
denials.
Wells’ report finds a string of text messages linking deflated game-balls
with Patriots’ employees McNally and Jastremski, frustrated by the pressure
involved in deflating Brady’s game-balls, including supplying Jastremski with a
needle to perform the deflations.
To repay the favor, McNally and Jastremski were rewarded with Brady’s signed
game-balls, holding considerable resale value in the sports memorabilia market. Despite the Wells Report commanding
impeccable credibility, Patriots owner Kraft continued to insist on his
discredited theory that game-day weather accounted for difference in game-ball
inflation pressure. No one knows
whether or not the deflated game-balls helped Brady with the AFC Championship. Wells’ report finds that Brady and
Belichick’s Jan. 22 denials raise questions about the truthfulness of Patriots’
personnel in following NFL rules.
Belichick and Kraft went to great pains to explain away how 11 of 12 AFC
Championship game-balls were below the NFL limit of 12.5 psi. Talking about various scientific explanations can’t explain the text message exchange
between McNally and Jastemski, speaking disparagingly about Brady’s demands to
deflate game-balls. “I didn’t alter
the ball in any way. I have no
knowledge of wrongdoing,” Brady told the media Jan. 22 at a press conference
with Belichick. Kraft’s recent
remarks continue to deny Wells’ report is astonishing. “To say we are disappointed in its
findings, which do not include any incontrovertible or hard evidence or
deliberate deflation of footballs at the AFC Championship Game, would be a gross
understatement,” said Kraft, refusing to accept Wells’ thorough investigation. If incriminating text messages
aren’t hard evidence, than what is?
Wells’ Report suggests that the front office, including Belichick, Kraft
and equipment manager Dave Schoefeld, didn’t have prior knowledge of the
DeflateGate scandal. Wells is very
careful to say he couldn’t develop enough evidence to implicate the three but
common sense tells you that someone who micromanages a team like Belichick
wouldn’t have been informed of everything going on. What makes Belichick and Kraft look
guilty is their carefully constructed, forceful denials of any wrongdoing. Had Belichick and Kraft simply said
they had no knowledge of deflating game-balls but would wait and see what the
NFL turned up, it would have helped their credibility. Carrying on about “scientific”
reports of how balls could lose air in 50-degree weather sounded like malarkey Kraft’s “disappointment”
relates the big fat black eye given to Brady and the New England Patriots.
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