How long has this deflating of balls been going on? 1 game? 1 season? Try 8 seasons.
The Wells report documented how deflating was likely going on during the 2014 season. So this advantage was not just taking place for one game. This was an ongoing activity.
The pieces of the puzzle come together further when we look at some statistics on fumbles. Warren Sharp has written more than a few articles on how things changed from 2006 to 2007. It is like a baseball player before and after he is on steroids. One of the critics of Sharp’s work actually did a 180 and came around to back the inference, especially with the added proof delivered by the Wells Report:
“Now that it seems likely that the Patriots were violating the rules to gain an advantage, the fact that they also had an extremely low fumble rate makes it more likely that the relationship between inflation levels and fumbling is real – and more likely that the Patriots have materially benefited from their cheating.”
DEDUCTION:
a) the friction inferred from the relationship between McNally and Brady indicates that McNally was obviously doing this for a LONG TIME, a lot longer than 2014
b) the rapid change in fumble rate after the Rules change of 2006 that Brady himself lobbied for (road teams using their own footballs) indicates something significant happened
c) turnovers are the single biggest statistic in determining success and failure in games
c) the incentive for deflating footballs now becomes much larger, because a better grip of the ball on offense (by Brady and all Patriots offensive players) could easily translate to fewer fumbles
I am once again quite certain that Goodell will not look at this as evidence. But you and I should not kid ourselves- Brady and the Patriots had a significant material advantage dating back to 2007, and it was more than probable that it was sourced from deflated footballs. A 6 game suspension seems pretty light to me right now. All you need to do is connect the dots. And for heaven’s sake, make McNally roll on Brady and get to the 100% truth. Unfortunately the absolute truth is an enormous hazard to the NFL because that would force them to vacate the win by the Patriots in XLIX, a black-eye that would do enormous damage to the league. Yet this is what is necessary. That is what the data indicates and all it would take is a little pressure on McNally to get to the bottom of it. In the meantime, the fact that both the Patriots and Brady did not fully cooperate with the investigation is grounds on its own for them to get stiff punishment.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
