The Wells Report

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The various NFL players who are gleeful about this report should actually have a long think about what's happened. if the NFL can put one of it's greatest ever players through the shredder like this, ruin his character and good name based on hearsay and inference, then they can do it to anyone...

This is surely where the NFLPA must step in. I can't see how they can stay silent on this.
 
benhamean said:
Alright, that Breitbart piece and a little time have me re-thinking this.
I DO think that balls were messed with, but it is now PAINFULLY clear that Wells was not objective in drawing his conclusions.

It really does look like the facts were presented in an effort to support a conclusion that was already made, and other facts were de-emphasized or left completely out of the conclusion-drawing process.

Somebody (OPT?) please check this for accuracy- its a visual of page 8 of the Wells report with captions from me. The Breitbart piece is what I'm basing the 'expected' pressures due to atmospheric conditions on- I didn't do the math myself.

11174208_10204681235374432_8808362950852939588_o.jpg
Click to expand...

Prioleau's measurement of the Colts balls above were 0.45, 0.45 and 0.40 psi below those of Blakeman's measurements except for ball #3 wh/ he read as 12.95. That's 0.45 HIGHER. Makes no sense. Might he have misread 11.95 as 12.95? Makes better sense to me.
 
http://www.csnne.com/new-england-pa...-insult-to-tom-brady-and-new-england-patriots

In the second quarter, the Colts alerted the league to a potentially illegal ball in their possession. At halftime, NFL officials collected all the balls and tested all the PSI, and from there, well, the whole Wells Report is a messy blur — shoddy science projects, corrupt research firms, out-of-context and potentially edited text conversations. By the end, Wells concludes that it’s more probable than not that McNally and Jastremski participated in a deliberate effort to release air from Patriots game balls. He concluded that it is more probable than not that Brady was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities.

But for all the probability that Wells spews out in this report, just know that the report itself is most definitely a joke, and an insult -- to Tom Brady, to the Patriots, and to you as a member of the human race.

And all because an innocent quarterback wanted to avoid getting stuck with another 16 PSI football?

Man, confirmation bias is a powerful drug.
Click to expand...

:clap:
 
Interesting take.

It took three hours, two coffees and enough Adderall to satisfy the entire Seahawks secondary, but I made it through the Wells Report. And with that, here’s a quick summary of everything I most probably might have absolutely learned:

For starters, Tom Brady is an NFL quarterback who likes his footballs more deflated than inflated, and during a game last October against the Jets, he became particularly upset with the condition of said footballs. They were too big, and plump, and this made Brady angry because, again, he likes his footballs smaller . . . and less plump.

Yahoo's Dan Wetzel: Wells Report fails to prove guilt

The quarterback had previously voiced this preference to Pats’ equipment assistant John Jastremski, but it was hard for him to keep up when the referees were continually so careless on game day. In general, refs consistently failed to record pregame PSI levels and were supremely loose on protocol. In some cases, they simply inflated game balls to whatever level they arbitrarily deemed fit. At the very least, refs didn’t account for specific quarterback preferences, and that was inherently unfair. Seeing how we know that some quarterbacks like small footballs, and other quarterbacks like bigger footballs, randomly inflating along the PSI spectrum would leave one side at a random disadvantage.

In related news, balls from that Jets game were was found to be inflated at 16 PSI. That’s far higher than the legal maximum, and far higher than Brady was comfortable with. So again, he was pissed.

He consulted the rulebook and found that game balls were permitted to be as low as 12.5 PSI. In turn, he once again reached out to Jastremski and asked (or probably demanded) that future balls be maintained as low as legally possible.

There was nothing wrong with him doing this, by the way. If you gave MLB pitchers a choice between throwing a baseball or softball, they’d throw the baseball every time. All Brady wanted was a smaller, just as legal football.

Meanwhile, Jastremski was desperate to make Brady happy, because he wanted Brady to like him. Of course he did. We’re talking about Tom Brady. So, Jastremski recruited Officials’ Locker Room Attendant James McNally, a.k.a. the guy in charge of the game balls on game day. McNally had previously helped Jastremski under similar circumstances, but wasn’t a very eager participant. He had been with the Pats for more than 30 years. The novelty had worn off. He wasn’t honored to assist the great Tom Brady with some next level gamesmanship.

If anything, it was a chore.

Between the two attendants, McNally was undoubtedly the alpha male, and he got a kick out of teasing his co-worker. He knew how much the relationship with Brady meant to Jastremski, so as a ruse, McNally would verbally demean Brady, threaten to put MORE air in the balls; all as if to let Jastremski know: “Brady might be YOUR boss, but he’s got nothing on me.”

And so it went.

Every week —

1) Brady pestered Jastremski to make sure the balls were legally deflated and presented to the refs with as little air as the league allows.

2) Jastremski passively pestered McNally.

3) McNally teased and threatened Jastremski.

4) Jastremski floated out incentives like signed memorabilia and free Uggs — and ultimately McNally fell in line.

5) Before each home game, McNally (“The Deflator”) deflated balls down to 12.5 PSI, personally gave them to the refs, and reminded the lead official of Brady’s preference.

This is pretty much how it went down leading up to the AFC Championship, except this was the last home game of the season, and McNally only worked home games, so this was the last time he’d share the building with Brady until next year. By now, Jastremski had told Brady about the promises, and how it might be nice to acknowledge the work that McNally had done. So before the game, Brady invited both guys into the equipment room, and gave McNally two signed footballs and a signed jersey.

It was a simple gesture that Brady knew would go a long way, and he was happy to do it.

From there, McNally grabbed the balls, brought them to lead official Walt Anderson and reminded him about Brady’s desire to keep the PSI at or around 12.5. Anderson checked the balls, didn’t write down any of the results, and put them back in the bag. Soon after that, the start of the Patriots-Colts game was delayed 15 minutes because the NFC Championship Game was running late. It was chaos in the officials’ locker room. At one point, even though he wasn’t supposed to (maybe he was confused by the delay?), McNally grabbed the bag of balls and carried them out to the field — stopping only briefly along the way to use the bathroom.

In the second quarter, the Colts alerted the league to a potentially illegal ball in their possession. At halftime, NFL officials collected all the balls and tested all the PSI, and from there, well, the whole Wells Report is a messy blur — shoddy science projects, corrupt research firms, out-of-context and potentially edited text conversations. By the end, Wells concludes that it’s more probable than not that McNally and Jastremski participated in a deliberate effort to release air from Patriots game balls. He concluded that it is more probable than not that Brady was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities.

But for all the probability that Wells spews out in this report, just know that the report itself is most definitely a joke, and an insult -- to Tom Brady, to the Patriots, and to you as a member of the human race.

And all because an innocent quarterback wanted to avoid getting stuck with another 16 PSI football?

Man, confirmation bias is a powerful drug.
Click to expand...

http://www.csnne.com/new-england-pa...-insult-to-tom-brady-and-new-england-patriots
 
benhamean said:
Alright, that Breitbart piece and a little time have me re-thinking this.
I DO think that balls were messed with, but it is now PAINFULLY clear that Wells was not objective in drawing his conclusions.

It really does look like the facts were presented in an effort to support a conclusion that was already made, and other facts were de-emphasized or left completely out of the conclusion-drawing process.

Somebody (OPT?) please check this for accuracy- its a visual of page 8 of the Wells report with captions from me. The Breitbart piece is what I'm basing the 'expected' pressures due to atmospheric conditions on- I didn't do the math myself.

11174208_10204681235374432_8808362950852939588_o.jpg
Click to expand...

Did they swap gauges before checking the Colts balls?

I'm trying to understand how when checking the Pats balls, Blakeman's numbers were always lower than Prioleau's. However, when checking the Colts balls, Blakeman's number were always higher then Prioleau's.
 
Finally read the entire thing. At first I was sure they nailed them. On full reading I'm convinced this is total hatchet job. End though the Exponent crap tries to hide it, their own science exonerates the Patriots:

With a starting pressure of 12.5 the Patriots average pressure drop measured was 1.01-1.39 depending on gauge used.

Page 39 of the Exponent figure 10. Gay-Lussac’s Law expected drop for a 12.5 psi ball = 1.13-1.37 for starting of temp 70-75 and a end temp of 48.

Considering Exponent also proves (but buries) the gauges are precise but INACCURATE out of the box, proves accuracy DRIFTS over time, proves testing Patriots balls first allows Colts balls pressure to rise (making pressure differential more noticeable, makes many assumptions that have dramatic effect over the testing, annnnd combined with no real proof of actual starting pressure just Anderson's best ballpark recollection. This recollection is important because of the only four Colts balls tested there was a .4 variance of pressure, presuming a starting 13psi, that variance is the near entirety of compliance.

I'm losing my F'n mind at this stupidity.
 
Wait, they didn't actually measure them before the game right? They are working on the assumption that the Colts had 13 PSI and Pats 12.5 at kickoff, and then comparing the drop. How do we know the Colts were even at 13 PSI? They could have been higher than that, which would make the comparison irrelevant without knowing the exact starting PSI of every ball. Right?
 
What if the Colts knew there was a sting coming, and also knew there would be environmental factors involved, and they inflated their balls at 14 psi before the game started?

It would be a nice way to make yourself look legal knowing you have advance warning.:coffee:
 
Sing it, Mike Reiss:

While on the subject of credibility, I want to share a few thoughts on areas in which the Wells report significantly dropped the ball and, in my opinion, appeared to be serving a pro-NFL agenda.

11 Patriots footballs vs. four Colts footballs. In rejecting Bill Belichick's explanation about the science of how PSI in footballs will naturally drop in certain conditions, the Wells report concluded that the average rate of drop in 11 Patriots footballs was significantly more than the average rate of drop in four Colts footballs. Why 11 to four? Because officials measured only four Colts footballs, as they were running out of time before the second half began. This simply isn't fair to take a larger sample size and compare it to a smaller sample size. For example, I could just as easily pick the initial four Patriots PSI measurements (a drop from 12.5 to 11.80, 11.20, 11.50 and 11.00 from alternate official Dyrol Prioleau), match them up with the four Colts measurements (a drop from an estimated 13.0/13.1 to 12.35, 12.30, 12.95 and 12.15 from Prioleau), and come to a different conclusion that the drop rates of PSI between the two teams were close. Also, it's clear when matching the PSI readings between the two alternate officials that there is margin for error in the readings. Thus, I reject the Wells report explanation for dismissing the role of science based on their usage of this uneven data between teams.

Role of Brady's autographs. In building their case against the Patriots and Tom Brady, the Wells report focused in part on autographs/memorabilia that Brady provided McNally. It was framed in the context that he was giving him things in exchange for a favor. I personally find that hard to believe -- or should I say "more not than probable." First, Brady has been extremely generous with many Patriots staffers in this area over the last 14-15 years; it is also widely understood in NFL circles that equipment managers work at extremely low wages and it is commonplace for quarterbacks/players to tip them and/or provide them with things as a show of appreciation (in addition to others in similar roles). Thus, I rejected the Wells report framing Brady's autographs/memorabilia as anything outside of normal procedure, and it made me question whether the investigators understood the workplace they were investigating.

Manipulating public perception. At the March owners meeting, commissioner Roger Goodell said, "If there was anything that we as a league did incorrectly, we'll know about it in that report.” I didn't see much of that in the report, if anything at all. Specifically, I was curious whether there would be any mention of reputation-damaging leaks from the league office that helped manipulate public opinion, ultimately setting the stage for the release of the Wells report. Thus, I came away from parts of the report questioning whether this was more about serving a pro-NFL agenda than getting to the truth.
 
I'm glad Tom's agent said what he said. It should have been something that came from kraft's mouth. At least someone's standing up for Brady
 
dchester said:
Did they swap gauges before checking the Colts balls?

I'm trying to understand how when checking the Pats balls, Blakeman's numbers were always lower than Prioleau's. However, when checking the Colts balls, Blakeman's number were always higher then Prioleau's.
Click to expand...

The answer is that the 'data' is unreproducible uncalibrated shite, but all they've got- so they present it as 'hard'...except where if doesn't do harm to NE or does do harm to IND.
 
mooseontheloose said:
Wait, they didn't actually measure them before the game right? They are working on the assumption that the Colts had 13 PSI and Pats 12.5 at kickoff, and then comparing the drop. How do we know the Colts were even at 13 PSI? They could have been higher than that, which would make the comparison irrelevant without knowing the exact starting PSI of every ball. Right?
Click to expand...

Apparently they were measured. Most of the Pats' balls measured at or around 12.5, and most of the Colts' measured at around 13.0
 
The thing that's really bugging me is how those text messages are being used as a smoking gun. But context is everything. Let's pretend instead of the NFL investigating the Pats for deflating footballs, they were investigating their refs for purposely putting too much air into them. Would anyone reading those text messages come the conclusion that the Pats were illegally tampering with footballs? Would that even be a thought in anyone's mind? The only reason the report comes to the conclusion it does regarding those text messages is because of the scope of the investigation.
 
Joe said:
Apparently they were measured. Most of the Pats' balls measured at or around 12.5, and most of the Colts' measured at around 13.0
Click to expand...

Since they didn't measure most of the Colts balls at halftime, I can't help wondering if a few of the Colts balls (let's say 4 of them) were more like 13.5 before game time.

:coffee:
 
dchester said:
Did they swap gauges before checking the Colts balls?

I'm trying to understand how when checking the Pats balls, Blakeman's numbers were always lower than Prioleau's. However, when checking the Colts balls, Blakeman's number were always higher then Prioleau's.
Click to expand...

One of the footnotes said that the lab concluded they mostly likely did. But no one seem to actually ask the refs to confirm it.


~Dee~
 
dchester said:
Did they swap gauges before checking the Colts balls?

I'm trying to understand how when checking the Pats balls, Blakeman's numbers were always lower than Prioleau's. However, when checking the Colts balls, Blakeman's number were always higher then Prioleau's.
Click to expand...

I think Prioleau checked the Pats' balls first, Blakeman second. But on the Colts' balls the order was reversed. Of course the guy who checks second gets a lower reading. Just getting the first measurement alters the ball for the second measurement. But IDK what's going on with one of the Colts balls. It's an outlier. Mistake in reading or memory of the ref?
 
Can we please stop bringing Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson into this conversation?

Brady is being accused of/convicted of doing something on the field that directly affects the outcome of a game.

Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, Greg Hardy and anyone else who beats women and children are scumbags but they should never be compared to this situation.
 
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