NFL Postseason Megathread: Playoffs in the Post-Orton Era

[alfred russel]

The whole idea of having some arbitrary inflation standards makes no sense.  Neither the balls the Colts used nor the one New England used met the NFL inflation requirements once they were on the cold field; only one ball from each team was tested and passed the minimum limits.  Though, to be sure, all of the balls tested (except the one the Colts deflated themselves to draw attention to the deflation issue) were only slightly below the minimum.

I don't know why you keep harping on the "arbitrary" nature of the standards. The sport is defined by a collection of "arbitrary" standards. It is arbitrary that you get 3 points for a field goal but 6 for a touchdown, that you need two feet or one knee down for a catch, or any number of uniform standards.

Many teams believe that they get a competitive advantage with slightly underinflated balls. Apparently both the Colts and the Patriots submitted balls at the bottom end of the range of acceptability, and when they entered the cold field the balls naturally dropped below the standard. What the NFL investigation determined was that it was more likely than not that the Patriots balls, but not the Colts, were tampered with after measurement with the knowledge of Tom Brady. That is cheating, and is why Tom Brady is being disgraced and suspended.

I think the NFL has a lot of culpability here. They have let Tom Brady operate under a different set of rules for some time. Be it by getting ticky tack penalties or no suspension for dangerously sliding with cleats up and into the groin of an opposing player.

[Berkut]

Unless there is something I am missing, you are missing one critical item here.

No team gets to decide how much to inflate the footballs. There is an acceptable range, and the inflation is done by the officials (meaning any inflation adjustment on game day).

So the process is:

1. Get balls from team, already inflated.
2. Official (in college this is the back judges job, I think the same in the NFL) measures the pressure in each ball. Any that are too low are increased to fall within the range. Any that are over are deflated.
3. Officials sign off on the balls (they place a mark on each ball to indicate it is within the range).

At this point, it is a violation of the rules for either team to inflate or deflate the balls. Even if they do so within the acceptable range.

The range itself is pretty narrow - I doubt anyone could really tell the difference between a ball at the low end (12.5 PSI) and one at the top end (13.5 PSI).

[The Minsky Moment]

The real problem here is that the Pats got some MIT professor to try to cover for them.  I can forgive Boston their execrable sports teams because the town does manage to churn out enough high-grade STEM grads to power an Ideologue-grade electronic panopticon.  But now the Patriot awfulness is bleeding over to taint MIT as well.

That said, the penalty is almost sufficient, the only thing is that they forgot to punish the Red Sox.

[crazy canuck]

The real problem here is that the Pats got some MIT professor to try to cover for them.  I can forgive Boston their execrable sports teams because the town does manage to churn out enough high-grade STEM grads to power an Ideologue-grade electronic panopticon.  But now the Patriot awfulness is bleeding over to taint MIT as well.

[grumbler]

I don't know why you keep harping on the "arbitrary" nature of the standards. The sport is defined by a collection of "arbitrary" standards. It is arbitrary that you get 3 points for a field goal but 6 for a touchdown, that you need two feet or one knee down for a catch, or any number of uniform standards.

Precisely the nature of arbitrary standards, and why being slightly below an arbitrary standard is no big deal.  You harp on "arbitrary" standard more in this post than I did in a thread, and to less purpose.

Many teams believe that they get a competitive advantage with slightly underinflated balls. Apparently both the Colts and the Patriots submitted balls at the bottom end of the range of acceptability, and when they entered the cold field the balls naturally dropped below the standard. What the NFL investigation determined was that it was more likely than not that the Patriots balls, but not the Colts, were tampered with after measurement with the knowledge of Tom Brady. That is cheating, and is why Tom Brady is being disgraced and suspended. 

It is more than likely that the Colts (and many other teams) cheated as well, but so what?  If Goodell wants to punish the Patriots for a minor infrcation, let him punish in a way suitable for a minor infraction.  This grotesquely disproportionate penalty for a minor infraction of an arbitrary standard just further delegitimizes the NFL commissioner and the billionaires in whose interests he serves.

I think the NFL has a lot of culpability here. They have let Tom Brady operate under a different set of rules for some time. Be it by getting ticky tack penalties or no suspension for dangerously sliding with cleats up and into the groin of an opposing player.

Agree.  The NFL has let Brady, and every other NFL player and coach, operate under a different set of rules for decades.  Be it by ticky-tacky penalties or dangerous behavior.  But that's the nature of a game played by millionaires for billionaires.

[Caliga]

  The NFL is a business, and Brady is a draw, like it or not.

[grumbler]

Unless there is something I am missing, you are missing one critical item here.

No team gets to decide how much to inflate the footballs. There is an acceptable range, and the inflation is done by the officials (meaning any inflation adjustment on game day).

So the process is:

1. Get balls from team, already inflated.
2. Official (in college this is the back judges job, I think the same in the NFL) measures the pressure in each ball. Any that are too low are increased to fall within the range. Any that are over are deflated.
3. Officials sign off on the balls (they place a mark on each ball to indicate it is within the range).

At this point, it is a violation of the rules for either team to inflate or deflate the balls. Even if they do so within the acceptable range.

The range itself is pretty narrow - I doubt anyone could really tell the difference between a ball at the low end (12.5 PSI) and one at the top end (13.5 PSI).

I think that Brady believed that he could tell the difference, and bitched at his equipment managers when he thought they didn't keep the balls at the low end of the range.

I think it is within the rules to allow balls to be subject to the Ideal Gas Law, which is what appears to an outside observer to be what happened to all (save one from each team, plus the one the colts tampered with) tested balls.

I don't understand (again, as an outsider without any emotional ties to either team) the Patriots could be investigated and punished here, and the Colts not.  After all, the difference between their "cheating" rate (75%) and the Patriot's "cheating" rate (90%) appears to be more a effect of sample size than an effect of effort put into "cheating."

[derspiess]

Yeah well g you hate NFL football anyway. 

[grumbler]

Yeah well g you hate NFL football anyway.

Oh.  I didn't know that.  Never mind, then.

[Valmy]

  The NFL is a business, and Brady is a draw, like it or not.

His antics are 1970s Raider-esque. I love guys like him. This league could use more Tom Bradys.

[Berkut]

Unless there is something I am missing, you are missing one critical item here.

No team gets to decide how much to inflate the footballs. There is an acceptable range, and the inflation is done by the officials (meaning any inflation adjustment on game day).

So the process is:

1. Get balls from team, already inflated.
2. Official (in college this is the back judges job, I think the same in the NFL) measures the pressure in each ball. Any that are too low are increased to fall within the range. Any that are over are deflated.
3. Officials sign off on the balls (they place a mark on each ball to indicate it is within the range).

At this point, it is a violation of the rules for either team to inflate or deflate the balls. Even if they do so within the acceptable range.

The range itself is pretty narrow - I doubt anyone could really tell the difference between a ball at the low end (12.5 PSI) and one at the top end (13.5 PSI).

I think that Brady believed that he could tell the difference, and bitched at his equipment managers when he thought they didn't keep the balls at the low end of the range.

I think Brady wanted the balls below the minimum standard, because I don't think you can tell the difference between 12.5 and 13.5 PSI. As someone who has handled hundreds of footballs, I think the idea that Brady wanted his at 12.5 rather than say 11.5 is not credible to me.

I think it is within the rules to allow balls to be subject to the Ideal Gas Law, which is what appears to an outside observer to be what happened to all (save one from each team, plus the one the colts tampered with) tested balls.

I think the investigation rather clearly shows that the Pats were engaged in a long standing and consistent effort to deflate footballs after the officials certified them.

I don't understand (again, as an outsider without any emotional ties to either team) the Patriots could be investigated and punished here, and the Colts not.  After all, the difference between their "cheating" rate (75%) and the Patriot's "cheating" rate (90%) appears to be more a effect of sample size than an effect of effort put into "cheating."

I haven't seen an investigation that makes it clear that the Colts were consistently and intentionally deflating footballs via an understood process where a member of their organization would routinely take certified footballs and alter them.

[Admiral Yi]

No one has mentioned The Science Guy's vindication.

[derspiess]

No one has mentioned The Science Guy's vindication.

I was going to but then remembered Bill Nye is kind of a dick.

[Valmy]

Yeah well Spicey you hate Science anyway.

[derspiess]

Fair point.