Answer: NFL now finishes
The Patriots should be disqualified from the Super Bowl Cheat on a test in school? You fail, no questions asked.
Cheat on your taxes, the IRS will find you. It won't be pretty.
Cheat on a World Cup bid and, well, you probably get that World Cup, but thats neither here nor there.
The New England Patriots cheated in the AFC Championship. As such, the team should be disqualified from the Super Bowl.
Deflating 11 of 12 balls in Sunday game
as has been reported by ESPN, is a major violation and something that had a huge impact on the game. Given the number of deflated balls, it would be almost impossible for this to happen, meaning that someone in the New England organization would be diligent with the rules to give his team an advantage. That is cheating.
The penalty should be simple: Ban Κ½em.
Of course, it's not realistic to disqualify New England from the Super Bowl. Whats the NFL going to do, bring the Colts back to replace them? Hold a loser-bracket between Denver and Indianapolis? That is not feasible. Just because of the Pats
shouldnt be DQΚΟd doesnΚΟt mean they will or could.
But, again, they should. The evidence is all there, assuming Chris Mortensen's report is correct. Former NFL referee Gerry Austin was on
Mike and Mike this morning and said officials checked the PSI of all footballers two hours before the game. At halftime, New England FC footballs (each team has different balls during the game) were found to be two-to-three pounds lighter. Someone deflated the balls. There's no debate here.
The New England defenders have been even more laughable than they were during the 2007 videotape controversy. b ???? It doesn't even help that much! b ???? Sure it doesn't. Thats why they were doing it. Of course it helps. Deflating gave Brady an easier grip on the ball (at least in the first half; thereKOs the question of whether the balls were re-inflated at half time when it was 17-7). It also left Andrew Luck with the harder footballs in the colder weather.
Would a level playing field have affected the game? It ended 45-7, so it sos doubtful. But obviously throwing a deflated ball helps, plus the placebo effect is powerful and maybe Brady knowing he had an easier ball to throw. And Luck's use of inferior equipment, or thinking that it was difficult to throw in such conditions, may have had a similar effect on his psyche.
If it's found out that Bill Belichick knew anything about it, even after the fact, Draconian sanctions are the only way to go. He was fined $ 500,000 for the videotaping controversy, which is a huge amount of money, but is hardly going to break a man who makes many, many millions in a single season. (No one really knows exactly how much the Pats coach does, but it does
thought to be over $ 7 million). If Sean Payton gets suspended for an entire year because of Bountygate, Belichick deserves at least the same thing. He's affected the sanctity of the game and the fairness of one of the three biggest battles of the year.
But since Roger Goodell has been showing the backbone of an invertebrate (they don? T have backbones in case you, like me, forgot seventh-grade science), an eight-game suspension seems fair. Draft picks should be taken away, not for one year, but for two or three, because the Pats are always picking toward the end of the first round anyway. Or take away some salary cap space, like the league unjustly
did to the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys.
This is to say I don't have a grudging respect for the Pats. It's not cheating if you don''t get caught and they weren't caught during the game. They somehow got around the biggest mystery of this controversy β ???? how the officials who handle the balls in between each play didnKOt notice the changes β ???? with ease.
But I will happily blame the Patriots for being skeezy once again. IKE blame Belichick because, as Goodell said about Payton during Bountygate, the head coach is supposed to know what's going on with his team. IΚll blame Tom Brady who
Clearly knew the balls were deflated but is getting scot-free in this controversy because heKOs the Golden Boy and is handsome and is married to a supermodel. (It's amazing how no one criticizes Brady. He's just as guilty as the others.) But there is blame for others too.
How on earth does the NFL, which regulates everything from
shoe color to
the way players gyrate in the end zone, let teams keep 12 footballs in their possession during the game. ThatКΩs like a teacher leaving the room during an exam.
(AP)
It doesn't matter though. The NFL will turn a blind eye once again. There will be minor sanctions, this controversy will dominate the news cycle for a few days and then fade into the ether and we will move on to something else. But in the here and now, if the report is true, the New England Patriots should be hit hard. But they wonKt and the Pats legacy will grow even more.
With a Super Bowl win on two Sundays, people will be inclined to say Bill Belichick is the greatest coach of all time. But at what?
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