#### MY FINAL POST ON THIS MATTER #### OK. I've gone back and forth in this thread, and for the most part, Ravens fans have legitimate issues with how the Patriots handled their footballs. But after the Belichick press conference yesterday, he essentially admitted what they did. I'm still hearing people on Patriots radio (Pats fans) still not even know what they are talking about, so I will state the exact defense the Patriots are using and you can be the judge of it. This is NOT my explanation, this is paraphrased right from Belichicks press conference yesterday. The "process" the Patriots use to prepare their game balls, and which lasts right up until the time they hand them over to NFL officials, actually RAISES the PSI in the ball by approximately one pound. This is important. The Patriots then instruct the ref, which may or may not abide by their instruction, to put the game ball at 12.5 PSI. He didn't say it, but because their process artificially raises the PSI by 1, this would require the ref to actually DEFLATE the football by 1 PSI, so the gauge would read 12.5 PSI. He didn't say it because that would be DECEPTIVE. At this point, although the football reads 12.5 PSI, this is a measurement of the actual air pressure inside the football at that moment, and with the air still excited by the Patriots "process" of getting balls ready. Belichick said they did not heat them, but they must have REALLY rubbed them:) So at this point, the football is now at 12.5 PSI (temporarily). Although the gauge says 12.5 PSI, if the excited air inside the football had time to acclimate to room temperature where the balls are tested, and the heat/energy of the Patriots "process" has dissipated, the air pressure would indeed fall to an equilibrium of 11.5 PSI. And this is 11.5 PSI INDOORS. This would depend on how quickly the refs inspected them from the time the Patriots finished their rubbing. I mean they could still be rubbing outside the door before they go in. Crazy though. Now, when these balls enter the field of play, and after having been subjected to 50 degree weather for some duration, that 11.5 PSI is going to fall by even more. If the NFL says balls were 2 PSI under, that means the balls fell another .5 PSI, or basically what Belichick said happened in their tests. For what that's worth. So as you can see, if this is what the Patriots did, aside from being deceptive and skirting the rules and you can call that cheating, which is fair, the Patriots would not have had to tamper with footballs post inspection, and by all accounts, there would have been NO TIME for tampering with the footballs. Belichick basically confessed to providing the NFL with balls that were deceptively HIGH in PSI. I for one DO NOT think the Patriots should be allowed to do this. Although not violating the word of the rule, it certainly violates the spirit of the rule. If I were to make a ruling, and seeing as this had NO effect on the outcome of the game, which would have been a big issue for me, should they have won by a 2 TDs or less, I couldn't do anything more than fine the organization, and fine Belichick. Brady would not be fined. Brady cannot overrule Belichick. And I would fine Belichick the same as I fined him last time $500k for lying when he said he didn't know what the "process" involved, and another $500k as a deterrent for further violations. That's a pretty detailed process, and at one time he must have at least asked what was going on. So did the Patriots TAMPER with footballs after the refs inspected them? NO NO NO. Any conversation or speculation on that is absurd, unless the NFL has some hard proof. Did the Patriots deceive the refs? YES YES YES. And I am happy with any fines the NFL imposes on the Patriots. I DO NOT think there will be suspensions or draft picks taken away however. I'll bet there will be rule changes though. So there, this REALLY is the last time I speak on this until the NFL says something and can back it up with evidence.
