Rampant shit-talking and homerism aside, I think this game will be awesome. Things I Am Not Worried About: I feel that Maxwell, Sherman and Simon, even at 85% won't have too difficult a problem with Edelman, Amendola and LaFell. Gronk is a freak of nature, but so is Kam Chancellor. KJ Wright is also an underrated cover linebacker and had the speed and length to hang with Jimmy Graham last year. Seattle has had a pretty effective pass rush with just 4 linemen. Even though the sack numbers don't necessarily reflect that, they did a great job of forcing bad passes and turnovers. Seattle will run until they can't run no more and throw a bomb or two to keep the defense honest. They're good at it and led the league in explosive plays. Despite the shitfest in the NFC Championship, I'm not the least bit worried about Russell Wilson's ability to run the offense. The area I'm worried about is run defense and Seattle's propensity to abandon their gaps when they feel like they have to make a play. Losing Brandon Mebane and Jordan Hill to injury was a setback. Kevin Williams (yes, former Viking) has done a fine job holding up as the 1 tech. The 3 tech is down to the 3rd string. I'm definitely worried that Blount and Gray will batter whomever is playing there. Another thing I'm worried about is Vereen out of the backfield. San Diego used their RB's pretty effectively as pass catchers. The numbers aren't significant, but picking up first downs are. The most interesting match up to me is going to be the coaching. Mostly because their philosophies are the polar opposite of each other. With Carroll, you know you're going to get Marshawn Lynch, some read option/play action and a Cover 3 defense. There's something awesome about a coach just dropping his nuts on the table and daring the other team to try and stop them. On the other hand, Bill Belichick does an amazing job of tailoring his team to attack a weakness that he sees, whether that be your offense or defense. While that kind of adaptability is nice, it really doesn't allow you to be great at one thing. For example, if both teams were going against the Broncos, Seattle's running game is going to be better than New England's. I think that, even though Belichick will attempt to exploit whatever faults he can find, I think Seattle will still find a way to bulldoze through and stand up defensively to whatever tricks he has up his sleeves. I think Seattle wins. 23-19. Edit: Earl Thomas's weapon is his speed. I'm more worried about him hitting a guy and hurting himself than anything else.
Well, you have some valid points Jimmy. I'm concerned about Marshawn and the L.O.B, but I'm so fucking glad that the Super Bowl is not in Seattle. If Seattle has those turnovers, they're not going to get away. Bill is not going to have those insane mistakes McCarthy did. Barnwell had to bring back his "Thank You For Not Coaching" column back just for that. Also, I don't mean to get all Simmons-ish here, but I think one thing is going to be a huge factor. Pete Carroll loves his team, and everyone on it. Russell Wilson loves every single person on his team, probably down to the ball boys. I sincerely think they are good people. I have no doubt in my mind that Bill Belichick would burn everyone alive outside of Brady, Gronk, maybe Revis and Edelman to get this next ring. He doesn't care who will get a concussion, who will break an arm, neck or soul. He wants this 4th ring more than anything else. That tick-tock couldn't be louder for him. Same for Brady. I think Brady talks a big game, but I think he's right there as well at this point. The first 18 games, sure, he was all about talking the team and teammates. You think he's not looking at legacy? Remembering all the comments that "He hasn't won a ring since marrying Gisele"? All the pretty boy comments, all the shit he took with that game 4 debacle? That tick-tock couldn't be louder... Man...I'm fucking excited. It's going to be a good game. Patriots 24 Seattle 21. Gostkowski kick to win the game (of course it has to be their kicker.)
I like the matchup. New England has corners they can leave on an island to stack the box against the Seattle running game, and Seattle's safeties against Gronk is going to be great. I think it's going to come down to Wilson getting outside the pocket and how well the linebackers contain Edelman and the New England RBs. I don't think they will line Gronkowski up it wide just to target Sherman. A big part of their offense is built on him sucking defenders into his orbit down the seams. Putting him wide just lets them shade a safety in his direction.
This "DeflateGate" situation is a stupid discussion when people are trying to act like it affected the Colts game, clearly it didn't cause they couldn't stop the run if the football was a fucking watermelon. However, it is yet another conspicuous example of BB and co skirting the rules and the fact that he's been "caught" multiple times, despite how crafty and smart we know he is, makes you wonder what else he does. I'm not on some Sack shit calling him Belicheat and such, but dude probably saw nothing wrong with Danny Almonte back in the day. Appropriate response from Pats fans is "who gives a fuck, we're in the Super Bowl". But its interesting for everyone else and not because "WHATEVER YAH FUCKAHS ARE ALL JUST JEALOUS".
My question about "Deflategate", as a fair-weather football fan, is: Doesn't an official place the ball after every play? And wouldn't they notice if that much air was let out of the ball? And also, weren't the majority of points scored after the issue was addressed and corrected at the game? Also, will New England ever play in a postseason where they aren't accused of cheating?
Yeah, it's some questionable shit. Like I said, the Patriots are selling out to win this year. Bill is going to dance on every single line he fucking can. I bet there are 3-4 other iffy things going on. But don't the refs touch the ball all the time? Like I said, if it really matters that much, they should have caught it PRETTY quickly before anything got out of hand. Also, just caught a SportsCenter segment where Jay Crawford made such an awesome point. WHY THE HELL ARE THEY USING DIFFERENT BALLS FOR THE TEAM? In no other sport does one team get to use different balls. This was during a panel, where Mark Brunnell and Jerome Bettis were trying to defend the teams having different balls. "Well if Aaron Rodgers has bigger hands, he might want his ball inflated more than someone that has smaller hands. It gets them comfortable with the football so they can perform the best." Jay just responds "Well if a baseball player says his hands are smaller and needs a smaller ball, they don't give it to him, it makes no sense! Basketball players don't get smaller balls if they can't palm the ball! Why is for football do they make this exception? Why have this whole section of rules when they can eliminate all of this and be like 'Here are the 24 balls we're going to be using for this game. Let's go."
This all seems insane, though. I have a really hard time taking it at face value. You're going to tell me that Bill Belichick uniquely broke a rule involving every single one of the footballs that the refs touch dozens of times per game, on the off chance that no single official who touches the football is going to notice? It just seems so patently absurd. One of the announcers was talking about an interview with Rogers during a game a few weeks ago and he said that Rogers preferred to over-inflate the balls and see if the officials take a few pounds out of them. I'm not pointing at that and saying cheating is rampant, only that I have to wonder if it's a common practice to push the edges of the inflation guidelines and leave it to the officials to correct? Otherwise, the whole thing seems absolutely crazy. Only an person with an insanely high tolerance for risk would try something that would be so easily discovered to gain a minor advantage against a team they've been dominant against - unless this is just something that many teams do and it's been blown up as a story because the media got ahold of it and went nuts.
Yeah, like you said, messing with footballs isn't unprecedented. For example, Brad Johnson paid some dudes to doctor the balls in Super Bowl 37, and Aaron Rodgers said "I like to push the limits of how much air we can put in the football, even go over what they allow you to do" (apparently his personal preference is for overinflated rather than underinflated). So it is a thing that people try to do, not unlike doctoring baseballs. The idea that there is essentially an organizational conspiracy does seem crazy. There's only so much value to it, and it's obviously a real egg on your face situation once caught. I'm wondering if there is a rogue equipment manager who thought this was a sneaky idea no one would pick up on.
As far as I understand it, Rodgers' tweaks are made pregame and he hopes for the best where the balls in the Patriots game were deflated post-examination. And come on, rogue equipment manager? This isn't the Bears where there was absolutely no organizational control or direction under Trestman. No equipment manager would risk certain execution by Hernandez on Belichick's orders to do such a thing.
I have no problem taking it at face value, mostly because it's a minor thing that they were probably pretty sure they could get away with. Even if they get caught, I would assume the worst they would get is a small fine. The idea that they might lose draft picks is just the media trying to make a story out of it. Most teams would just bullshit about a faulty pressure gauge and that would be it, but the Pats don't get the benefit of the doubt.
No one actually knows that bolded part, (well, except in theory the Patriots I guess). All we know is that the refs were supposed to inspect the balls. Presumably they did so, but maybe it was half assed or the ref is an idiot. They could have been deflated the whole time.
It's not a small thing, though. These guys handle footballs every single day. All the time. Thousands and thousands of times, they've touched a football. Do you know how sensitive you get to things you deal with all the time? There's only a 1 PSI acceptable range, and these balls were supposedly 2 PSI below the lowest acceptable value. That's more than 15% underinflated, not a tiny amount. I'd be willing to bet in a blind test of football players and refs, the vast majority could identify an under or over-inflated ball by touch. Not only that, but the refs were handling balls from both sidelines, which means they were handling the under-inflated ones and properly inflated ones back to back. Being that it only takes one ref to notice, and it's so easily and quickly tested without even disrupting the game... the whole thing is bizarre. Also... balls. Balls balls balls. BALLS BALLS BALLS BALLS. TOUCHING BALLS. TESTING BALLS. SQUEEZING BALLS. BAALLLLLLLLLLLLS. Ahem.
Here's my theory: The Patriots inflated the balls correctly to 13 PSI - using heated air at about 150 degrees. The rubber bladder and outer covering of the football would retain the heat well enough to last through the measuring process, and also keep the outside of the ball from warming up enough to be noticeable. Per Amondton's Law of Pressure-Temperature (P1/P2=T1/T2 with constant volume and number of molecules of gas), a temperature drop of 100 degrees (game time weather was high 40s) will reduce 13 PSI to 10.89 PSI. And no air needs to be let out. Is it cheating? NO. No rules were broken, because there is no specific rule about the temperature of the air. They complied with the rule by the book. Is it sneaky? Absolutely. Does it go against the spirit of the rule? Yep, it sure does. If it was the Colts that had done the same thing, would there be the same outrage? Nope.
Oh my holy fuck. God knows there have been so many times where I've thought "Man, he could've made that play if only the ball was under/over inflated just a bit more". Why the hell is anyone even talking about this?
Because it's directed at the Patriots, who are pretty universally hated outside their fan base. If it was the Colts or Bucs or Bears or whatever, it would be no big deal. But when it's a team that is consistently in the AFC Championship year after year, the Super Bowl 6 times, a lot of people look to taint it the success any way they can. I think it's stupid as hell too... I just like to figure out puzzles and how they could have pulled it off while keeping deniability.
Because there is nothing fucking else going on in the NFL, and everyone is salivating at the chance of reporting on or uncovering a scandal. Scandal leads to eyeballs on ads.
Yes, but its also because of Spygate. Its like if a pitcher in baseball is caught doctoring his pitches, everytime he touches his cap and the ball moves a bit, he's gonna be scrutinized. God, if there is anything worse than the pearl clutching, its Patriots fans saying its just because of jealousy. Fuck right off.
It's either this or going back and analyzing how Goodell is a fuck-up and shouldn't be commissioner, given the report contradicting two clear statements he made about his actions during the investigation.