As first reported by FOX’s Jay Glazer just an hour before NFL Sunday kickoff, the Giants contacted the league about the Steelers possibly using deflated footballs in their Week 13 matchup. Glazer followed up with saying that the two footballs that were measured were both under 12.5 PSI. Pro Football Talk later reported that the balls measured 11.8 and 11.4 PSI. The recorded temperature at that game was 43 degrees.
Patriots fans would know this better than anyone: you can’t necessarily trust any of these reports. Chris Mortensen’s famous 11 out of 12 footballs report ended being a load of garbage. Glazer’s reports could be a lie, but then again, Pittsburgh could be lying on their side, as well. Nobody knows the truth, thanks to the NFL’s shadiness.
Quickly following this report, almost too quickly, the league issued a brief statement regarding the story:
“The officiating game ball procedures were followed and there were no chain of command issues. All footballs were in compliance and no formal complaint was filed by the Giants with our office.”
The league released this so fast, it’s painfully obvious that they’re doing their absolute best to bury this entire thing. Sure, they don’t want to go down the Deflategate road again, I get that. Protect the shield. But, whatever happened to the integrity of the game? I thought that Goodell took these things seriously, as Tom Brady could confirm. Why not check Roethlisberger’s cell phone? As so many former quarterbacks commented on this back in the first Deflategate, they said that they would be the first to know about the footballs.
Secondly, why not release the measurements formally, like you did back in January 2015? The whole world knew about the PSI measurements of New England’s footballs a day after that infamous game. If they footballs were in ship shape condition, why can’t you tell us the numbers? Hmm?
Lastly, who the hell even knows what a “formal complaint” is in the NFL? Countless reporters have asked commissioner Goodell just that, but he continuously backs himself into a corner when it comes to those questions. We, as fans, may never know.
Plus, the NFL obviously knew about these findings a week ago, and you didn’t hear a squeak about it. I guess you can’t blame them for wanting to protect themselves under all circumstances considering what they’ve done. Those two footballs, at least, were not “in compliance”. They measured at 11.8 and 11.4 PSI. I don’t care if it was the weather that caused that or Ben’s ball boy dinked around with the footballs, the balls were not in compliance. t=The league minimum is 12.5 PSI, and those footballs were below that. It doesn’t take a genius to determine that.
As for the Steelers, they too quickly denied any wrongdoing. Head coach Mike Tomlin said, “I heard about it, but we have absolutely no response. We will cooperate fully with whatever New York wants to do in regards to that. We have absolutely nothing to hide. It’s a non-story for us.” Meanwhile, Ben Roethlisberger joked by saying, “we used nerf balls”. Take a second to imagine that Tom Brady had used that nerf balls line. I’d guess that he’d be on his way to prison within seconds.
The main reason why this particular case didn’t blow up and will never be spoken of again within a week? The first Deflategate was never about air pressure, while Deflategate 2 actually is. Part two was over with before it even started. Roger Goodell isn’t out to get the Steelers. If this modern Steelers team was anything like they were back in the seventies, you bet your butt that Goodell would be out to get them. The current Steelers aren’t Patriot-hated, so there’s no reason for him to try to “expose” them.
As Bleacher Report’s Jason Cole reported, the relationship between the Mara’s and the Rooney’s ensures that nothing will come out of this story. The Rooney’s own the Steelers while the Mara’s own the Giants. The two family’s relationship dates back to over a century, and the friendships are unbreakable. Funny how things work out that way when you’re not the Patriots.
Owner John Mara notably shamed the Patriots for their “actions” in the first Deflategate, protecting his buddy Goodell as much as possible to make him look good. Mara obviously won’t take any chances with this story and blowing it out of proportion, despite the fact that it may make his staff look bad. The motto for the other 31 teams is ultimately Protect the Shield, and that’s just what he’ll do.
In summary, this whole “case” was nothing to begin with, if you understood Deflategate 1.0. All Patriots fans realized that the moment this report rose to the surface, absolutely jack squat would come about it. I could go on for days about the pure foolishness of the National Football League, Roger Goodell and his minions, but I’m sure that you’ve already heard more than enough about that for a year straight prior to this. No one team is as good as the Patriots right now, so therefore the league has no other team to go after. The other teams should take note, and probably have already. You can get away with most anything if you’re below New England. Plus, you know that Goodell will not go down any type of road like Deflategate as long as he’s commissioner.
It’s not like fans needed anymore proof regarding Goodell’s bias towards the Patriots, but if anything came out of Deflategate 2, it solidified that notion. We all understand what Roger Goodell is doing. Fans understand what they’re in for when it comes to the NFL. It’s now predictable. All New England fans knew that this story was dead the moment is arose. If the league was all about the integrity of the game, a level playing ground and so on, they’d at least look into this. They have investigators like Ted Wells and could put out another bullshit essay if they wanted to, but we’re all well aware that that is not happening. We, unfortunately, know what Goodell is all about and will sadly have to continue to put up with it. Integrity, am I right?
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