2014 American Football Conference championship game
Everyone knows, and most likely either loves or hates, the New England Patriots. With five Super Bowls in the last fifteen years, the true dynasty is practically impossible not to hate from an outsider’s perspective. Just over four years ago, the New England Patriots faced their largest scandal during the American Football Conference (AFC) championship against the Indianapolis Colts. It was known as Deflategate.
Typical sight of Gillette Stadium, home to the New England Patriots, in January.
Deflategate was a controversial scandal where the New England Patriots were accused of deliberately deflating footballs in order to gain a competitive edge against their opponent. Since they were the home team, why is this even important? At the time, the National Football League (NFL) had established rules that each team provided their own game balls for their offensive drives, requiring twelve standardized footballs per team. The AFC Championship game happened in Foxborough, Massachusetts in January. Thus, a deflated football from the Patriots’ equipment would have provided a “one-sided” competitive advantage for New England, allowing receivers catch the football easier than a stone-cold fully inflated football.
While this does negatively impact the throwing capability of the quarterback, there is no question that the positive impact on the receiver far outweighs this sacrifice. Interestingly, it was not until Indianapolis Colts linebacker D’Qwell Jackson intercepted one of Tom
NFL Footballs are standardized between 12.5 and 13.5 PSI
Brady’s passes when the questions about a potential cheating violation by the New England Patriots arose. Following this event, the case continued through investigation after investigation, interview after interview, and court case after court case. Over 500 days after the initial incident, the allegations ended in a four-game suspension for Tom Brady, a one million dollar fine, and the surrendering of two future draft picks.
To eliminate any misunderstood bias, I am a New England Patriots fan. However, I do believe that the New England Patriots did cheat in the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts that season. In counterpart, I do believe as well that the entire incident was mishandled, and no investigation of this minor magnitude should be strung along this long. I view Deflategate as a crooked scandal, but also as a strategic opportunity for the NFL to degrade the reputation of the New England Patriots.
Gronkowski celebrating after a touchdown in the AFC Championship game
In the Deflategate scandal, most of the evidence was acquired within the first month following the incident. The full-length investigation occurred for almost a year and a half, mainly due to the unjust initial punishment that the NFL decided to place on the New England Patriots. Another point to note is that the final score of the game was 45 to 7. There is no possible impact that any team could cheat with that increases their likelihood of winning by over 500%. Both of these point toward the NFL’s attempt to destroy the Patriots dynasty. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, a referee spotted a football severely deflated in a Pittsburgh Steelers pre-season game. After a full-length investigation of 12 hours with no actual investigation, the NFL simply stated that the football was defective. Although I feel as I presented many facts about this case, I am curious on your thoughts around Deflategate. What is your opinion of the New England Patriots? Did this prolonged scandal impact that mentality around them? What are your thoughts about how the Deflategate was handled, or the case in general?
Thank you for reading. Signing off, Woz.
