When the first (erroneous) reports emerged regarding #Deflategate, my wife and I had a conversation about it, which went something like this.
Wife: “What’s the issue?”
Me: “They say someone took air out of footballs.”
Wife: “Why would they do that?”
Me: “To make it easier to grip.”
Wife: “What’s the benefit of it?”
Me: “Makes it easier to throw.”
Wife: “Shouldn’t the NFL want that?”
Nine years later, that simple, first-impression logic remains undeniable. The rule requiring footballs to be inflated between 12.5 and 13.5 psi was the ultimate “it was like that when I got here” rule. No one knew where it came from, why it was, or how the numbers were picked.
Former Eagles center Jason Kelce recently pointed out the stupidity of the rule and the enforcement of it against the Patriots and Tom Brady, in an episode of the New Heights podcast.
“I don’t even think Tom should have got in trouble for deflating footballs,” Jason Kelce said, via Lauren Campbell of MassLive.com. “I’m pro-deflating footballs. I’ll say it. I’ll say it. I am pro-deflating footballs. . . . He outsmarted people. Why the fuck does it matter how much air is in that mutherfucker? If you’re throwing it and catching it, who the fuck cares?
“We’re all mad because he had the common sense to fucking take a little air out so the receivers could catch the fucking thing? Why is that against the rules? You all could have taken the air out, too. You guys could have taken the air out, too. You just weren’t smart enough. So why am I getting penalized because you’re fucking dummies? It’s a rule, but it’s a stupid rule, though.”
Amen to all of that. It is a stupid rule, and it was an even stupider investigation. Bungled from the outset, with the conclusion predetermined and the challenge becoming working backward to prove it. The thinking was that some in the league thought the Patriots didn’t get punished enough for the original Spygate controversy, and that this was a way to supplement their sanctions.
It didn’t help that Brady destroyed his phone. It didn’t help that it seemed there was indeed a deliberate plan in place to secretly “take the top off” the balls. But it also didn’t help the league that the numbers were sloppily harvested and not inconsistent with atmospheric conditions, making the proper outcome inconclusive at best for cheating.
The best evidence of that came from the 2015 epilogue. As explained in Playmakers (the hardcover is currently $13.52), the league began conducting random checks of air pressure at halftime of games. The numbers were kept under lock and key. And they were soon expunged, apparently because they showed that the numbers from the 2014 AFC Championship did not suggest cheating with the clarity the NFL believed.
Regardless of whether the investigation was handled poorly with a destination already determined, the rule itself was and is stupid. If the offense wants the ball to be lower than 12.5, so be it. Higher, so be it. As a time when the NFL is concerned about supercharging offenses, any under- or overinflation that achieves that end should be embraced, not rejected.
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