New England Patriots • News February 2020

Seahawks Sad To Hear Targeting Claims From Former Player

January 27, 2015 By Grant Hamersma Leave a Comment

The New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks are slated to square off this coming Sunday, February 1st, in Superbowl XLIX and one former Seahawk is has said he is planning on telling his new Patriots teammates to target injured Seahawks Richard Sherman and Earl Thomas during the game.

These comments on targeting come from former Seahawk Brandon Browner and have saddened some of his former teammates, including Seattle linebacker K.J. Wright.

“I didn’t know he said that, but we don’t play like that,” Wright said Monday. “We don’t go out there and try to hurt guys. And I don’t care if they do have an injury. We’re not going out there trying to hurt people, and especially guys you’re close to. If he said that, it’s fine, but that’s not our main focus.”

Sherman has a sprained ligament in his elbow, while Thomas is dealing with a shoulder separation suffered in the NFC Championship game against the Green Bay Packers.

Browning acknowledged that both Sherman and Thomas are tough guys in an interview with ESPN, and they’ll both be in the Superbowl playing as hard as they can to try and get the Seahawks to become the first repeat champions since the New England Patriots in the early 2000’s.

“But at the end of the day, this is about the Super Bowl,” Browner said in that same interview. “I’m gonna tell my teammates, ‘Go hit that elbow. Go hit that shoulder. Most definitely. Try to break it if you can.’ You’re gonna be my best friend after the game, but I know you want the Super Bowl just as bad as I do.”

Wright hasn’t seen that interview, but says that that isn’t a tactic that the Seahawks would use or endorse.

“You just try to play ball and play hard. But as far as going out there and targeting certain areas, that’s unacceptable and shouldn’t be in football.” Wright said.

Patriots Owner Robert Kraft Expects Apology If No Culprit Is Found

January 27, 2015 By Grant Hamersma Leave a Comment

The New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has stated that he expects an apology from the NFL if no culprit is found responsible for the deflategate scandal within the organization.

Ever since the accusations of the Patriots using under inflated balls in the AFC championship game against the Indianapolis Colts, the entire organization has been under the magnifying glass of the NFL ever since.

The investigation since that game has been one of the major media stories throughout the entire sports world. The investigation did in fact turn up the fact that 11 of the 12 game balls used by the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game were deflated outside of NFL guidelines.

Although the balls have been found to be deflated, the NFL investigation has yet to identify the individual responsible for the actual act of deflating the balls.

The investigation, being led by attorney Ted Wells, is still looking for a culprit and, unless one is found, there will likely be minimal punishment for the organization as a whole. That said, Robert Kraft still expects an apology from the NFL is no individual is found to be responsible.

“If the Wells investigation is not able to definitively determine that our organization tampered with the air pressure on the footballs, I would expect and hope that the league would apologize to our entire team, and in particular, coach [Bill] Belichick and Tom Brady for what they have had to endure this past week,” said Kraft is a statement.

Kraft vouched for the sanctity of his team and his organization, saying, “I want to make it clear that I believe unconditionally that the New England Patriots have done nothing inappropriate in this process or in violation of NFL rules.”

While there is still time for the investigation to turn up new results, focus will certainly be on the Patriots this week in the lead up to Superbowl XLIX.

Investigation Into Deflated Balls Ongoing

January 23, 2015 By Grant Hamersma Leave a Comment

Since last Sunday’s AFC Championship game between the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots, the NFL has been caught up in investigating allegations that game balls being used by the Patriots were under inflated to the point of not falling in line with NFL allegations.

Since the allegations were originally investigated when the inflation of the balls was retested at halftime, 11 of the 12 balls that were being used by the Patriots were under inflated and not by an insignificant margin.

The league has been continuing the investigation all week and has conducted over 40 interviews with various personnel who may have light to shed on the situation.

“While the evidence thus far supports the conclusion that footballs that were under inflated were used by the Patriots in the first half, the footballs were properly inflated for the second half and confirmed at the conclusion of the game to have remained properly inflated,” the NFL’s statement read.

“The goals of the investigation will be to determine the explanation for why footballs used in the game were not in compliance with the playing rules and specifically whether any noncompliance was the result of deliberate action. We have not made any judgments on these points and will not do so until we have concluded our investigation and considered all of the relevant evidence.”

So far the NFL has not conducted any interviews with any individual players, nor have they announced any kind of ramifications, nor who is wholly responsible for the incident.

The reason the deflation of the footballs could be so important is that under inflated footballs could provide a competitive advantage as the balls are more easy to grip for wide receivers, and they are easier to throw for the quarterbacks.

This new scandal known as “deflategate” doesn’t appear to be drawing to a close, as there are still a number of questions that need to be answered.

Bill Belichick Comments On Deflation Controversey

January 22, 2015 By Grant Hamersma Leave a Comment

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick addressed the media on Thursday with an 11 minute conference devoted solely to addressing the deflated ball controversy that has been the subject of much analysis since the Patriots victory over the Indianapolis Colts last Sunday in the AFC Championship game.

Stemming from that game were the allegations that the game balls the Patriots were using had been deflated out of NFL rule guidelines, which could have provided the Patriots with a competitive advantage during the game to decide who would represent the AFC in Super Bowl XLIX.

The allegations launched a probe by the NFL which discovered that 11 of the 12 game balls that were being used by the New England Patriots during the game had in fact been deflated to outside the NFL guidelines after being inspected by officials 2 hours and 15 minutes before the game.

After a statement that lasted approximately 8 minutes, Belichick fielded questions from reporters, emphasizing that he has told the reporters everything he knew about the situation.

“In my entire coaching career, I have never talked to any player or staff member about football air pressure,” Belichick said. “The footballs are approved by the league and officials pregame, and we play with what’s out there. That’s the only way that I have ever thought about that.”

While the investigation is still ongoing to determine, if possible, who is responsible for the deflation of the balls, the NFL will still be faced with an unprecedented case of this kind of tampering occurring in a playoff game.

Punishments for this offense typically include fines of some sort, but it seems as though something further ought to be done in order to ensure that this kind of ting doesn’t happen in the future.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is set to address the media Thursday at 3:45 in regard to this same controversy.

NFL Finds New England Balls Deflated

January 21, 2015 By Grant Hamersma Leave a Comment

After Sunday’s AFC Championship game, the NFL launched a probe into the New England Patriots under allegations that they were playing with deflated footballs. The results of that probe have found that the New England Patriots were playing with 11 of their 12 game balls significantly under inflated.

The investigation showed that the game balls were deflated over 2 pounds per square inch less than what the NFL rules stipulate.

The investigation also confirmed that the balls were properly inspected by the game officials before the game went underway, and the testing at half time revealed that only the balls the Patriots had been using were deflated. The balls used by the Indianapolis Colts were also retested and found to be within NFL regulations.

The Colts had concerns about the potential for under inflated footballs before the AFC championship game went underway. During the Colts game against the Patriots on November 16th, Colts safety Mike Adams intercepted the ball twice and gave the balls to the Colts equipment manager, both times with concerns that the balls felt under inflated.

The Colts made the NFL aware of the concerns, and according to the findings, the concerns appeared to be validated.

So far, there has been no word on what, if any penalties will be imposed on the Patriots as the NFL is still looking into just how those 11 game balls became deflated, though the situation appears to indicate some level of foul play.

The reason this is such a major issue is the fact that a deflated ball could provide a competitive advantage by allowing a ball to be more easily gripped by a player as well as altering the way a ball travels through the air.

This isn’t the first time the Patriots have come under the leagues magnifying glass, as this is reminiscent of the 2007 spygate incident that occurred in a game between the Patriots and Jets that saw Bill Belichick fined $500,000.

Interception Led To NFL Probe of Patriots

January 20, 2015 By Grant Hamersma Leave a Comment

The New England Patriots have been the subject of a NFL probe as a result of suspicion that the Patriots may have been using partially deflated balls during the AFC Championship game this past Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts.

The suspicion arose when Colts linebacker, D’Qwell Jackson picked off a Tom Brady pass during the 2nd quarter of the game.

Jackson handed the ball to a Colts equipment manager on the sideline, and the equipment manager noticed that the ball was not fully inflated, and informed Colts’ head coach Chuck Pagano about the situation.

Officials became aware of the situation during halftime of the game, at which point the Patriots were already winning 17-7, and as a result of the situation the NFL is investigating to determine if there is any merit to the allegations of deflated footballs.

While it may not seem like a huge deal to the average football fan, a non-fully inflated football could be somewhat easier to grip, and as such provide a benefit to the team using them.

NFL guidelines have the game balls being prepared and inspected 2 hours and 15 minutes before game time at which point the officials ensure that the game balls meet the guidelines laid out in the NFL rule book. After the inspection 6 balls are given to each team in preparation for the game. The window between inspection and game time does leave enough time for potential tampering.

Despite the probe, the Patriots organization seems to be brushing off the allegations, with Tight End Rob Gronkowski posted to twitter, joking about the entire incident.

This level of tampering, if found to be true by the NFL, would usually just result in some type of fine levied against the organization, though because this playoff game there may be a new precedent set if the allegations are true.

Regardless of the allegations, the Patriots did go on to win the AFC Championship in decisive fashion, 45-7, and are set to meet the Seattle Seahawks in Phoenix, Arizona on February 1st in Super Bowl XLIX.

Deflated Balls or Egos

January 19, 2015 By David Kellen Leave a Comment

The NFL confirmed it was looking into claims that the New England Patriots had cheated on Sunday during the AFC Championship Game when they clinched their record tying seventh trip to the Super Bowl, by using footballs that were deflated, a charge Tom Brady the star quarterback called ridiculous.

A spokesperson for the NFL confirmed the league’s probe on Monday, following the Sunday game in which New England routed the Indianapolis Colts to the tune of 45-7.

The claims were made first on Sunday night, when an reporter from Indianapolis reported that the league had seized one and possibly more balls from the game to examine whether they had been intentionally deflated to make them easier to both throw and catch.

In his morning appearance on radio in New England on Monday, Brady called the charges ridiculous.

He said he know has heard it all. He called the charge the last of his worries and that he did not even have to respond to things like that.

The reporter from WTHR in Indianapolis said that at one point officials took a ball from the game and weighed it.

If New England did in fact cheat, it is not the first time. In 2007, the team received a penalty of one first round pick in the draft, a fine of $250,000 and Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 after an NFL investigation determined the team illegally videotaped opponents hand signals during one of their games.

Accusations of other cheating that have gone unsubstantiated have dogged the team’s image. These accusations stem from their wins in the Super Bowl in 2002, 2004 as well as 2005. St. Louis claimed New England had videotaped the Rams walk through practice before the 2002 Super Bowl.

By deflating the football, it would have theoretically made it easier for quarterback Brady to throw and for Patriots receivers to catch in the bad weather on Sunday.

However, that would have been true as well for Andrew Luck the Colts quarterback and his corps of receivers, so where would the advantage be?

The NFL rules show that home teams hosting outdoor games must provide 36 footballs and make them available to be tested prior to each game with pressure gauges.

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