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Pats Possibly Caught Cheating...Again

Does anybody know how the balls are used during the game? Do both teams footballs get mixed together or does each team use their own balls during their offensive possession?

The answer to that would to a certain degree put my theory in jeopardy.

Quarterbacks and Kickers like to "rub up" their balls in different ways (the double entendres are flying in this thread). So yes teams are allowed to have their own set of footballs.
 
Respectfully, this feels like talking out of your ***.

How would we even measure that? Is there some number of average points per pound of square inch deflation we can attribute to the change?

Another question that occurs to me: Don't the referees touch the ball all the time? Like every single play? If this is a huge difference in how the ball feels and behaves why didn't the refs, who presumably have been regularly handling footballs for a large portion of their lives, notice?

total Psi of a properly inflated ball is only 13 PSI. 2 PSI is significant.
 
total Psi of a properly inflated ball is only 13 PSI. 2 PSI is significant.

I think it's safe to say that it's easier to throw and catch a ball that is slightly deflated. And being you can grip the ball better there is less of a chance of fumbling it as well. How significant an advantage this is, is debate-able. But the telling allegation to me is that 11 of the 12 balls were deflated - the 12th ball was probably used for kicking purposes being there's no discernible advantage (and probably a disadvantage) to kicking a deflated football. If it can be proven that the 12th ball was the "k-ball" then I think that represents a conscious effort to cheat by The Pats and the NFL should come down hard on them.

Otherwise this is just a lot of smoke.
 
Does anybody know how the balls are used during the game? Do both teams footballs get mixed together or does each team use their own balls during their offensive possession?

The answer to that would to a certain degree put my theory in jeopardy.

There's a local radio personality here that played in the NFL for a couple years. He says there are a few designated "kicking balls" that are used for nothing else. Each team has their own set of regular use balls on their sideline.



When it comes down to it, this had ZERO impact on the outcome of the game.
 
yeah, now that your post got a buncha traction in a busier forum. and only after gettin called out.
yet my post gets moved before anyone can even reply.
thats just how it goes round here tho. i aint mad. gotten used to the aristo mods steppin all over us peon peasants.

Good, as long as you know your place.
 
Does anybody know how the balls are used during the game? Do both teams footballs get mixed together or does each team use their own balls during their offensive possession?

The answer to that would to a certain degree put my theory in jeopardy.
According to John Beck on the radio each team has their own balls during their offensive possession. They don't get mixed and he actually complained to the ref when the accidently used another teams ball during one of their plays.
 
Great study with some cool graphs on The Patriots fumbles lost statistics at compared to the rest of the league.

https://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2015/01/ballghazi_the_new_england_patriots_lose_an_insanely_low_number_of_fumbles.html

The league average is 105 plays per fumbles lost. The Patriots run an 187 plays per fumbles lost and did not lose a fumble at home ALL season. Considering they play most of their home games in cold weather conditions - this number is astonishing. No other "non-dome" team comes even close to them


Based on the assumption that fumbles per play follow a normal distribution, you’d expect to see, according to random fluctuation, the results that the Patriots have gotten over this period, once in 16,233.77 instances.
Which in layman’s terms means that this result only being a coincidence, is like winning a raffle where you have a 0.0000616 probability to win. [In] other words, it’s very unlikely that it’s a coincidence.

Of course statistics don't take into account that Belichick has zero tolerance for fumblers and iss notorious for benching and even cutting players who fumble the football. Steven Ridley went from a 1000 yard/10+ touchdown RB to permanent exile because he couldn't hold on to the football. But NE's numbers are just too good to be true.
 
So what happens if they win the Super Bowl and then found guilty cheating? Do they get stripped of the championship or what?
 
I think the whole psi thing is a dumb rule anyway.

Nfl should just let each team deflate or inflate the ball however they want too.
If you let both teams be in control of ball inflation then it's fair and even and no team has an advantage.

If a team wants thier ball at 3 psi why not let them? Good luck throwing a tight spiral or a deep ball.
 
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