"According to a letter dated November 2, 2004, from then-NFL Director of Game Operations Peter Hadhazy and a memorandum dated October 25, 2004, from Richard Farley, the NFL Security Representative assigned to New England, that incident involved Patriots ball boys relaying supposed “approved” game balls that actually were non-approved practice balls to a game official during an October 25, 2004 regular season game."

 

"The then-Equipment Manager of the Patriots described the incident as “just an honest mistake.” The Hadhazy letter stated, however, that “the Patriots have not provided a reasonable explanation for this incident,” and warned that disciplinary action against the Patriots could result if a similar incident occurred in the future because it could be interpreted as a competitive violation."

 

So the Patriots tried to sneak doctored practice balls into games in 2004 when it was clearly against the rules, then in 2006 Tom Brady lobbied to have the rules changed to make team practice balls the standard game balls.  For the Patriots, the new rule change immediately resulted in an NFL record 50 TD passe and an NFL-record 16-0 regular season record.  It is likely sheer coincidence that these historic numbers occurred just after an already talented coach and QB got a rule change that facilitated a systemic program of doctoring balls for a statistically formidable turnover advantage. 

 

When you look at the essence of what was done - a relatively small change in the pressure of the football, and the huge statistical change in turnovers and therefore the outcome of games - it's pretty incredible.  Belichick and Brady may have won 30, 40, 50 games over the years that they would not have otherwise won. 

 

How many division titles did they steal?  In how many playoff games did they cheat their way to victory?  We will never know, because the closer the reporter is to the NFL, the less interested he is in knowing the truth.  You can see that illustrated clearly on this board, where the bootlickers deriding the initial reports as sour grapes are not present when the facts come out. 

 

F--- tom. It stuffs the cash into my size 11s or it gets the watermelon on sunday

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