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NFL Reportedly Covered Up Facts That Would Have Exonerated Tom Brady, Patriots in Deflategate

SGKing

FILE - In this Jan. 21, 2018, file photo, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, left, embraces quarterback Tom Brady after defeating the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC championship NFL football game in Foxborough, Mass. Brady, the centerpiece of the New England Patriots’ championship dynasty over the past two decades, appears poised to leave the only football home he has ever had. The 42-year-old six-time Super Bowl winner posted Tuesday, March 17, 2020, on social media “my football journey will take place elsewhere.” The comments were the first to indicate the most-decorated player in NFL history would leave New England. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson, File)

Deflategate is back in the news again.

A Report suggests the NFL covered up facts that might have exonerated Tom Brady, Patriots.

A new book by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk shines a light on the league office’s role in the scandal and how it actively worked against the Patriots.

Two pieces of information were recently shared in a excerpt from the book. One,  who was responsible for the erroneous tweet by ESPN’s Chris Mortensen claiming that 11 of 12 Patriots footballs were two pound per square inch (PSI) below the league’s air pressure range (12.5-13.5), and Two, how the NFL handled measurements conducted during the 2015 season.

As for Mortensen’s tweet, its source reportedly was NFL vice president of football operations Troy Vincent.

“So who was his source? Per a source with knowledge of the situation and as explained in Playmakers, the source for the notorious 11-of-12 footballs report was NFL executive V.P. of football operations Troy Vincent.

It makes sense. It needed to be someone sufficiently high on the organizational chart to make it credible, and to prompt Mortensen to use it, despite the fact that (unbeknownst to Mortensen) it wasn’t true. It’s unclear whether Vincent deliberately lied to Mortensen. Things were muddled and hazy and confusing in the early days of the scandal.”

The league’s field study conducted during the 2015 season would have helped exonerate the Patriots and Brady after their were heavily penalized for their alleged involvement. However, NFL hid the numbers, reportedly at the behest of league counsel Jeff Pash:

“So what happened to those numbers from the 2015 season? Per a source with knowledge of the situation, and as reported in Playmakers, the NFL expunged the numbers. It happened at the direct order, per the source, of NFL general counsel Jeff Pash.

Why would the league delete the numbers? It’s simple. For cold days, the numbers were too close to the actual numbers generated by the New England footballs at halftime of the playoff game against the Colts. Which means that the numbers generated at halftime of the January 2015 AFC Championship were not evidence of cheating, but of the normal operation of air pressure inside a rubber bladder when the temperature drops. Just as it was expected.”

There are those no matter what evidence comes to light, will never convinced the Patriots weren’t cheating.

Florio’s new book Playmakers is available for pre order now. 

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