"the margin of error in the measurements will be larger than what they're trying to measure".
Clearly that was going to be the case, and obviously that's what happened.
You don't think that's a pretty serious problem when the NFL seeks to hand down one of the most severe punishments in the history of the league (picks + fines + suspension) for a violation it doesn't have the ability to prove even happened?
The pats were accused of doctoring the air pressure in their footballs by another team, and the (poorly done) pressure measurements seem to at least somewhat support the claim. Further investigation (which was probably warranted) uncovered some fairly incriminating texts.
But the punishments do seem to be exceptionally severe for the infraction.
This is wrong
It's obviously not wrong. If they'd measured the balls at halftime and the pats PSIs were within the allowable limits then it would have been unlikely that anything untoward happened. Measuring the balls and finding many of the pats balls below the allowable limit and none of the colts balls below the limit clearly seems to somewhat support the claim.
Ummm....except for the part in the Wells Report that showed 3 out the 4 balls from the Colts measured were under the minimum according to one gauge at halftime.
I stand corrected. One of the colts balls was within range on both measurements, the other three were within range on one measurement. None of the pats balls were within range on either measurement. One of the 8 colts measurements was lower than the highest measurement of a pats ball, and 21 of the 22 measurements of the pats balls were lower than the lowest measurement for the colts balls. So that correction still doesn't really exonerate the pats.
Unless, the colts balls started at 13 psi instead of 12.5 as was WIDELY reported including by Walt Anderson in the wells report
Do the math, the difference in the average between the pats and colts balls at halftime is probably well over that .5 psi starting difference.
The reasons for that has already been explained by Gas Law which indicated by the nature of them being measured after the Patriot's ones [and whatever time passed between them] was a factor for the increased PSI.
Yup. There certainly can be a scientific explanation for it & this was also addressed in the Wells Report. Up to 0.7 PSI in 13 minutes.
For the record, I'm not oblivious to the ideal gas law, and I didn't need a refresher course in it when this story came out. I'm saying that they didn't take enough measurements to measure the effect of it they didn't take all of the measurements they'd want to, and the measuring they did wasn't accurate enough, they didn't even know (apparently) which gauge they used for some of the measurements. On top of that, they don't know how well the balls held their air pressure. Did I miss anything?
The only things you can prove or disprove based on that are things that are so far from what was measured that the accumulation of all of the errors aren't great enough to affect them.
1st para sounds like an excellent endorsement for why there should have been absolutely NO punishment, and a promise to tighten up the process for next year (i.e., next BB rule).
CB
I think that all of the texts that we've heard about were more of an issue for the pats than the measurements were.
yes, but without a "crime", the texts are meaningless
CB
The texts at least arguably imply that a "crime" was committed.
If stories about Brady's footballs in the Jet's game being "overinflated" to 16 psi are true, I can see an infuriated Brady threatening the equipment guys with castration if they let that ever happen again, even if it means "deflating" the balls to the low end of the legal range AFTER the refs take control. Still a violation of the rules, so yes a crime would have been committed, but I think most would agree it's a lesser one all the way around.
This would explain:
1) the "deflator" tag,
2) the reason the equipment guys were so PO'ed with Brady, and
3) the reason Brady so strongly believes he did nothing wrong. After all, he was just doing the ref's job for them, ensuring the balls were in the "legal" range. Granted, a rule would still have been broken, but arguably one to offset the ineptitude of the NFL and the refs.
Just a pet theory of mine.
CB