Patriots QB Tom Brady's agent, Don Yee, today issued a scathing response to investigator Ted Wells' report on the Patriots' "Deflategate" scandal. Yee's statement said the report, with "all due respect, is a significant and terrible disappointment." Yee's statement continued, "Its omission of key facts and lines of inquiry suggest the investigators reached a conclusion first, and then determined so-called facts later. ... What does it say about the league office’s protocols and ethics when it allows one team to tip it off to an issue prior to a championship game, and no league officials or game officials notified the Patriots of the same issue prior to the game? This suggests it may be more probable than not that the league cooperated with the Colts in perpetrating a sting operation." Yee noted the league is a "significant client of the investigators' law firm; it appears to be a rich source of billings and media exposure." Yee: "This was not an independent investigation and the contents of the report bear that out." Yee continued, "It is a sad day for the league as it has abdicated the resolution of football-specific issues to people who don’t understand the context or culture of the sport. ... Tom made himself available for nearly an entire day and patiently answered every question. It was clear to me the investigators had limited understanding of professional football. ... The Wells report omitted nearly all of Tom’s testimony, most of which was critical because it would have provided this report with the context that it lacks. ... This report contains significant and tragic flaws" (THE DAILY).
INSIDE THE REPORT: The 243-page report found that two Patriots staffers more likely than not deflated footballs before the AFC Championship game in violation of league playing rules. And in perhaps the most shocking element of the report, Wells wrote that Brady likely was aware of the activity. Wells wrote it is “more probable than not” that Brady “was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities” of Patriots staffers Jim McNally and John Jastremski involving the release of air from Patriots game balls. Brady in a January press conference roundly denied knowing how the balls came to be underinflated. Patriots Owner Robert Kraft, who along with coach Bill Belichick is not fingered in the report, rejected the findings in a statement. “This absence of a credible scientific explanation for the Patriots halftime measurements tends to support a finding that human intervention may account for the additional loss of pressure exhibited by the Patriots balls,” Wells wrote. The report concluded it is "more probable than not that McNally and Jastremski participated in a deliberate effort to release air from Patriots game balls after the balls were tested by the game officials." Commissioner Roger Goodell in a statement said that NFL Exec VP/Football Operations Troy Vincent would be responsible for any discipline (Daniel Kaplan, Staff Writer).
HERE'S THE STORY: ESPN.com's Mike Wells noted a portion of the report focuses on an e-mail sent by Colts GM Ryan Grigson to the NFL on Jan. 17, a day before the AFC Championship, about his "concerns with the air pressure" in Patriots game balls. The e-mail was sent to NFL Senior VP/Football Operations David Gardi and VP/Game Operations Mike Kensil -- "senior members of the ... football operations department" (ESPN.com, 5/6). In Boston, Bob McGovern notes the Patriots "promised transparency" in the probe. But NFL investigators said that the team "shielded a key witness from a follow-up interview," while Brady "refused to cough up evidence" (BOSTON HERALD, 5/7). Also in Boston, Rachel Bowers notes Brady "refused to make his phone records, text messages, emails, or any other documents available for the investigation" (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/7). In N.Y., James Glanz notes the report "punctured a key assertion of some physicists around the country who believed that the temperature difference between the locker room, where the balls were inflated, and the playing field could provide an innocent explanation for the pressure drop." However, the report said that the footballs "were taken back to the locker room at halftime, where they warmed up again before the measurement" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/7). PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Wilkening noted there is "one group that might have had its reputation bolstered by the Wells Report: NFL officials, particularly referee Walt Anderson." Investigators found Anderson is "one of the few referees who personally tests the inflation levels of game balls prior to the game, rather than delegating that responsibility to another member of his officiating crew" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 5/6).
STINGING SENSATION: PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio noted the report insists that the league "did not launch a 'sting' operation against the Patriots." But that is "not the impression the body of the report creates." Florio: "Whether it’s called a sting or something else, a trap was set for the Patriots. ... Right or wrong, the NFL blew a chance to keep this mess from blowing up in the league's face" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 5/6). In Toronto, John Kryk writes the scandal, "as it turns out, was indeed a sting operation." All the league "had to do, upon receiving another complaint" from the Colts, was to "warn the Patriots." Kryk: "The NFL thought otherwise. Because it knew better. It always does now" (TORONTO SUN, 5/7). In DC, Mark Maske notes the report is the "culmination of a highly unusual situation in which the NFL, for the second time in less than nine years, investigated whether one of its most successful and highest-profile teams circumvented rules to gain a competitive advantage" (WASHINGTON POST, 5/7). The AP's Eddie Pells noted nowhere in the report does Wells "use the word 'cheat' or 'cheater' in reference to Brady or anyone else." But it is "hard not to read between the lines" (AP, 5/6). ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan said the report is “not definitive enough” (“Around The Horn,” ESPN, 5/6).
CASE STUDY: ESPN BOSTON's Mike Reiss noted while the report "does not decisively determine the Patriots deliberately deflated footballs, it builds a case to support that possibility." This is "mainly about Brady, Jastremski and McNally" (ESPNBOSTON.com, 5/6). In Boston, Jeff Howe writes, "All that paper, so little proof, and yet so much shade thrown at Tom Brady." There were "so many holes in the investigation, and the presumptive tone of the actual report appeared to cover up a lack of damning evidence." Howe: "Maybe Brady and the Patriots are guilty. Maybe they aren't. But it's more probable than not there is a lack of consistency and credibility with Wells' investigation" (BOSTON HERALD, 5/7).
HORSE OF A DIFFERENT COLOR: In Indianapolis, Gregg Doyel writes "more than probably, the Colts got cheated in the AFC Championship Game," but they "weren't going to beat the Patriots." Doyel: "The point here is not that the Colts deserved to play in the Super Bowl. The point is more basic than that: The Colts deserved better." That it "happened at all is ridiculous" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 5/7). PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Michael David Smith wrote the Colts' Grigson "was right to complain" to the league (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 5/6).
MEDIA MONITOR: Last night’s ABC, CBS and NBC nightly news broadcasts and this morning’s “GMA,” “CBS This Morning” and “Today” all led with the ongoing dangerous tornados in the Midwest, followed by the release of the Wells report. Each broadcast teased the report in their openings, with “World News” using the headline “Brady Bombshell,” “Nightly News” airing “Letting The Air Out,” “Today” airing “Deflated Legacy?”, “CBS This Morning” using “Brady Takes A Hit” and “GMA” using “Super Cheat?” NBC Sports’ Bob Costas appeared on “Nightly News” via telephone, ABC’s Jesse Palmer appeared on “World News” and ABC’s Dan Abrams appeared on “GMA,” while N.Y. Times’ William Rhoden appeared on “CBS This Morning” and SI’s Peter King appeared on “Today” live in-studio.
