Deflategate Timeline: The Facts
The NFL's most confusing scandal in recent memory has been shrouded by a web of disinformation and confusion. Regardless of the merits of allegations against the defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots, the punishment process has been outrageously unfair. Here's part 1 of a consolidated timeline of each crooked step the NFL has taken in punishing the Patriots and Tom Brady.
December 1, 2014- The Minnesota Vikings and Carolina Panthers are caught on national television heating up balls on the sideline to decrease their pressure. Neither team is punished.
January 18,2015- The New England Patriots defeat the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship game, 45-7. The Patriots run the ball more than they pass it. Official Walt Anderson measures all game ball pressures in the second half, at which point the score is 17-7, but cannot remember which of 2 pressure gages he used before the game, and which of two pressure gages he used after the game.
January 20, 2015- Reports surfaced that Colts linebacker D’Qwell Jackson gave a game ball to official Walt Anderson after intercepting Patriots QB Tom Brady and feeling an under-inflated ball.
January 21 In an article that was never retracted, ESPN incorrectly reports that 11 of 12 New England Patriots balls were under-inflated, by an average of 2 pounds below NFL regulations.
January 22- The supposed source of the allegation of tampering, Colts linebacker D’Qwell Jackson, denies he noticed anything unusual about the footballs. He also claims he “wouldn’t know how [deflating balls] could even be an advantage or a disadvantage” and that “it wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the game.”
January 23- The NFL commissions independent attorneys to investigate whether the Patriots were tampering with these balls.
Exponent Inc. is a law firm best known for defending the tobacco industry’s claims that secondhand smoke does not cause cancer.
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP had previously been hired to defend the NFL against lawsuits from former players alleging the league concealed concussion risks.
Ted Wells, an employee of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, LLP was previously best known for investigating the Miami Dolphins 2013 bullying scandal, in which no individuals are punished for having general knowledge of locker room bullying and hazing incidents.
January 26- Wells declares the probe of the Patriots will last several more weeks. Interviews continue.
February - “Sources familiar with the investigation” are quoted in multiple ESPN articles reporting information later disproven by the Wells Report.
These leaks must have come from the league, since it seems unlikely the Patriots organization would falsely implicate themselves, or that the investigative team would leak information they would not include in their official reports.
The Patriots request that the Wells report be expanded to include a review of the actions of league personnel. This request is denied.
The Patriots request that NFL spokesman Greg Aiello publicly ask ESPN to retract reports including anonymous leaks of knowingly false information, as well as the original false report from January 21st. This request is denied.
The Patriots express formal doubts to NFL general council Jeff Pash that they should continue to cooperate with the league’s investigation.
February 18th- The NFL fires a league employee for attempting to sell footballs used in the AFC championship game on January 18th.
March 5/6 Tom Brady goes through his interview with league investigators. Afterwards, he has his assistant destroy his cell phone. Brady offers to provide the league with the list of phone numbers he texted in order to recover their messages. The league declares efforts to retrieve these messages “impractical”.
This destruction of the cell phone is later critical to the league’s case.
May 6- The findings of the Wells Report are released to the public.
The report finds “no wrongdoing or knowledge of wrongdoing by Patriots ownership, Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick or any other Patriots coach in the matters investigated."
The report finds that “it is more probable than not” that Brady “was generally aware” of locker room attendants Jim McNally and John Jastremski attempting to release air from game balls.
The Patriots fire Jim McNally and John Jastremski.
The report indicates that the two pressure gauges referee Walt Anderson was equipped with generated different readings. One gauge, with no logo on the back, provided lower psi numbers by an average range of .3 - .45 psi.
The report indicates Anderson’s “best recollection” is that he used the gauge with the logo, which would generate higher numbers, but he cannot recall for sure.
The report indicates that by the ideal gas law, after exposure to weather conditions the balls should have measured between 11.32 and 11.52 psi.
The report indicates that if the gauge with the logo, which Anderson believes he used before the game, was indeed used, than 3 of the Patriots balls would have been under-inflated, and 4 would have been overinflated.
May 12- Just 5 days after releasing the Wells report, the NFL removes the Patriots 2016 first-round draft pick and 2017 fourth-round draft pick, and fines the Patriots organization $1 million.
This is the league’s biggest draft pick fine since removing 2012 and 2013 second-round picks for the comparably terrible violation of paying bonuses or bounties for injuring opposing players. The Atlanta Falcons were also fined a comparably laughable 5th round pick this offseason for pumping artificial noise into their stadium, a reasonable comparison.
The NFL suspends Tom Brady for four games.
All other 2015 four game suspensions were imposed for violating substance abuse policies.
