That's quite easy actually. People are walking in an out of change rooms quite regularly. Attendants, trainers etc. If these low level employees aren't wearing Pats gear they could probably move in an out somewhat easily, especially if given the uniform of a Gillette stadium attendant. And with that many guys on the roster the chance of one of them leaving something laying around is pretty high. Hell the "deflator" himself (i heard he's going to be the new Subway spokesperson) could have walked in and picked up whatever.
50/50. i can't deny the Ravens did not "do their job" (see what i did there) on the play, at the least they should have noticed it and called a TO. But i still believe the refs had a responsibility to declare eligible and ineligible receivers on the play.
That's a hell of a shot (no pun intended) of Jackie Kennedy's ass, looks like you can see right through that dress
Your team sucks!!! touche!!! Priceless!! http://deadspin.com/why-your-team-s...//deadspin.com/?hipra_discussion_redesign=off
The refs did everything they were required to do. Vareen reported as ineligible, as required by rule because he wore an eligible number. The tight end who caught the ball didn't need to report as eligible, because he was lined up on the end of the line and wore an eligible number. The refs announced Vareen as ineligible, and even told the corner "don't cover #34". They covered him anyways and left the guy on the other side uncovered. The problem is that you never see an otherwise eligible player declare ineligible, usually the other way around. Harbaugh's complaint was that he didn't have enough time to make a substitution. He did have time, it's just that his time was up before he realized what was going on. I think the league was smart to tweak that rule this offseason.
I don't disagree with the tweaking of the rule. And again i do not believe this was in any way cheating. The Ravens should have called the time out.
The shot of Jackie O's toliet aside, that's a pretty rough platform to use for your heavy-handed sarcasm.
I don't, I trained my high school players to count 7 on the line of scrimmage and identify the eligible ends. I'm thinking the NFL can handle that too.
What I certainly didn't teach them was to sit there and fucking whine like a 7 year old girl because the other teams ball wall missing .2 psi. I didn't coach kids to turn them into entitled assholes. I actually made sure they developed some character. If they lost, I taught them to keep coming. And to never whine. You could have used me as a coach, I would have whipped you into shape emotionally and physically.
I actually don't believe any reasonable person would agree that even if someone was to concede the point of cheating (which no way in hell would anyone do), .2 psi in a football and a tape of signals from one location over another is responsible for 4/6 super bowls in 15 years. That "bombshell" ESPN story yesterday had everyone on the hook for a couple hours until breaking down all 100,000 words revealed absofuckinglutely nothing out there but a recycled 8 year old debunked story. And an anonymous quote from an organization with not such a great anonymous source track record. Just watch the games for christ sakes, the jets are probably better than the patriots this year anyway. Watch the games and celebrate if you win but this crap in here is lame. The court case is gone, season starts tomorrow. Be happy.
I think letting it stand would affect the product on the field. Deception after both side are ready to go is part of the game (play action, showing blitz then dropping into coverage, etc, etc). But at this level teams are allowed to make defensive adjustments and get ready. Strap 'em on, line 'em up, get at it. I think allowing deceptions that hinder or prevent one side of the ball from being properly ready would diminish the product on the field. As to the high school analogy, I've been out of that game for quite a while. But in the NFL, seven is the minimum that needs to be on the line. And there is a hell of a lot more going on at the pro level. If the other team lines up 10, with half of them wearing eligible numbers and they can still figure it out in a short amount of time, I'd say you've done a hell of a coaching job.
