I find it interesting how some in the media are trying to protect their beloved Brady and the Patriots organization by deflcting this towards Walt Anderson (2015 AFC Championship Referee).
From today's MMQB:
http://mmqb.si.com/2015/05/11/dante-fowler-jaguars-tom-brady-deflategate-nfl-peter-king/5/(emphasis mine)
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Bear with me on this one. It’s about an eight- or nine-minute gap in the chain of security for the footballs that were used when the Patriots were on offense in the AFC Championship Game. It’s from the Wells Report. I think it’s important.
The day before the game, Colts GM Ryan Grigson emailed league officials with a warning for the following day. He said he wanted the officials to watch for the Patriots to possibly be using balls that were deflated below the 12.5 psi minimum limit. The next day, the number two man in the NFL officiating department, Alberto Riveron, met with game referee Walt Anderson and told him, according to the Wells Report, that “concerns had been raised about the game balls, and Anderson should be sure to follow proper pre-game procedures.”
This was the timeline in the Wells Report, about the minutes leading up to the 6:50 p.m. ET start of the game:
Approximately 6:30 p.m.: Patriots locker room assistant Jim McNally leaves the officials locker room with two bags of game balls.
6:30.35: McNally is seen on videotape walking through the tunnel in Gillette Stadium on the way to the field.
6:30.47: McNally enters a bathroom in the tunnel. (Not in the Wells Report, but figured out based on the one-minute, 40-second time the report said was how long McNally stayed in the bathroom.)
6:32.27: McNally exits the bathroom.
6:35: After some officials leave for the field, Anderson looks around and cannot find the footballs. The report said he is upset, and said this is the first time in his 19 years as an official the crew was not in control of the footballs consistently before the game.
6:36: Anderson and the NFL security representative in New England, Richard Farley, leave for the field. Once they get to the field, Farley asks an NFL official if he has seen McNally or the footballs. The league official, John Raucci, says he has seen neither.
Time not recorded, but probably about 6:39: Anderson and his crew notice McNally and the game balls are on the field.
6:42: Farley returns to the field with the alternate game balls, but seeing McNally and the regular balls are there, Farley returns the backup footballs to the officials locker room.
So, for eight or nine minutes, from 6:30 until at least 6:38,
Anderson and his officiating crew lost track of the footballs. Hours after being warned that “concerns had been raised about the game balls,” for the first time in his 19 years as an official—according to Anderson—he couldn’t find the game balls for a period.
And even with properly checked backup game balls on hand, Anderson didn’t use them. He used the footballs that had gone missing for eight or nine minutes.
I know that’s not the main point in this story, nor should it be. But it’s very surprising to me that
Anderson didn’t heed the warning from his officiating boss about being extra careful with the footballs.
There’s no guarantee that McNally deflated 13 footballs in the 100 seconds he was inside the bathroom. But it’s clearly the most likely scenario raised by the report.
And if Anderson had used the alternates, there’s a good chance none of this ever would have happened.____________________________________________
In each of the bolded cases, it is interesting to me how it was failings of Anderson and crew when the Patriots clearly had a pattern of cheating. The last bolded item is the one I actually agree with most...even after being warned, Anderson didnt change the balls...b/c if he had, there might never have been an investigation at all...or the punishments soon to be delivered.
Sounds to me like the Boston-native author, Peter King, had some sour grapes that the Pats got caught, and is now trying to throw the officiating crew under the bus.
