Sports: Deflate-Gate

[MickeySP]

My biggest fear is this story goes away and we have a week of Richard Sherman ranting!!!

 

[Geoff_M]

Here's an interesting spin on the topic. The stats egg heads have noticed an incredible fact that the Pats this season:

The 2014 Patriots were just the 3rd team in the last 25 years to never have lost a fumble at home! The biggest difference between the Patriots and the other 2 teams who did it was that New England ran between 150 and 200 MORE plays this year than those teams did in the years they had zero home fumbles, making the Patriots stand alone in this unique statistic.

Based on the desire to incorporate full season data (not just home games, as a team theoretically bring “doctored footballs” with them on the road) I performed the following analysis:

I looked at the last 5 years of data (since 2010) and examined TOTAL FUMBLES in all games (as well as fumbles/game) but more importantly, TOTAL OFFENSIVE PLAYS RUN. Thus, we can to determine average PLAYS per FUMBLE, a much more valuable statistic. The results are displayed in the chart below. Keep in mind, this is for all games since 2010, regardless of indoors, outdoors, weather, site, etc. EVERYTHING.

How good are the Pats (one guess who that team on the far right is!):

And after Pats fans called "foul" at the analysis because it only looked at fumbles lost instead of all fumbles, they tweaked the numbers accordingly:

Interesting stuff! Apparently the Pats are just that good!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Bottom line, if rules were broken and cheating took place, "They would have one anyway." is not a defense.

 

[TAX GUY]

LOST fumbles..... doesn't mean they DIDN'T fumble.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Bottom line, if rules were broken and cheating took place, "They would have one anyway." is not a defense.

Agreed

 

[Geoff_M]

LOST fumbles..... doesn't mean they DIDN'T fumble.

You saw that the trends stayed the same when they looked at all fumbles instead of just "lost" ones, right?

 

[TAX GUY]

Bottom line, if rules were broken and cheating took place, "They would have one anyway." is not a defense.

Won


No one is saying that's a defense or that what happened is right. It's a matter of WHO did it, WHO knew about it and HOW/WHEN did it happen.

 

[Jellybass]

Sure, I agree, but who cheated? How can accusations be made without the NFL interviewing the main person, Brady, who would be involved? This whole thing is baffling. And no, I am not defending the Pats, far from it, but all we have is unfounded accusations and no word (yet) from the NFL.

 

[TAX GUY]

You saw that the trends stayed the same when they looked at all fumbles instead of just "lost" ones, right?

No, I didn't. I started to read and started to get dizzy with all the graphs.....

 

[lucky978]

The NFL found that 11 of the 12 balls used by the Patriots were underinflated by 2 lbs each.

Incorrect. Footballs weigh under a pound each.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Incorrect. Footballs weigh under a pound each.

:facepalm:

 

[JanaDee]

Incorrect. Footballs weigh under a pound each.

 

[TAX GUY]

You saw that the trends stayed the same when they looked at all fumbles instead of just "lost" ones, right?

No, I didn't. I started to read and started to get dizzy with all the graphs.....

I still don't give TOO much credit to the graph (after looking at it). Only using "non dome" teams. Offensive plays are counted as what? Actual plays, pass and run, "spikes", what? The Pats OFTEN run a hurry up offense and OFTEN run far more plays than most teams. Not all plays are equal (more or less chance for dropped passes, fumbles, etc. Anyone can compile stats and manipulate the results to get results they desire (with ANYTHING, not just this). Some will say I'm turning a blind eye or am in denial because I'm a Pats fan and this is against them. That's fine. I do however take EVERY stat and graph with a grain of salt.

Interesting find though. I'm willing to bet someone could get similar results for any team/player.

 

[Jellybass]

:facepalm:

Perfect response that encompasses this whole thing. It's like an ice cream headache at this point. With all the conflicting reports out there, right now it is just as plausible that Bigfoot stole the balls, went to Loch Ness, he and Nessie removed the air and it was delivered back by Aliens.

 

[undertheradar]

Did anyone think anyone from the Patriots was going to admit taking responsibility for this? Don't believe that the NFL hasn't spoken to Brady, just not realistic. Also very troubling how first Tom Brady states how he prefers the game balls to be, then he states that he can't tell the difference. Which statement do you believe?

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Perfect response that encompasses this whole thing. It's like an ice cream headache at this point. With all the conflicting reports out there, right now it is just as plausible that Bigfoot stole the balls, went to Loch Ness, he and Nessie removed the air and it was delivered back by Aliens.

They'd need a DeLorean & enough road to get up to 88 MPH to get it done though

 

[TAX GUY]

Perfect response that encompasses this whole thing. It's like an ice cream headache at this point. With all the conflicting reports out there, right now it is just as plausible that Bigfoot stole the balls, went to Loch Ness, he and Nessie removed the air and it was delivered back by Aliens.

Teleporting is the preferred method of delivery, FYI.

 

[sam_gordon]

Won


No one is saying that's a defense or that what happened is right. It's a matter of WHO did it, WHO knew about it and HOW/WHEN did it happen.

Actually a number of people on this thread HAVE said that as a defense. That and "other teams do it too" (which is equally bad).

 

[Jellybass]

They'd need a DeLorean & enough road to get up to 88 MPH to get it done though

Roads? Where we are going we don't need roads.

 

[TAX GUY]

Did anyone think anyone from the Patriots was going to admit taking responsibility for this? Don't believe that the NFL hasn't spoken to Brady, just not realistic. Also very troubling how first Tom Brady states how he prefers the game balls to be, then he states that he can't tell the difference. Which statement do you believe?

Speaking of ice cream headache..... many of your replies make my head hurt.


I'm reminded of Fillmore from "Cars"..... "its a conspiracy man"