Deflategate’s lasting impressions vary widely
With Patriots-Colts rematch nearing, no real winners emerge
With the New England Patriots playing the Indianapolis Colts this weekend, we asked the USA TODAY Sports NFL staff to respond to the following comment:
“My lasting impression of Deflategate is …”
Nancy Armour
That so much time and money have been wasted on what sounds like a frat-house prank is absurd. But Deflategate has never been so much about the act itself as the questions it raises about the integrity of the game. What separates the NFL from a madefor-TV sport such as WWE is that everybody is playing by the same rules and fans know their team, their favorite players, are on the same level playing field as everyone else. Yes, some teams have more talent and better coaches. But they’re all bound by the same rules. If the Patriots messed with one of those rules, regardless of how silly it is, fans might start to doubt the legitimacy of the games and their outcomes. The NFL can’t afford that, and that’s why Commissioner Roger Goodell came down so hard on Tom Brady and the Patriots.
Jarrett Bell
Patriots owner Robert Kraft and his moments behind the microphone. Kraft opened training camp by delivering a seething statement that reiterated his lack of faith in the NFL. That was hot.
But the big statement that really set the tone was the one that Kraft delivered to kick off Super Bowl week in Arizona, when he expressed the expectation that the NFL would ultimately apologize after the investigation cleared his team.
Nate Davis
That it is a sordid NFL chapter where every facet seemed worse than the alleged crime — meaning the science lessons, dubious independent investigations, rhetoric, news conferences, lack of news conferences, agendas and, of course, interminable legal machinations. The NFL, Patriots and Brady all want us to believe in their transparency and accountability, but it sure doesn’t feel like we’ve gotten it from any party, given the willingness of all involved to hide behind process, news releases, spokesmen or other outsourced parties when they deign to answer questions at all.
Underhanded elements were at play, almost surely from all the protagonists, and that ultimately casts a black eye on a league that should be tackling far more important issues, like maybe how to protect current players from brain damage and be fair to former ones who suffer from it.
Lindsay H. Jones
The lasting legacy of Deflategate, to me, is how the case — and the way Brady fought it in court and won — is a challenge to Goodell’s disciplinary power. Brady didn’t win because of evidence (or lack thereof ) but because of process. The loss was a major one for Goodell. Will it be enough to spark real change for the way he conducts business? That seems like it is a long way off, but Goodell’s credibility took a major hit.
Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz
This was the NFL’s insistence on protecting the shield run amok. There was plenty of initial schadenfreude from fans on Brady and the Patriots being tied to this kind of activity. But it became clear that Goodell and the league misplayed their hand. It was Goodell out of his element (discipline) on the highest stage.
Tom Pelissero
First off, let’s remember this isn’t over, as it pertains to Brady. A federal appeals court gets the case next, and while the NFL’s fight at this point is mostly about precedent, it’s still possible Brady will be disciplined.
I will never believe the greatness of Brady and the Patriots can be reduced to ball pressure or videotaping or anything else that fans and other NFL teams think they do to get an edge. But Deflategate, like Spygate, will always be a footnote to their legacy — and more than that in the minds of those who remain skeptical about an unmatched run of success over the past 15 years.
Eric Prisbell
My lasting impression of Deflategate is how incredible it was that the NFL could bungle this manufactured scandal to such an extent that it could turn the league’s so-called Evil Empire, the New England Patriots, into sympathetic figures.
Much of the public has believed — rightly or wrongly — for years that the Patriots have pushed the enveloped in gamesmanship and operated, at the very least, in a gray area.
But then here comes the NFL, which launched an excruciatingly long investigation into — what, exactly? — the air pressure in footballs used in a game that was not even remotely close. Evidence was questionable at best.
The Patriots now appear as motivated as humanly possible and hellbent on running the table in the regular season, not to mention dropping 100-plus points on the Colts.
And it’s hard not to want, at least a little bit, for the Patriots to do just that after enduring such a flawed investigation. In most years, it would be difficult for fans outside of New England to root for the Patriots. But in a sense, the NFL has turned them into victims. They were unjustly targeted. The NFL probe was a makeup for Spygate. Now the Patriots will have no mercy on opponents, nor should they.