FOXBORO -- Bob McNair seems like a nice man.
But the 27-0 prime-time embarrassment his team was handed Thursday was particularly tasty given the moronic observations McNair offered last summer regarding Deflategate.
Showing the inch-deep knowledge of the case that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the league’s operations people courted with their slanted or flat-out incorrect information leaks, McNair said in September of 2015: "What escalated the whole thing is that [Tom] Brady and the Patriots were going to cooperate fully, and then when it came down to it, they didn't. If it was J.J. Watt, I think he would have been cooperative, and it wouldn't be a question . . . I don't think J.J. would destroy his cellphone.
"I support Roger," McNair added. "I think he’s done a good job. He’s got the toughest job. Imagine the amount of stress he’s placed under, the people pulling from different directions. He’s got 32 bosses. I’m sure there are a few who aren’t happy with some of his decisions. He’s got to do, in his opinion, what’s in the best interests of the league."
This wasn’t a case of McNair just politely offering an opinion and moving on. He went on for a good long while.
"Is there anything conclusive there? No, you don't have any conclusive evidence," McNair said. "But the whole idea is we want to make sure we have a competitive playing field that's level for everybody ... don't want people breaking the rules. In the minds of somebody in that organization, they thought it was important. They thought it would give them a competitive advantage, and that's why they did it . . . You just want to eliminate that kind of situation if you can.
"You know, when you look back on it, if Brady had just said, 'Look, my guys know I like a softer ball, and that's what I like, and so they do it. But I don't go out and check the pressure of the balls.' . . . I don't think there would have been an issue," McNair continued. "It would have been a problem with the guys on the training staff who deflated the balls, and the Patriots would have got some kind of minor penalty; it wouldn't have been a big deal."
New England Patriots
The Patriots smashed Houston in Texas during the 2015 season with Brady at the helm. But there’s irony in Thursday’s 27-0 shutout while the Patriots were in the midst of a penalty McNair obviously was approved of. And the irony is magnified with the news the Texans lost J.J. Watt in the process.
The first three Brady-less games proved to be revelatory as well.
Sunday, two weeks after his Cardinals lost to the Patriots at home on a yanked field goal in the closing seconds, Arizona head coach Bruce Arians chose to mock and belittle his long-snapper, Kameron Canady.
Arians is a pet of the national media because of his glibness and accessibility. But there was no chastising to be found after he said Canady needed to “grow the hell up” and that Canady’s problems had “nothing to do with anything but what’s between his ears.”
Not a peep about Carson Palmer throwing picks on every single one of the Cardinals final four drives -- the second time in four games dating back to last year’s playoffs that Palmer ran Arizona into the ground with picks. No singling out All-Pro Patrick Peterson, who got walked through by LeGarrette Blount on the Patriots' game-winning field goal drive and failed to scoop up a turnover against the Bills. No, Arians went hard after the long-snapper. And then cut his ass. Not that Canady didn’t deserve the release and maybe the tongue-lashing as well. But it’s revealing that Arians skates while there would the national media would have been seeking safe spaces if Bill Belichick suggested a player was a little mentally fragile.
It was amusing last year to watch three franchises that were at the forefront of the torchlit stampede against the Patriots -- Indianapolis, Baltimore and the Giants -- faceplant to varying degrees.
But no one could have expected the schadenfreude to continue even with Brady down. We’ve pointed this out before, but it’s worth circling back to now: If the Patriots deal Jimmy Garoppolo, the team will have recouped the first-round pick the Patriots the league confiscated and they’ll be able to do so because of the showcase that came as a result of Brady’s suspension. Meanwhile, Jacoby Brissett has given feedback that he’s very much on the right track and Brady’s avoided a month of wear-and-tear on a 39-year-old body.
The league’s last desperate hope for seeing the Patriots lose at least one damn game during this suspension is . . . Rex Ryan. And Rex has to get it done at Gillette in the third of three straight home games for the Patriots.
It’s like the league ordered their whole damn Deflategate plan from ACME.