Ten years ago today, the Patriots blew out the Colts in the AFC Championship. The 45-7 final score quickly became a footnote.
Overnight, Colts reporter Bob Kravitz dropped a bombshell. The NFL was investigating whether the Patriots had deflated the footballs their offense used that day. And with that, #Deflategate was born.
We won’t relitgate the case here. My own conclusion, after following it as closely as anyone did from start to finish, was that: (1) yes, Tom Brady had a system in place for deflating footballs below 12.5 psi; (2) the evidence as harvested by a slipshod, results-driven probe that anyone deflated the footballs on that specific day was inconclusive, at best; and (3) Brady was far from cooperative with the overall effort to get to the truth.
Along the way, many learned for the first time about the Ideal Gas Law, coach Bill Belichick made an obscure (and delightful) My Cousin Vinny reference, Brady gave a thoroughly unconvincing press conference in the days after the psi hit the fan, Ted Wells published a 243-page report that found Brady guilty, a trial court blocked Brady’s four-game suspension, and Brady eventually lost on appeal. (The suspension was served more than a year later, to commence the 2016 season.)
The curiosity became a full-blown controversy when someone fed false information to multiple reporters that halftime measurements showed 11 of the 12 footballs to be more than two pounds below the minimum. And that lit the fuse for a scandal that sucked up plenty of the NFL’s oxygen, for months.
There were more details, and some news, in Playmakers. After the NFL implemented for 2015 a system of conducting spot checks of air pressure during halftime of games, the data was fiercely protected before ultimately being expunged. Which was interpreted as an indication that the raw numbers from 2015 games tended to prove that, even if Brady and his accessories (the “Deflator,” one was nicknamed) had a system in place for “taking the top off” the balls, the evidence on that day from that game wasn’t clear enough to prove a violation.
That’s why the final verdict relied on the phrase “more probable than not,” and ignored the “best recollection” of referee Walt Anderson regarding the crucial question of which of two pressure gauges had been used before kickoff to check the balls. Under a higher standard of proof, there’s no way it could have been credibly proven that cheating had happened. Even if folks within 345 Park Avenue became convinced that it had, possibly to placate owners who continued to believe that the Patriots got off too easy from the Spygate scandal of 2007.
Most have forgotten the details. (Hell, I had to resort to Google to refresh my own memory on much of it.) It’s a testament to a league that has its fans always looking ahead, not behind. To the next game, the next season, the next Super Bowl, the next draft, the next bright shiny object to attract attention away from the warts and the potholes.
The ironic P.S. to the entire story is that, a decade after the NFL publicly and aggressively labeled Brady as a cheater, the NFL has welcomed Brady into the club as a team owner, while also allowing him to have a competitive advantage no other team enjoys, in his role as a broadcaster who studies teams, attends games, and generally keeps his finger on the ever-changing pulse of the entire NFL.
Former Saints head coach Dennis Allen is making his pitch for a new job on Friday.
Word earlier this week was that Allen would interview with the Colts for their vacant defensive coordinator job and Albert Breer of SI.com reports that the interview is taking place on Friday.
Allen was fired by the Saints after opening the 2024 season with a 2-7 record and he was 18-25 overall during his time in New Orleans. Allen also struggled as the Raiders head coach earlier in his career, but he was a successful coordinator with the Saints before getting bumped up to the top job.
Steve Wilks, Lou Anarumo, Wink Martindale and Ephraim Banda have also interviewed for the coordinator position on Shane Steichen’s staff in Indianapolis.
Steve Wilks is on the Falcons’ radar as they look for a new defensive coordinator.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports that Wilks is slated to interview with the Falcons next week about the job. Atlanta fired Jimmy Lake after one season in the role.
Wilks was most recently the defensive coordinator of the 49ers, but he was let go after the team’s loss to the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. He’s had other defensive coordinator stints with the Panthers and Browns since his one-year stint as the Cardinals’ head coach in 2018.
Wilks is also reportedly a candidate for the defensive coordinator job with the Colts.
The Colts will give up a home game to play in Berlin during the 2025 regular season.
The NFL, which had previously announced that it will play in Berlin for the first time this year, announced today that the Colts will be the designated home team in that game. The road team, date and kickoff time will be announced when the full NFL schedule is released.
The league has previously announced that the Jaguars, Jets and Browns will play home games in London in 2025. The Jaguars will continue their longstanding tradition of playing a home game at Wembley Stadium, while the Jets and Browns will play at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where the NFL has a long-term agreement to play games every season.
The NFL will also play a game in Madrid this season. The home team for that game has not yet been announced. It will be an AFC team, as AFC teams get nine home games and NFC teams get eight home games in odd-numbered years.
The Titans completed in-person interviews with Bills director of player personnel Terrance Gray and Colts assistant G.M. Ed Dobbs on Tuesday for the team’s General Manager position.
The team conducted virtual interviews with the candidates over the weekend.
Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk, president and CEO Burke Nihill, president of football operations Chad Brinker, head coach Brian Callahan and others on the team’s football staff are among those involved in the in-person interviews at Ascension Saint Thomas Sports Park.
Gray is in his third season as director of player personnel with the Bills and is in his eighth season with the team. He served as assistant director of player personnel in 2021 after spending a few seasons as the director of college scouting
He joined the Bills in 2017 after spending 11 seasons as a college scout with the Vikings. Gray worked in player development and player personnel from 2003-05 with the Chiefs before going to Minnesota.
Dodds is in his eighth season with the Colts and his 22nd season in the NFL. He’s in his seventh season as assistant General Manager in Indianapolis.
Before joining the Colts, Dodds spent 10 seasons (2007-2016) with the Seahawks. He also has worked for the Raiders.
The Titans also conducted first-round virtual interviews with Dolphins senior personnel executive Reggie McKenzie, former Falcons G.M. Thomas Dimitroff, Buccaneers assistant G.M. John Spytek, Seahawks senior director of player personnel Matt Berry, Browns assistant G.M. and vice president of football operations Catherine Hickman, Bears assistant G.M. Ian Cunninghan, Chiefs assistant G.M. Mike Borgonzi and Packers vice president of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan.
The Titans are seeking to replace Ran Carthon, who held the job for two years.
