The last time the Super Bowl was played in Arizona, the game happened in the aftermath of the rise of #Deflategate, an effort to smack around the Patriots generally and quarterback Tom Brady specifically for allegedly removing air pressure from footballs.
With fully-inflated balls, Brady and the Patriots wiped out a 10-point deficit to defeat the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX. The league eventually would suspend Brady for four games. He’d fight it in court, winning long enough to avoid serving the suspension until the start of the 2016 season -- which culminated in another Super Bowl win.
But there are still unanswered questions as to whether the evidence of deliberate misconduct was conclusive. A year ago, in advance of the Super Bowl in Los Angeles between the Rams and Bengals, we shared one of the most important nuggets from Playmakers.
Throughout the 2015 season, the NFL ordered spot checks on the air pressure in footballs during halftimes of games. Throughout the season, the numbers were fiercely protected by the league. After the season, the numbers were expunged by the league, at the order of NFL general counsel Jeff Pash.
Days after the excerpt from Playmakers landed, Commissioner Roger Goodell was asked about the allegation, during his annual pre-Super Bowl press conference. He said he didn’t know what happened to the data. And that, as I wrote at the time, his asserted failure to know anything says everything.
Still, it’s become a largely forgotten footnote to Brady’s career. He had won three Super Bowls before #Deflategate happened. He has won four since then. And maybe he’ll win another one, if he unretires (again) and joins a new team (again).
Still, the permanent disappearance of the 2015 air-pressure numbers undermines the league’s position. Yes, the John Jastremski and Jim McNally text messages were troubling. But the measurements haphazardly taken during the 2014 AFC Championship don’t clearly show that shenanigans occurred. The evidence was inconclusive, at best.
And the 2015 measurements likely supported that conclusion. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been quietly expunged after the season ended.
