The Deflategate scandal is supposed to be over. The Deflategate scandal is supposed to be over. The Deflategate scandal is supposed to be over. The Deflategate scandal is supposed to be over. The Deflategate scandal is supposed to be over. The Deflategate scandal is supposed to be…
If we type it enough, will it actually be over? Sadly, it doesn't appear as though it will. Because while we thought that Deflategate was finished after a federal judge nullified Tom Brady's four-game Deflategate suspension last week, ESPN just gave it a second, er, 50th life by dropping an explosive new report about Deflategate as it pertains to that other Patriots scandal known as Spygate.
The report—which features outstanding reporting by ESPN writer Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham—paints a very bad portrait of the Patriots and the NFL as a whole. It's long, and it'll take you about an hour to work your way through it, but here are some key points:
- The Spygate scandal was way worse than we thought. In the report, we're led to believe that the Patriots were taping everything they could between 2000 and 2007 and that they used every trick in the book to get access to the defensive play calls of other teams. In fact, they may have recorded signals used by as many as 40 teams, if not more, during that time period. Oh, and they may have stolen play sheets from other teams prior to games, too, as if having all of the signals wasn't enough...
- NFL owners were not happy with the way Roger Goodell handled Spygate. Many of them thought that his investigation should have gone much deeper and that he should have spent more time looking into the Patriots' transgressions. If you don't remember, the entire investigation only lasted about a week (a week?!?).
- The ridiculously long Deflategate investigation is viewed as a "makeup call" by many of the owners who weren't happy with the Spygate investigation.
- THE PATRIOTS ARE SUCH CHEATERS!
OK, maybe the report doesn't use those exact words. But if you didn't hate the Patriots already, you're going to learn to hate 'em after reading the ESPN report. And if you already hate the Pats? Well, there's a lot more ammo for you in the report. Goodell and the NFL come off looking pretty bad, too. You can check out the whole thing here.
The Patriots have already responded to the allegations made against them with this:
Now who's ready for some football?! Uhhh...
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[via ESPN]
