Who let the air out?

Generally speaking, Patriots may or may not be punished in latest NFL scandal

To deflate, or not to deflate? That is the question. The Wells report has stated that it is“more probable than not” that The New England Patriots deflated the footballs during the 45-7 AFC title game blowout vs. The Indianapolis Colts.

While it might anger everyone reading this, the Patriots will most likely not be punished. This is because the Wells report only said it was “probable” that the Patriots deflated the balls.

The NFL will not punish the Patriots because if they suspend dang near half the roster and half the management and it turns out that the Patriots didn’t do it, the NFL would look stupid. Also the money they would lose from losing the market value of guys like Tom Brady and Bill Belichick would be enormous.

People love to hate the Patriots. No one wants to watch a Brady-less Patriots besides maybe Patriots fans. I mean I’d watch but not as intently as I did before if Brady is suspended. The money they would lose would be a decent amount. The ratings on the Patriots’ games would drop from a national high to just being high in the New England region.

But the main reason is that there is no definitive proof that the Patriots did it. The report never stated that it was 100 percent definitive that the Patriots did it. Maybe they did it, maybe they didn’t but it is more definitive that the Patriots won’t get punished, or if they do it’ll just be a slap on the wrist, than that they actually did it.

While we all vilify the Patriots we must realize two things. One, the league needs a bad guy. The Patriots have been that since they won their third Super Bowl. Two, the attention span of the average sports fan is fairly short.

Like no one is bringing up that Jerry Rice, allegedly, used stick-em when playing as he was bashing the Patriots. Or that no one brings up that Ben Roethlisberger, allegedly, raped a girl a few years back as he bashed the Patriots. No one brings up that Packers ball boys have said Aaron Rodgers gets angry when his footballs aren’t over inflated.

Or that no one brings up that former Buccaneers quarterback Brad Johnson said in an interview for the Tampa Bay times in 2012 that he paid two ball boys working for the NFL a total of $7,500 to scuff up the footballs before his Super Bowl XXXVII victory.

People only seem to care when It’s the Patriots and that is because they are the league’s villain. Say this type of thing happens to the Miami Dolphins and no one cares. But throw Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft into it and it becomes a national scandal.

It just hurts to see Tom Brady’s career, who is one of if not the greatest to ever play the game, be tarnished. But hey, who’s to say he actually did it.