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Patriots and Fumbling

Clevinger

Assistant Head Coach
Gold Member
Feb 26, 2007
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From the Boston Globe:

"What matters is the notion that perhaps the Patriots were in position to crush the Colts because of systematic cheating over the course of the season, or perhaps longer.

A deflated football is easier to pass, catch, and secure. Ask the Ravens how they feel about losing the playoff game in Foxborough, in bad weather, a week before the AFC title game. Remember that one? That’s when the Patriots used goofy formations (since outlawed), confused the Ravens, then suggested that Baltimore coach John Harbaugh study his rule book. New England trailed in that game by 14 points twice, but pulled it out.


Prepare now for more study of the Patriots’ amazing play at home in horrible weather through the years — not to mention the staggering lack of Patriot fumbles since the rules changes regarding the preparation of your own footballs."

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2...ts-forever/aB5111261JRSONSz17nLUI/story.html#


I think any open-minded (non Patriots fan) person can see that the Patriots have probably been doing this for awhile, given the statistical anomaly that is their lack of fumbling.

The punishment for Brady and the Patriots stinks because they are repeat offenders now, and they still get to keep the Super Bowl title in a year they were known cheaters.

Bottom line, cheating paid off.
 
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Just look at these stats - it's pretty clear they started deflating balls in 2007 after Brady (and Manning) lobbied the NFL (and won) to allow teams to provide their own balls for every game (prior to that the home team provided all the footballs).
http://www.sharpfootballanalysis.co...iots-mysteriously-became-fumble-proof-in-2007

Exactly. People are acting like it was just the AFC championship game last season.

Their last Super Bowl deserves a fat asterisk.
 
From Philly.com:

According to data presented by Warren Sharp, of Sharpfootballanalysis.com, the Patriots have, by a whopping margin, the best fumbles-to-play ratio since the start of the 2007 season, after Brady and Peyton Manning petitioned the league - to allow each team to supply its own footballs.

It's not only a whopping differential over those seasons, but a whopping differential measured against all of the teams in NFL history. After an 0-2 record in wet-weather games at Foxborough in 2006, the Patriots have a 14-1 home record playing in those games since. Sharp asked a data scientist the chances of all that being coincidence. He was told it would be "like winning a raffle where you have a 0.0000616 probability to win."



Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/sports...__Disarming_a_legacy.html#RG0VDUe8Z4WQzE9Y.99
 
Which is odd since I can recall them being killed by fumbles by Stevan Riddley, the exact reason he lost his starting job and plays else where now, but I'm sure his fumbles in the biggest moments probably stand out more.
 
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