Report implicates quarterback in latest Patriots scandal

Tom Brady might belong on the list with Edward Snowden and the Exxon Valdez oil tanker as a notorious leaker. According to a report released yesterday by an independent attorney hired by the National Football League, it is “more probable than not” that the New England Patriots quarterback was “at least generally aware” equipment personnel had deflated footballs prior to the start of the Jan. 18 conference championship game against the Indianapolis Colts in Foxborough, Mass.

The report concluded Jim McNally, a Patriots locker room attendant, and John Jastremski, an equipment assistant, likely participated with Brady’s knowledge in an ongoing effort to leak air from the team’s non-kicking game balls after officials had checked them. A slightly deflated football is easier to grip and throw.

Eyewitness testimony and Gillette Stadium videotape evidence from Jan. 18 indicate McNally took two bags of Patriots footballs into a bathroom 20 minutes before kickoff (about 2 1/2 hours after officials had inspected them) and locked the door, emerging about two minutes later. After Colts linebacker D’Qwell Jackson intercepted a Brady pass in the second quarter, he gave the football to a Colts staff member. At the Colts’ request, during halftime members of the officiating crew found 11 of 12 Patriots footballs measuring 1–2 pounds per square inch (psi) below the minimum 12.5 psi level required by the NFL rulebook. Officials did not test the ball Jackson intercepted.

During a news conference on Jan. 22, Brady said he “didn’t alter the ball in any way.” He may not have, but the report suggests he likely gave his blessing to those who did. On Jan. 19, hours after news outlets broke the “Deflate-gate” story, Brady and Jastremski exchanged a flurry of texts and cellphone calls, their first cell phone communication in more than six months. Some of the texts expressed a degree of anxiety such as, “You good Jonny Boy?” and Jastremski’s reply, “Still nervous; so far so good though.”

Text messages between McNally and Jastremski earlier in the season showed they were aware that Brady preferred deflated footballs. The report also states Brady regularly gave Jastremski and McNally autographed footballs, jerseys he had worn, and other items of value, but does not explicitly say that was done in exchange for deflating footballs. Yet in a May 2014 text between McNally and Jastremski where perks were discussed, McNally referred to himself as “the deflator.”

The Patriots beat the Colts 45–7 and went on to win Super Bowl XLIX against the Seattle Seahawks.

In 2007, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick paid a $500,000 fine, and the Patriots organization paid $250,000 and lost draft picks, for videotaping opposing coaches’ signals in what came to be known as the “Spygate” scandal. The report cleared Patriots ownership and Belichick of any participation in or knowledge of the football deflation.