[stupac2]

Nobody has enough information to make any actual judgement, so we'll just have to wait and see what the NFL finds out and decides to release to the public.

Seems (since we don't have the full story) that only the Patriots balls fell victim to these environmental factors, and then only in the first half before anyone was checking. Suspicious.

That only seems suspicious because no one's actually gone and checked any other time. It would actually be more suspicious if balls WEREN'T out of spec at most late-season halftimes because the games are so cold. I haven't even heard if the Colts' balls were checked, for instance (and even then it's possible that they were at the high end of the scale to start with so wouldn't be as far below).

You're right that people should be withholding judgment until there are plenty of facts out there, but no one is. The Patriots were crucified right out of the gate and they shouldn't have been. And what I'm saying is that, with what we know right now, the parsimonious explanation is that the Patriots didn't do anything wrong. That could change based on what else comes down the line, but at this point I don't think it's likely.

[stupac2]

Nobody has enough information to make any actual judgement, so we'll just have to wait and see what the NFL finds out and decides to release to the public.

Seems (since we don't have the full story) that only the Patriots balls fell victim to these environmental factors, and then only in the first half before anyone was checking. Suspicious.

That only seems suspicious because no one's actually gone and checked any other time. It would actually be more suspicious if balls WEREN'T out of spec at most late-season halftimes because the games are so cold. I haven't even heard if the Colts' balls were checked, for instance (and even then it's possible that they were at the high end of the scale to start with so wouldn't be as far below).

You're right that people should be withholding judgment until there are plenty of facts out there, but no one is. The Patriots were crucified right out of the gate and they shouldn't have been. And what I'm saying is that, with what we know right now, the parsimonious explanation is that the Patriots didn't do anything wrong. That could change based on what else comes down the line, but at this point I don't think it's likely.