Good article
Good article
Patriots' Bill Belichick pleads ignorance on cheating in deflate-gate, points finger in another direction
Nick Powell | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com By Nick Powell | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on January 22, 2015 at 11:50 AM, updated January 22, 2015 at 12:21 PM
There were no apologies and certainly no admissions of guilt during New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick's press conference addressing why 11 of the 12 game balls used by the Patriots in the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts were under-inflated. Belichick denied any knowledge of what went on with the championship game footballs, but also drew a puzzling fine line between pleading ignorance on the mechanics of football-doctoring, yet admitting that he tinkers with footballs during Patriots practices.
Belichick's press conference started with a somewhat surprising and lengthy (by Belichickian standards, of course) opening statement, in which the coach was steadfast that he had no knowledge of the ball-deflating controversy until he heard about it when he arrived at his office on Monday.
"I had no knowledge whatsoever of this situation until Monday morning," Belichick said. "I've learned a lot more about this process in the last three days than I knew — or had talked about — in the last 40 years that I've coached in this league. I had no knowledge of the various steps involved in the game balls, the process that happened between when they were prepared and went to the officials and went to the game, so "I've learned a lot about that. Obviously, I understand that each team has the opportunity to prepare the balls the way they want, give them to the officials, and the game officials either approve or disapprove the balls, and that really was the end of it for me, until I learned a little bit more about it the last couple days."
If Belichick had ended his statement there the story might have deflated itself, but instead he went on a tangent about his own ball-doctoring methods for Patriots practices, and his desire to make things as uncomfortable as possible for his players to simulate game situations.
"Let me just say that my personal coaching philosophy, my mentality, has always been to make things as difficult as possible for players in practice, and so with regard to footballs, I'm sure that any current or past player of mine would tell you that the balls we practice with are as bad as they can be," Belichick said. "Wet, sticky, cold, slippery, whatever. However bad we can make them, I make them. And any time that players complain about the quality of the footballs, I make them worse, and that stops the complaining. So we never use the condition of the footballs as an excuse. We play with whatever, or kick with whatever we have to use, and that's the way it is. That has never been a priority for me, and I want the players to deal with a harder situation in practice than they'll ever have to deal with in a game. And maybe that's part of our whole ball security philosophy."
For a coach who initially claimed to not know a whole lot about the "process" of football preparation, Belichick sure sounded like someone who does a lot to mess with the footballs for his own players. It is not clear why he felt that this was the best way to convey his innocence. If anything, it adds fuel to the fire of those who are quick to call the Patriots cheaters. After all, if the Patriots are used to playing with footballs that are in less than optimal condition, it shouldn't bother them to handle a deflated football in an AFC Championship game.
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Belichick seemed to talk himself into even more of a puzzle by saying, "I can tell you that in my entire coaching career I have never talked to any player, staff member about football air pressure. That is not a subject that I have ever brought up. To me, the footballs are approved by the league and game officials pre-game, and we play with what's out there. And that's the only way that I have ever thought about that."
Never mind the fact that minutes earlier, Belichick admitted that players complain to him about the conditions of the footballs during Patriots' practices.
But the big takeaway from Belichick was that while dismissing any notion that he had knowledge of the game-ball conditions, he pointed the finger at Brady, giving the "Deflate-gate" story new life.
"I think we all know that quarterbacks, kickers, specialists have certain preferences on the footballs," Belichick said. "They know a lot more than I do. They're a lot more sensitive to it than I am. I hear them comment on it from time to time, but I can tell you and they will tell you that there's never any sympathy whatsoever from me on that subject. Zero. Tom's personal preferences on his footballs are something that he can talk about in much better detail and information than I could possibly provide."
Brady previously laughed off any allegations of ball-deflating in the AFC Championship game on the part of the Patriots, calling the notion "ridiculous."
So to recap: Belichick knew nothing about the football-deflating controversy until Monday morning; he also supposedly knows nothing about the process of football preparation; he admits that he messes with footballs in Patriots practices all the time to make players uncomfortable and that they complain to him about it; he said he has never talked to a player about football air pressure, but his quarterback might know a thing or two about that.
Belichick added that the team is cooperating fully with the league's investigation and that he would make sure that the team would "inflate the footballs above that low level to account for any possible change during the game." He also said it was unfortunate that this controversy deflected attention from the Patriots' Super Bowl matchup against the Seattle Seahawks.
Is it any wonder why Belichick is loath to reveal anything to reporters? For all of his strategical acumen, Belichick is a novice when it comes to media savvy. Unless deflecting the blame to his quarterback is all part of some master plan to avoid a suspension — after all, the league probably would rather suspend the Patriots' head coach than their starting quarterback (though forfeiture of draft picks seems to be more likely than either scenario).
Perhaps Brady's press conference Thursday afternoon will be more illuminating. Belichick's statement was delivered with his foot plainly in his mouth for all to see, and now it is up to his quarterback to clean up his mess.
Nick Powell may be reached at
npowell@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickpowellbkny. Find NJ.com Giants on Facebook.
