AFC Champions
New England Patriots
v.
NFC Champions
Seattle Seahawks
Both Super Bowl teams had rough wake up calls after their dreamy victories this past Sunday.
A day after winning one of the games for which the franchise is likely to be defined by, the Seahawks made a huge, and rather tasteless, mistake when they posted a picture of the football game with a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as the caption "We Shall Overcome."
They were roundly condemned for it and took it down rather quickly before issuing a public apology.
Not the way that you want to start readying for the Super Bowl.
The Patriots, however, had it even worse. Following their crushing victory over the clearly inferior Indianapolis Colts, a huge and still developing story broke that the balls used during the game had been deflated to the point that they had not reached requirements.
Since then, people have pounced on the story, and the Patriots, who were mired in another high profile controversy during the 2007 season when they made their infamous undefeated run to the Super Bowl, only to lose that game in the final minute of the final quarter. Many people hate the New England Patriots with a passion, and it was likely around this point, with that particular scandal, that such vehemence towards the most successful franchise of the decade likely began. The perception was that they were cheaters, and relied on dirty and underhanded methods in order to ear their victories - presumably because they were not good enough to do so on their own through fair means.
That was pretty absurd, seeing as though they were one of the most talented and disciplined teams in history. Yet, those kinds of allegations followed them around ever since that scandal, which was about their having watched tapes of opponents preparing for the games.
I suspect that what is now being called "deflate gate" is itself greatly inflated, because of the association with the Patriots as an organization. Again, people love to hate this team. On some level, they are like the new Dallas Cowboys, an organization that used to be great, and that would arouse intense animosity with their flashy image.
I can understand the controversy escalating to what it has grown into if New England won that game by securing a vulnerable lead off an errant pass by Andrew Luck. It would be understandable if the Colts showed something on either offense or defense to justify obviously disappointed hopes that they could travel to New England and stand strong against the Patriots.
But folks, let's be real! The Colts lost by 38 points. New England ran the ball down the throats of the visitors, and there was nothing the Colts could do to stop them. Their offense was atrocious.
Simply put (and pardon the pun), but their luck ran out. They had beaten a relatively vulnerable Cincinnati Bengals team in the Wild Card, then shocked a Denver Broncos team that had a clearly ailing Peyton Manning who looked like a shadow of himself, and was clearly bothered by something - probably some injury.
But once the Colts went on the road and suited up against a strong team that was at full strength, they did not even come close to measuring up. They were not cheated this past Sunday, they were humiliated. The performance by both teams left absolutely no doubt which team was deserving of representing the AFC in this year's Super Bowl.
Yet, the story persists, with the message in between the lines clearly insinuating that New England should not be here, despite an amazing season, and a dominant performance in the AFC title game one week after squeaking past the always tough Baltimore Ravens. This is when these kinds of things reach ridiculous proportions. Three Super Bowl winning quarterbacks - Brad Johnson, Eli Manning, and Aaron Rodgers - have already admitted that they doctor balls to their liking prior to games.
Let's take it a bit further than that, though. Matt Leinart, the former flashy quarterback of the Arizona Cardinals and star quarterback of the USC Trojans, said that all quarterbacks, with only one exception, did something to the balls prior to games to make it to their liking. The only exception that he cited was Kurt Warner. But, if you believe Leinart, that means that literally every single NFL quarterback does something to the balls prior to the game to make sure that they are to their exact specifications.
And really, is it all that surprising? Does it change your perception of quarterbacks and, if so, does it do so for better or for worse?
Yes, it is easy to believe that every quarterback does that. It is a big business, after all. These are professionals, and they are exceptional at what they do, paying attention to elements of the game that surely escape the eyes of even some of the most dedicated fans. That they go to such lengths to get footballs to feel exactly right, exactly the way that they want them to, makes sense.
Can it then be called cheating if everyone does it (which, by the way, many during the taping scandal of 2007 acknowledged that this was a practice that every team engaged in as well, only the Patriots got caught, and those other teams did not)?
Chances are, it is not cheating. It goes further than most people expected. But that does not automatically translate to cheating.
But all of that does not matter to haters. What matters is that TOM BRADY did it, that TOM BRADY cheated, and that, once again, the NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS had to rely on cheating in order to score success!
Which is ridiculous. It seems to me that, to some people, the Patriots can do nothing right, and will be singled out in a negative way no matter what they do, even though they have done some incredible and imaginative things in the process of enjoying a run of success that very, very few teams in sports history, not just NFL history, have ever enjoyed. And that, in an era of free agency!
So, did the balls benefit Tom Brady, and would the Patriots have failed to make the Super Bowl if not for those deflated balls?
Consider this well-constructed point by Jerry Thompton (see link to his article below). According to him, those who hate the Patriots or Brady choose to gloss over, if not entirely ignore, the fact that numerous quarterbacks (in fact likely all quarterbacks) do something to the balls. What matter is that Tom Brady "may or may not have started the AFC championship game with non-conforming footballs, but once they were removed from the game he went 12-for-14 for 155 yards, two touchdowns and 28 points in a half without them."
For some people, that is enough to get out the old asterisk argument. And that is ridiculous.
Perhaps more damning to Brady is something that his opponent in this year's Super Bowl suggested about him.
Yes, Richard Sherman has begun to take the focus off of these controversies involving both teams by beginning the trash talking a bit early. This time, he said that Brady is nothing like the clean cut guy who does no wrong.
Far from it, according to him. In fact, he said that he was trash-talking the Seahawks defense all game long, and that he was yelling at the referees.
It seemed that Sherman felt this was all just part of the fun. He is known for talking trash, of course, and it did not take him very long at all to kick of the traditional trash-talking prior to the Super Bowl.
NFL investigating Patriots' footballs by Mike Reiss, January 20, 2015:
http://espn.go.com/boston/nfl/story/_/id/12193345/nfl-investigating-whether-new-england-patriots-deflated-footballs-indianapolis-colts
Will deflated footballs, earlier scandals take air out of Patriots’ winning legacy? By Mark Maske January 21:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2015/01/21/will-deflated-footballs-earlier-scandals-take-air-out-of-patriots-winning-legacy/
Eli Manning likes his footballs doctored by Jerry Thornton, January 21, 2015:
http://thornography.weei.com/sports/boston/2015/01/21/eli-manning-likes-his-footballs-doctored/
Leinart says “every” quarterback tampers with the ball, except one Posted by Mike Florio on January 21, 2015
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/01/21/leinart-says-every-quarterback-tampers-with-the-ball-except-one/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs
Brady isn't so clean-cut says Sherman by Reuters, January 21, 2015:
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/brady-isnt-clean-cut-says-sherman-003943262--nfl.html
Seattle Seahawks' Super Bowl preparation gets off to bad start after MLK Day tweet by Megan Gannon, News Editor | January 21, 2015
http://www.givemesport.com/539751-seattle-seahawks-super-bowl-preparation-gets-off-to-bad-start-after-mlk-day-tweet?autoplay=on&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Paid-Social&utm_campaign=539751
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