Tom likes the footballs a specific way. I wouldn't even say its outside the realm of possibility that after the refs blew them up to 16PSI (which never seems to get mentioned) during the Jets game that he told his guys to get them to 12.5 no matter what.

But what I have a problem with is that people continue to ignore that the only verifiable testimony we have from Tom in the Wells Report (and corroborated by others) is that he instructed the ball boys to drop the footballs to 12.5 and bring a rule book to the refs so that they didn't overinflate them.

Wells Report, pg 40

Following the Jets game, Brady and Jastremski had a number of conversations concerning the inflation level of game balls. According to Brady, at some point after the Jets game and before the game against the Chicago Bears the following weekend, he asked to see a copy of the applicable Playing Rule, learned for the first time that the permissible inflation range was 12.5 to 13.5 psi, and was told that the Patriots typically inflated game balls slightly above 12.5 psi. Brady also stated that, at some point, he felt a football that was inflated to 12.5 psi, and decided that should be the target for all future games because he did “not ever want to get near the upper range again.”

In addition, Brady stated that he suggested that the Patriots give the game officials a copy of Rule 2 when they delivered game balls prior to each game, so that the officials would know that it was not necessary to inflate them further. He claimed that doing so would help ensure that the officials did not alter the footballs he had approved.

So we have concrete evidence Tom saying he wants the balls at 12.5 and left at 12.5 explicitly, but since we have inconclusive evidence inferring he wants them lower he's guilty.

Am I on Mars?

= =

The NFL could have avoided all of this by coming out the next day after the AFCCG, said the balls were a little low, slapped them with a token fine, told the public the rules for managing balls before and during games would change, and then killed it all.

Instead we have leak after leak, a multi-month and multi-million dollar investigation, and an ugly appeals process.