The New England Patriots and Tom Brady may have found an unlikely and unwitting ally in the New York Times.
And it could serve as the reason Patriots owner Robert Kraft last week said he was "hopeful" of Brady starting the 2015 season opener, despite the fact that he is currently facing a four-game suspension for his role in the Deflategate scandal.
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The Times, citing an article from the American Enterprise Institute, called the Wells Report, which the NFL used to determine whether the Patriots were guilty of deflating footballs during the AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts, "deeply flawed."
The report argues that the manner in which officials checked the footballs for both teams at halftime of that game leads to the possibility that the Colt footballs' air pressure declined too little.
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"The Wells report notes the expected pressure for the footballs at halftime in the Patriots-Colts game, factoring in the decline in pressure to be expected when a ball, inflated in a warm room, has been moved to a cold outdoor field," the Times reported. "If the Patriots deflated their balls, their pressure levels at halftime should have fallen below the expected level, while the Colts balls at halftime should have hovered around that level.
"But when we analyzed the data provided in the Wells report, we found that the Patriots balls declined by about the expected amount, while the Colts balls declined by less. In fact, the pressure of the Colts balls was statistically significantly higher than expected. Contrary to the report, the significant difference between the changes in pressure of the two teams' balls was not because the pressure of the Patriots balls was too low, but because that of the Colts balls was too high."
The explanation was that the officials check only four of the Patriots' 12 footballs and that they sat in a warm room for almost the entire half, thereby raising the level of the air pressure - based on the information in the Wells Report that the officials "ran out of time" in checking the Colts' balls.
Brady's appeal is set for Wednesday. The Times reported that when Bountygate broke out, it conducted a story that showed that the Saints injured fewer players than all but two other teams from 2009-2011, suggesting that "there was no good evidence that Saints players were influenced by them."
The NFL vacated all the player suspensions the following month.
All eyes will be on Brady's appeal to see whether that will follow suit, based on the latest "evidence."
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