Patriots counsel: Wells Report is incomplete, lacks context
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (WISH/AP) — The New England Patriots are fighting back against the findings in the 243-page Wells Report that said that employees probably deflated balls during the AFC Championship game.
According to the Patriots counsel’s detailed context report, the findings “are, at best incomplete, incorrect and lack context.”
The team Twitter account tweeted out the detailed context of the Wells Report on Thursday.
The context report goes on to say “the Report dismisses the scientific explanation for the natural loss of psi of the Patriots footballs by inexplicably rejecting the Referee’s recollection of what gauge he used in his pregame inspection. Texts acknowledged to be attempts at humor and exaggeration are nevertheless interpreted as a plot to improperly deflate footballs, even though none of them refer to any such plot. There is no evidence that Tom Brady preferred footballs that were lower than 12.5 psi and no evidence anyone even thought that he did.”
The 243-page report on “Deflategate” came out May 6 and stopped barely short of calling the Patriots star quarterback a cheater. It did, however, call some of his claims “implausible” and left little doubt that he had a role in having footballs deflated before New England’s AFC title game against Indianapolis in January and probably in previous games.
Read the full 243-page report here:
In his report, attorney Ted Wells said the quarterback “was at least generally aware” of all the plans to prepare the balls to his liking, below the league-mandated minimum of 12.5 pounds per square inch. Wells said it was “more probable than not” that two Patriots employees – officials’ locker room attendant Jim McNally and equipment assistant John Jastremski – executed the plan.
As a result Brady was suspended for four games. The Patriots were penalized $1 million – matching the largest fine in league history – and docked two draft picks for using improperly inflated footballs in the AFC Championship game.
Brady is set to challenge the suspension by 5 p.m. Thursday.
If the suspension stands, Brady would return to play on Oct. 18 in Indianapolis.Read the Wells Report in Context here.