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Ex-ref was once 'suspicious' of Pats' Jim McNally, reported him to NFL [and NFL did nothing]

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Sperm Edwards

Sperm Edwards

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http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/25306228/ex-ref-was-once-suspicious-of-pats-jim-mcnally-reported-him-to-nfl

Ex-ref was once 'suspicious' of Pats' Jim McNally, reported him to NFL

By John Breech | CBSSports.com

September 17, 2015 5:25 pm ET

When Patriots locker-room attendant Jim McNally was investigated for the part he played in Deflategate earlier this year, it wasn't the first time that someone suspected McNally of altering footballs before a game.

Former NFL official Mark Baltz, who served as a head linesman from 1989 to 2013, told WTHR.com this week that he's always been suspicious of McNally, the man who referred to himself as "The Deflator" in a text that showed up in the Wells Report.

"He always asked for the footballs way, way before he was supposed to get them," Baltz said. "If he could get them 10 or 15 minutes before he was supposed to get them, instead of the usual two minutes before the game -- and there were some crews that let him do that -- he would do it. I wouldn't let him take them early, and I think he eventually figured that out because he stopped asking after a while. I probably did 10 to 15 games up there [in Foxboro] and those first few times, he'd always ask. I always thought it was very suspicious. He certainly acted in a suspicious manner."

Baltz grew so weary of McNally that he eventually reported him to the league office.

"[McNally] was always worried about the footballs. Always," Baltz said. "It was very odd. I reported him to the league, but never got any reaction from them. I don't think they thought it was a big deal at the time. But [McNally] did things that 31 other locker room attendants don't do."

Baltz didn't recall exactly when he reported McNally, but said it happened at least "six to eight years" ago.

Eventually, McNally caught on to the fact that Baltz wasn't ever going to give him the footballs early.

"I think McNally did his homework and knew which crews he was dealing with and which crews he could get over on," Baltz said. "'Are the footballs ready yet? Are the footballs ready.' I'd tell him, 'Yeah, they're ready, but when we go out on the field, you can have them.' Obviously, there were a lot of times when he's gotten them early and had the time to let some air out of the ball, or whatever he was doing with them."

Baltz never saw McNally deflate any footballs, but he was definitely suspicious of the Patriots former locker-room attendant

"All I know is, when he got [the footballs], he would run. He would take off," Baltz said. "Whether he was going somewhere and letting air out, I'm definitely suspicious, but I don't know for sure."

After serving a four-month suspension for Deflategate, McNally was reinstated on Wednesday. Although McNally is expected to return to the Patriots, he won't be allowed serve as locker room attendant or handle equipment.

The topic of deflated footballs might never go away. (USATSI)
The topic of deflated footballs might never go away. (USATSI)

 

 

 

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FidelioJet

FidelioJet

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While it's nice to get continued corroboration that the cheating existed, that they were the only ones doing it and that it was going on for an extensive period of time...

It's nothing that anyone didn't really know...

Bottom line, The Pats are an organization who's backbone is cheating and that Tom Brady is a bad person.

The fact that this guy has been reinstated to the Pats is bordering on ridiculous.

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EM31

EM31

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The ineptitude of the NFL really pisses me off here.  If they had this kind of information that could have constructed a better sting operation to have exact measurements of all balls before handing them over to the cheaters and confiscating the whole lot of them 25 minutes later after the tampering has presumably taken place.  Or even simply re-measure them.

The way they executed during the actual AFCCG gave the cheaters all kinds of room to question the measurements and throw up smokescreens about ideal gas laws and what have you.

Instead the Patriots have been cheating since 2006 and seem to have gotten away with it yet again.

Astonishing

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Dcat

Dcat

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Instead the Patriots have been cheating since 2006 and seem to have gotten away with it yet again.

Astonishing

2006?  It goes back way beyond that.  Well before the days of Belicheat.  It's just that Belicheat and Brady bring it up to the level of an art form.  The entire culture of the franchise is based on gaining unfair advantages.  

09000d5d80498bba_video_cp.jpg

 And... they are proud of it too, as is so aptly displayed in their very own "Patriots Hall [of shame]"!

patriots-snow-plow-13.jpg

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Jetsfan80

Jetsfan80

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The ineptitude of the NFL really pisses me off here.  If they had this kind of information that could have constructed a better sting operation to have exact measurements of all balls before handing them over to the cheaters and confiscating the whole lot of them 25 minutes later after the tampering has presumably taken place.  Or even simply re-measure them.

The way they executed during the actual AFCCG gave the cheaters all kinds of room to question the measurements and throw up smokescreens about ideal gas laws and what have you.

Instead the Patriots have been cheating since 2006 and seem to have gotten away with it yet again.

Astonishing

Goodell didn't have much incentive to punish the Pats until the owners starting getting upset.  The Pats have brought in a lot of money to the league.  Wasn't the Giants-Pats first Super Bowl the most watched in history, even more than Steelers-Cowboys in 1995-96?

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Spoot-Face

Spoot-Face

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The ineptitude of the NFL really pisses me off here.  If they had this kind of information that could have constructed a better sting operation to have exact measurements of all balls before handing them over to the cheaters and confiscating the whole lot of them 25 minutes later after the tampering has presumably taken place.  Or even simply re-measure them.

The way they executed during the actual AFCCG gave the cheaters all kinds of room to question the measurements and throw up smokescreens about ideal gas laws and what have you.

Instead the Patriots have been cheating since 2006 and seem to have gotten away with it yet again.

Astonishing

When you think about it, though, it's not really astonishing.

It's actually what I've come to expect from Goodell and the league.

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AFCEastFan

AFCEastFan

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It's like a sewing circle over here (but don't get me wrong, still light years better than the cesspool that is pats fans websites). 

Here's the rebuttal article.  Bias disclaimers:  Daopoulos is a Masshole; Baltz's son is a former Colts employee.  I'm guessing the truth lies somewhere in the middle. 

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/09/17/nfl-has-no-comment-on-mark-baltzs-claims/

NFL has no comment on Mark Baltz’s claims

Posted by Mike Florio on September 17, 2015, 9:04 PM EDT
BaltzGetty Images

Just when it appeared the dust was settling (pending the resolution of the Tom Brady appeal) on #DeflateGate, former NFL official (and Alton Benes doppelgänger) Mark Baltz kicked up a storm of something other than rain when Baltz when on the record with strong suspicions and claims regarding now-reinstated Patriots employee Jim McNally.

So did Baltz make a complaint about McNally six or eight years ago? If so, did the NFL investigate? If so, what happened? The NFL isn’t saying.

The league has no comment on the situation, of any kind.

Plenty of other people have comments. For starters, Baltz claims he worked “10 or 15 games” in Foxboro from 1989 through 2013. And multiple readers have pointed out that, via Pro Football Reference, Baltz worked only five games at New England during the Bill Belichick/Tom Brady era, with only four coming when Brady was playing. (One of Baltz’s games at Gillette Stadium occurred in 2008, when Brady had a torn ACL and Matt Cassel played quarterback.)

So which game prompted Baltz to complain about McNally? The 52-7 win over Washington in 2007? The 2008 game against the Cardinals, when Brady wasn’t playing? The 2009 game against the Ravens? It’s not as if Baltz worked so many games there that he wouldn’t remember which one caused him to report McNally to the league office.

Meanwhile, former NFL official and supervisor of officials Jim Daopoulos has questioned Baltz’s “agenda,” while also calling McNally “one of the really good guys who worked in the locker rooms in . . . the league.”

Daopoulos said he never received any complaints about Baltz while working in the league office.

“There [were] questions [from Baltz] about [McNally] playing catch on the sideline with Tom Brady,” Daopoulos said, via Tom Curran of CSN New England. “Was that against the rules? No. . . . [McNally] had a sideline pass. He could go anywhere on the field.”

While Baltz’s name seemed at first like a new entry into the lengthy #DeflateGate cast of characters, he actually made an appearance in February, via an ESPN Outside The Lines feature that went nowhere. And since the Ted Wells report dredged up an incident regarding McNally’s involvement in a practice ball making its way into a game in 2004, it’s reasonable to assume that if Baltz or anyone else had any relevant information about irregularities involving McNally, it would have made its way into the 243-page dissection of the case.

It didn’t, and now it’s odd to say the least that Baltz is unloading with both barrels at this very late stage of the life cycle of #DeflateGate.

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drdetroit

drdetroit

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Goodell didn't have much incentive to punish the Pats until the owners starting getting upset.  The Pats have brought in a lot of money to the league.  Wasn't the Giants-Pats first Super Bowl the most watched in history, even more than Steelers-Cowboys in 1995-96?

goodell is too weak and incompetent to do anything.  Just watched league in denial on PBS his testimony before Congress was laughable probably cost the league half a billion in settlement money

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peebag

peebag

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2006?  It goes back way beyond that.  Well before the days of Belicheat.  It's just that Belicheat and Brady bring it up to the level of an art form.  The entire culture of the franchise is based on gaining unfair advantages.  

09000d5d80498bba_video_cp.jpg

 And... they are proud of it too, as is so aptly displayed in their very own "Patriots Hall [of shame]"!

patriots-snow-plow-13.jpg

Yea but in this instance they used this to buttf*ck Don Shula so it's okay.

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EM31

EM31

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Ya mean like how they gave Pac Man Jones a $35K fine for assaulting a player on the field? The same amount they fine guys for taking their helmet off? You're right - the ineptitude IS astonishing!

Totally different things.

You can complain all you want about inconsistency in the punishment for on the field infractions and certainly there does appear to be inconsistency there but I am not sure how that can be related in any way to a franchise implementing a premeditated multi-year program to gain on the field advantage by circumventing the rules.

Or are you advocating that Bernie Madoff be set free because Adolph Hitler killed six million Jews?

 

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nyjets782

nyjets782

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Guys, he's was trying to lose weight, okay.  That's a very common nickname to give someone on a diet.   

 

Could not agree more... when everyone sits around on the couch on New Year's Eve and laments the holiday weight gain that year... we typically all tell one another that we seriously need to deflate.  After all the Thanksgiving and Christmas inflating, a serious post New Year's deflating is definitely in order.

The fact that someone in their camp actually put that out there is all the proof anyone needs that this latest example of conspiring, systematic cheating did in fact occur.

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FloridaJetsFan

FloridaJetsFan

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Totally different things.

You can complain all you want about inconsistency in the punishment for on the field infractions and certainly there does appear to be inconsistency there but I am not sure how that can be related in any way to a franchise implementing a premeditated multi-year program to gain on the field advantage by circumventing the rules.

Or are you advocating that Bernie Madoff be set free because Adolph Hitler killed six million Jews?

 

You miss my point - it speaks to the ineptitude of the league.

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JiFtheOracle

JiFtheOracle

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I'm thinking about going on that paleo diet during Football season.  Every year, I drink way too much beer, eat way too many wings and then the holidays come around and I feel like a blimp!  I'm going to try and be proactive this year and start my deflating early. 

Edited by JiF
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Thor99

Thor99

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I'm thinking about going on that paleo diet during Football season.  Every year, I drink way too much beer, eat way too many wings and then the holidays come around and I feel like a blimp!  I'm going to try and be proactive this year and start my deflating early. 

You should get the chicks you date to do the same.

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Ex-Rex

Ex-Rex

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Heh Baltz reports the Deflator for letting air out of Ballz.

I think it surprises no one that this conduct has probably been going on for years and the majority of Tiny Tom's illustrious career*.

Nothing said about the Patriots surprises me in the least. They are dog sh*t personified.

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