Appeared to suggest that one may want to look in the direction of his star quarterback. I think we all know that quarterbacks, kickers, specialists have certain preferences on footballs. They know a lot more about it than i do. Theyre more sensitive than i am. Toms personal preference on his footballs are something he can talk about in much better detail. Joining me now is nfl fullback and football analyst john richey. Thanks for joining me. Are they dueling press conferences . Do we have any sense of if there was coordination between belichicks press conference. Toms was moved from tomorrow up to today. I have no doubt there was coordination there. Everything within the building, wears a lot of hats there. And they talked about how theyre going to play this off. And the quarterback is the one in charge of tasking the equipment guys with making sure the balls are right. Each team gets the set of balls. They condition them during the week. They inflate or deflate them as they see fit. Tom brady is the only one responsible in this situation. Now everything should ask tom brady their questions is legit. He would theoretically have no knowledge if the balls were deflated right before the game. Well this deflating balls something i havent heard about. Granted, i wasnt a quarterback. I would see the equipment guys scuffing soaking, sticking balls in the dryer and rolling them. They would do all sorts of stuff to condition them. I think Bill Belichick trusts his quarterback to do whats right. He doesnt care how tom conditions the football as long as tom can throw accurately and leez team his down the field defensively. That information doesnt really matter to me if im Bill Belichick. You do what you need to do. Its never come up before. I doubt hes thought about this before. I believe Bill Belichick when he says the inflation of balls has never been discussed. Nbc shorts john richey. Thanks if r joining us. You bet. With us is msnbc contributor Mike Barnacle and Political Editor and White House Correspondent sam stein. Okay. Is this i mean to johns point, is this tom bradys scandal now . No i dont think so it doesnt have to be. To the point that john just raised i think coordination, if any was a combination of the league and patriots and saying lets get rid of this. Lets address it and try to put pit behind us. We dont know what tom brady is going to say at this pres conference. But is it his scandal . No. Aaron rodgers, Green Bay Packers quarterback saying he looks his footballs over inflated. They all have an opinion if they like them soft or hard. There are legislations for a skinny. There are rules, not meant to be broken, but to ensure fair play. Its tough to be the first guy to get caught for something maybe everybody is doing. But these are the regulations. Absolutely. You know. I compare this to some my friends of mine. I compare this to pitchers in baseball who use little pine tart to get a better grip of the ball. Its a thing that basically everyone knows goes on in the course of Major League Baseball game and rarely do you see someone call out another team or pitcher for doing it. But when its done blatantly, for instance with the new york yankees earlier this year and the opposing team causes them out then we go crazy. A rule has been broken. You have to enforce the rules. Everything else is tarnished. In this case having talked with my colleague and a few other folks about it it seems like every qb tries to manipulate the ball in his own way. Its generally understood practice. If you get caught you have to pay the fine. Theres also a couple of other things going on here. Its the buildup to the super bowl. Theres o nothing to write about. So this is the focus of everyone for days and hours on end. The other element is involving the new England Patriots. And given their past history, the patriots will be guilty until proven innocent in the eyes of many fans who loathe the new England Patriots around the country. I also think, i mean the fact is sam, the colts braulgt this up in an earlier game. November 16th. They raised concerns about underinflated footballs. They raised those concerns to the league. The league was aware going into the afc championship game. The implications here are serious for the nfl, too. As much as were talking about tom brady, Roger Goodells response to this especially given the stakes this is the super bowl, and bay the way, this isnt isnt any quarterback, this is tom brady. There is National Attention on this in a way there would not be if this was a regular season game with a quarterback that most americans did not know about. Yeah, the stakes are raised for both reasons. One, its the super bowl. The told typewriters are click claking away. Yeah, exactly. And the second thing is goodell himself spent 12en months on the hot seat. So he has to figure out how to manage his own reputation. So the one question mark i have about the whole episode is throughout the game, the reffees were touching the balls the patriots had and the ball ls that the colts had. How did no one in that crew Say Something seems suspicious. These are lighter . These are harder. It boggles my mind it wasnt picked up in the moment. It was picked up by one player. The defensive half back who intercepted a path. They handle them for both teams during the course of the the day. For both teams balls. So they didnt notice anything. The other anything not noted a lot is the ridiculous notion that they cheated. Aek, but it had some impact on the game with the colts. They could have beaten the colts using golf balls. Thats ridiculous. At who point on the point spread is it consequential. Right . Like small cheating is different than big cheating. It blew the point spread. Anybody using that point spread. It didnt matter. Right. Rules cant be based on that. What does matter in this context is if you look at tom bradys passing statistics in the first half of the game when they were using these balls and the second half after the balls were corrected, he had a 50 better pass rating. Thats interesting, right . Further reason the patriots shouldnt have done this to begin with. The outcome to me is less important than the choice to violate regulations, right . Right . Sam, go ahead. Thats my point. Im not saying they used deflated balls for the ravens game the week before. But its possible they did considering it appears they have with the colts game. That game was really close. Fourpoints if i recall correctly. If were saying its inconsequential because they beat the hell out of the colts, do we have to stipulate it was konsconsequential in the ravens game . Maybe it doesnt matter. Its the intent that matters. Now goodell is on the hot seat to figure out the proper punishment strictly for the intent. I think its the patriots. Theres also sportsmanship and unsportssalesman like content. And im sure it will get even more given all of the lead into this. What does Roger Goodell do . Hes friends with bob kraft. He was a big defender of him during the Domestic Abuse scandal the nfl has been weathering. How does he respond . Is it fine and hurting them in the draft . I think its going to depend on the answers. How do 11 out of 12 footballs get deflated . If tom brady comes on and says look this is on me. The ball boys know i like a ball with less pressure, right down to 12. 5 pounds. Which is the lowest that you can have. I guess they messed up and a couple of the balls, 11 out of 12 were off. Its on me. So if he does that its tom brady. Youre going to believe it. What does Roger Goodell do then . Fine the patriots . Sure. Take a draft choice . I dont think so. What if he doesnt come out with the explanation . They are going to have to find out how this occurred. He cant go out and say i laughed this off. The truth is i manipulated the balls. Hes going to say a variation of what mike just said. And are we confident ha the nfl can get to the bottom of this . It would seem transparent. Someone knows who is in charge of inflating or deflating the footballs. Well, they have a fairly easy investigateive job. Almost as easy as the ray rice investigation they blew. The officials look at the balls approve the balls, and then theres a twohour time lapse from the time they look at the balls and the time the game begins. The balls are then in one specific place out on the field, near the instant replay cameras. And its almost impossible i would think, in terms of eyesight alone for the ball boys to be running along and having the air come out. We got to find out. Maybe they tape thumb tacks to their hands. That is fairly elaborate, sam stein. Ill tell you a lot about this. Clearly. Gloves dovred in thumb tack studs. Maybe. I dont know. That sounds like a job for the pink panther. Hang with me guys. As we have said and will continue to say, tom brady will be taking questions. Plus, mitt meets jeb. The awkward meeting of two president ial foes happening soon. And all thats ahead on now. Ameriprise asked people a simple question can you keep your lifestyle in retirement . I dont want to think about the alternative. I dont even know how to answer that. I mean, no one knows how long their money is going to last. I try not to worry but you worry. What happens when your paychecks stop . Because everyone has retirement questions. Ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. To get the real answers you need. Start building your confident retirement today. Can this decadent, fruit topped pastry. With indulgent streusel crumble, be from. Fiber one. Fiber one streusel. I dont know my credit score. Thats really important. I mean i dont know my credit score. Dont you want to buy a house. Like, ever . You should probably check out credit karma, its free. Credit . Karma . Free . Credit karma. Really free credit scores. Does a freshly printed presentation fill you with optimism . Then you might be gearcentric. Right now, get this case of paper for only 24. 99 and save even more after rewards. Office depot officemax. Gear up for great. Why do i cook . Because i make the best chicken noodle soup. Because i make the best chicken noodle soup. Because i make the best chicken noodle soup. For every way you make chicken noodle soup, make it delicious with swanson®. We are awaiting a press conference from new England PatriotsQuarterback Tom Brady. Well bring that to you live as we get it. In the meantime news on one of massachusetts other famous men. Mitt romney. Hours ago jeb bush landed in salt lake fi for a one on one with the twotime president ial loser. Bush proposed the sitdown in an effort to show his respect for the the 2012 republican nominee. Ahead of bushs own likely run for the white house. That was before mitt romney announced hes considering his own third bird for the oval office. And told donors quote, i want to be president. Rom niece kind of sort of candidacy should make for a highly awkward encounter. Even by mitt romney standards, considering both men have been calling donors and operatives to get commitments ahead of a primary battle. In some cases those were calls were made hours apart. Despite a shared his they are goes back generations, it does not help they have not always had the kindest words for one another. He got off message. He should have said im a problemsoever. He got sucked into other peoples agendas. It hurt him a little birt. Winning with purpose. Winning with meaning. Winning with integrity is what im trying to talk about. Mike barnacle and Sam Steinbeck with us. And joining me is jeremy peters. It makes me grimace on behalf of mitt romney to talk about winning with integrity we may have to interrupt this okay. Tom brady is holding his proesz conference. Lets listen in. Weve been trying to for the last few days. Coach belichick addressed it with you guys this morning. And i wanted to give you guys the opportunity to ask the questions that you want. Ill do my best to provide the answers that i have, if any. And well go from there. When and how did you alter the balls, tom . When and how did you supposedly alter the balls . I didnt you know have any you know, i didnt alter the ball in any way. Af process i go through before every game where i go and pick the balls that i want to the footballs i want to use for the game. Our equipment guys do a great job of breaking the balls in. They have a process they go through. When i pick the footballs out. At that point theyre perfect. I dont want anyone touching the balls after that. I dont want anyone rubbing them putting air in them taking any air out. To me those balls are perfect, and thats what i expect when i show up on the field. So that happened obviously on sunday night. The same process that i always go through. I didnt think anything of it. You know i woke up monday morning and answered a question on the radio about it. And thats the first i really heard of it. This raised a lot of Uncomfortable Conversations with people around this country. You, a threetime super bowl champion as their idol. The question theyre asking themselves is whats up with our hero. Can you answer right now, is tom brady a cheater . I dont believe. I think ive always played within the rules. I would never do anything the break the rules. I believe in fair play. I respect the league. Everything theyre doing to try to create a very competitive Playing Field all the nfl teams. Its a very competitive league. Every team is trying to do the best they can to win every week. I believe in fair play and always believe in it for as long as im playing. Did you feel he put you under the bus . Everyone is trying to figure out what happened. Thats the main thing over the last couple of days. Trying to figure out what happened. Like i said. I was as surprised as anybody when i heard monday morning what was happening. Over the last few days people are trying to figure it out. What part of the process and from when i saw the ball which was five hours before halftime what exactly happened. Do you feel youve done anything differently than anybody else in the league. Im not sure. I can only speak for myself. I think theres a process that everybody goes through breaking in footballs. And its probably a lot like a baseball mitt when you were a kid. I strike to explain to to my friends. When you use and thats your equipment and the football is something i handle on every play. I want to be very familiar with the equipment that im using. Just like my cleats. Just like my helmet. But i use balls i want to use for the game. How much do you want to get this out of the way so the teammates and the rest of you can focus on the super bowl . Thats where the importance is as far as im concerned. I know this is important. Thats why im hear addressing it. My teammates, we accomplished something really special getting to this point. I dont like that this has taken away from what we achieved as a team. Hopefully our best is still to come. Were going to work as hard as we can to put ourselves in great position to be prepared for the game. The difference between an underinflated ball to overinflated balls and the balls used in the first half. Did you notice a difference . I didnt from the first half to the second half i didnt think twice about them. I didnt put one fought into the football at that point. Once i approve the ball thats the ball i expect on the field. It wasnt a thought, inkling of a concern of mine that they were different. Assume theyre the same first half second half. What do you say to the skeptics who say the patriots have had violations before. How can we believe what brady and the coach are saying now . Everybody has an opinion. Everybody has the right to believe whatever they want. I dont ever cast judgment on someones belief system. I dont you know if thats what they feel like they want to do, i dont have a problem with that. Part of being in this position and putting youre in the spotlight like this and being open for krit sim, thats very much a part of being a professional athlete. And so we can only express to you what our side is and how we aproep it. And then everyone is going to make their own opinion. Are you confident within yourself that nobody on the patriots side dig anything wrong . I have no knowledge of anything. I have no knowledge of any wrongdoing of any somebody did something . Yeah im very comfortable saying that. Im very comfortable saying nobody did it. As far as i know. I dont know everything. I also understand that i was in the locker room preparing for the game. Yop what happened over the course of the process with the footballs. I was preparing for my own artist. Three or four years ago you said you like the ball deflated. You were quoted as saying you like flow throwing a deflated ball. It oozes out a little bit of air. You like a softer ball. Explain that comment in context of what youre dealing with this week. I like them the way i like them. At 12. 5. To me thats a perfect grip for the football. I think that particular term deflated or inflated, whatever norm youre using, you could use. I would never do anything outside of the rules of play. I would never, you know have someone do something i thought was outside. Never knowingly played with a football turnd 12. 5 pounds of pressure . No. Did you try to find out why the ball in the last few days was so underinflated . Obviously its fornt you and the reputation of the patriots. Have you tried to find out . Or should you have tried to find out kwhi they were underinflated . Thats a good question. I think theres people with more information than me. I only know what ive gone through and the process that ive taken as part of the game. And the post game as well as trying to prepare for the super bowl. So, yeah i have questions, too. But theres nobody i know that can answer the questions that i have. So i have tried my best to focus on what i need to do to be prepared for seattle. Do you no e the look and feel of the football that you like do you think there could have been other games where you played with an underinflated football, since the football you played with is maybe something you prefer . I dont know. Like i said once im on the field, i have no thought of the football at that point. Im thinking about the defense. Im thinking about the execution of the play and what i need to do. Im not thinking about how the football feel ls. I grip the football. Zbr have i played with an underinflated ball before . I have no idea. I have no idea. This was the first ive heard of it obviously on monday morning was the first i heard of it. If its found someone did improperly tamper with it. Is it important for you and the legacy of the team that someone is held accountable . Im not the one to impose the accountability. Discipline, thats not really my job. So obviously i would like to know what happened as you would too. In the meantime im going to try to get ready to play against the seahawks. I cant do anything with the past. I have to go forward with the most awareness as i can Going Forward and be the best i can be for their team. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. How does it make you feel theyre calling your Team Cheaters two weeks before the super bowl . You know i think a big part of playing here is trying to ignore the outside forces and influences and people that are fans or not fans or fans of yourself or not. And like i said everybody is entitled to an opinion. Those opinions rest with those people. I think you can try to go out and the be the best person you can be deal with people with respect, honesty, integrity. Have a high moral standard. Identify always tried to exemplify that as an athlete. Ill continue to try to do that. This motivate you guys . We have a lot of motivation. I would say we have a lot of motivation as a team. I think our team has overcome a lot offed a verity this year. I think sometimes in life this being the best things that happen in your life vm we have overcome a lot of those. You can be the best teammate you can possibly be. You can go out and support each other and win an important game. Can you address your teammates today . Those are very personal things, you know with my teammates teammates. Thats very personal comments. Yeah, its always the same process. The playoffs i got in early before the games. This last game 24. When i felt them they were perfect. I would zip those things up and lock them we until we got on the field. [ inaudible question ] absolutely. That was very surprising to me. One of your teammates said this was a media thing that gives us something to talk about. Is that the feeling in the room . Given as much seriousness as i thought you would have. Is there a theory that were blowing this out of proportion . Or is it a serious thing . Absolutely. Its very serious. Its a serious topic. Obviously the integrity of the sport is very spornt. I also think theres other components. Everyone is trying to figure out what happened. At the same time you have to prepare for the seahawks. You laughed it off on the radio. Today youre a lot more somber about this. What happened between monday and today . Well look. That was real early in the morning. I got home at 12 00, 1 00 and woke up for the radio interview. I was shocked to hear it. I laughed it off thinking it was more sour grapes than anything. And it ended up being very serious when you learn the things being said. The start of the second half delayed. Balls were swapped out. Coach says he knew nothing about it. You have to take him at his word. The game was delayed. How did you on the sideline not know what was going on the field . I dont think anybody knew there was an issue tw the balls. The balls were not redid for play. I turn around. And the ball was ready. It was a good minute delay between the start when you came on the field, got ready, got lined up. There was a good minute delay there. Nobody said anything . I wasnt paying attention to what was happening at that time. Everything is happening in so fast in the middle of a game. I was thinking about the game. You dont feel like you had an unfair advantage over the colts . I felt we won the game fair and square. We played a great game offensively, defensively, special game. It was a great accomplishment to reach the afc championship, hean then to have the opportunity to play in the super bowl. So that was a great feeling after the game. Obviously the next few days and hearing the football issue has taken away from a little bit of that. Hopefully well rally around one another to bring it back to the task at happenednd, which is to go out and be the best we can be. Fans are dispinted on the situation right here. Is this a moment where you should pause and say whether by design, as you suggested or just accidental. Is this a moment to just say im sorry to the fans of the nfl and tom brady . Well disdisappointing that a situation like this happens. Obviously i would like to be up here in a very joyful mood. These are the two best weeks of the year if you happen to be one of the teams still playing. It should be a great two weeks. Obviously very disappointed that we have to be having a press conference like this. I wish i could give you more answers. All the answers you guys are looking for. Im not sure. What would you like me to say . Im not sure. Is there at least a possibility of backing this up . I think, you know theyll do however they see fit. You know i think thats up to their, you know responsibility to do whatever they want to do. Thats usually what happens anyway. So like i said, theyre doing an investigation. And thats what will happen. [ inaudible question ] i think were preparing for the super bowl. I think this is something we have to address but i think were focused on trying to go out and beat the seahawks. Sorry . Do the investigators in the league talk to you as part of the investigation . Not yet. Your perfect ball is you said earlier that first it seemed lighter. Then you became convinced it was more serious. What was it that convinced you of the seriousness . Well i just wasnt obviously aware monday morning of you know, everything that had happened. Just as i learned more you understand that theres more than what i initially whats the biggest problem with communicating . Just the integrity of the game. Thats important to always be mindful of an as athlete. And fair play. And we want to be the ones to set the best example. Have you commented as to what the end result is Going Forward on what this has brought . Im not sure if i have you know, a hope. I havent, you know put much thought in that. Its been just a short period of time. I would really love to go out there and play a great game. You know obviously that. I would love to figure out what happened in this situation. You know i try to keep everything in perspective. Im happy well have the opportunity to play in the next game, and you know obviously im disappointed by the footballs of last game. But i cant do anything about what happened. I can on the try to i can only do something going guard. Has someone not contacted your yet . They may. Thats their i think thats obviously their choice. Do you find that odd, though . If they wanted to put this behind us and get ready for super bowl. Youre the quarterback and you are the center of the story right now in the leagues, officials investigating talked to you, indicating that theyre letting this drag on. Twist in the wind. Im not sure. Oo people are going to hear this and say youre so familiar with the equipment. How could you not know the balls were underinflated. I dont put any thought into the footballs after i choose them. When youre out there playing in front of 70,000 people in the home crowd, you dont think about it. Youre just reacting to the game. I certainly dont think about the football. I assume its the same one ai approved in the pregame. We break them in in practice certainly sometimes. Yeah, we definitely do. Sometimes it feels good. The next day it did not. It depends on how, i dont know the humidity in the air, and i think theres a lot of variables. You know, whatever feel ls good that day. Youre not looking at it in practice. Yeah, he does that a lot. It could be. Definitely could be. You have better numbers. Carefully. Look at these balls before each game and pick the winners . Yeap. You said earlier you didnt want them to be touched. You didnt notice 50 of air was out of the the ball when you started using it . Thats hard to believe. At no point did it strike you . Yeah ron. I didnt feel any different, obviously than i would assume its the same thing. Im dropping back and reading the coverage are and throwing the ball. What professional athlete, basketball player if the rim is six inch ls off, they can tell you by taking two shots. Baseball players, pick up a bat and tell you its less than an ounce difference. The ball is deflated. I wouldnt know on a particular play. I mean, it was a very well cold windy night. Like i said its have you asked the i dont know. I dont do that ron. I get the snap i drop back. I throw the ball. I grip it and i try to throw the ball. Thats the extent of me touching the football. So i dont sit there and try to squeeze it and determine that if thats what the colts want to do, then thats what they want to do. That was what their decision was. But i certainly didnt certainly, no i did not recognize that. I did not feel the difference between the first and second half when supposedly they were inflated to the original. More inflated. I didnt notice any difference. I didnt think there was anything different. Do you think you would have noticed if the balls were underinflated at that time . I dont know. Its challenging thing. Im not squeezing the balls. Thats not part of my process. I grab it. I feel the lace. I feel the leather. I feel the tack on the ball. Thats what you really go if for its not like i had ever squeezed the football. I grip the football. Theres a difference maybe in how i do that. The fact that you had better numbers after. You went 9 for 9 in the Third Quarter after the supposedly underinflated balls were taken care of. Yeah i didnt think any differently in the second half as the first half. I had a great second half. Ch due to great execution by a lot of great football players. I know thats obviously what they said. They put, you know they inflated them. I didnt notice a difference. I wish i could tell you something different. I just didnt notice a difference. Bill said possibly a future fix could be to deflate them a little bit more. It will go under the bottom level. Will that take adjustment for you. If 12. 5 is what you like. I dont think that would make much of a difference. Like i said i didnt feel any difference between what was a 13pound football or an 11point football the other night. This changes the rule that lets teams bring their own balls. Will you help lobby to change the rules surrounding this situation . What situation . What process would that be . Of breaking the own balls . Making sure the balls are the proper weight throughout the game. I have no problem with that. I certainly wouldnt want them to take away us breaking the balls in. I think thats a great thing for all the quarterbacks to have the balls in play that they want to use. Everybody has a preference. Some guys like them round. Some like them thin. Some like them tacky. Some like them brand new. Its leather. Every batch comes and theyre different. You have to feel them. You have to use the ones you like the best. Use in practice. You want to try have the most possible consistency you can have to go in the game with. How concerned are you the ball is the other weight. Will you go to league and say lets change these rules . Lets make sure im never touching a ball i believe is the proper weight. Absolutely. I would love for them to be at 12 pounds. Like i said, i think thats the perfect fit for me. Other quarterbacks may prefer mrn that. But thats what works for me. Its all very individual thing. Are you saying the refs missed this . Am i saying that . Is it possible the refs missed this and didnt catch it . I dont have any im not a conspiracy theorist i dont know what happened. I have no explanation for it. Really until monday morning i have no idea what happened with the balls. Who handles the ball after the ref hands them back . I dont have no idea. Thats not part of the process. Ball boy . I have no idea. Im preparing for the game. I would never be a part of that. Where does that ball go . The quarterbacks always you know, will throw the balls. Just to confirmed, has the nfl contacted your reps agent . Anything . As of this morning im not sure, i will say that. Soy talked my agent after. That may be one of the things he wants to talk about. Have you heard from any former teammates you dont have to say who they are, obviously. But have you heard any opinions . Ive had a lot after great support from a lot of people. Some of the toughest things you deal with end up being the best things. You realize the people you can rely on that love and support you through Something Like this. I thought, okay. You know things are going to be fine. This isnt isis. This isnt, you know know one is dying. But well get through this. Hopefully we can really start preparing for seattle and get our mind focused there. Theyre going to take you know all my Mental Energy for the next ten days. Yo think things are blown out of proportion for no reason sf. I think the integrity of the game is very important. Yeah. Integrity of the game is very important. Have you personally sought out anyone in the equipment staff just to ask them if they did anything with the footballs . Yeah and they havent and i believe them. They also know how i like the balls. I tell them how great they are before the game. Perfect job. Great job. So they you know they know how i like it. Thats exactly the way they are. Tom, one last thing. About belichick earlier. One of the things he said was i dont know what happened. Ment you are the two most repaired guys in the situation. You are part of the family. Back at home would you be saying, yeah. They know everything else. [inaudible] would you be swept skeptical . Everybody can have an opinion, ron. Whatever opinion people have, thats okay by many. I put myself in a position to stand up here and deal with that. I know what i go through on a daily basis. I know the process i take. I also know whats in my control and whats out of my control. And so i think my whole life has been about focusing on things in my krool and doing the best with that. If i dont know something, i dont know. I dont know what to say thrn that. I just know the process that i go through. And im very comfortable with it. You know. Hopefully we can, you know go forward and play a great game zbl tom, when you left the field on sunday is this the last thing you would think you would be talking about . Yeah absolutely. I mean absolutely. Like i said yeah. Thanks guys. I think they said thats it about ten minutes ago. Thank you, guys. That was patriots Quarterback Tom Brady in his first press since the deflategate. He said he did not alter the footballs in any way but he added, he still has questions. As yet, brady has not been questioned by the league regarding the deflation of the footballs. An nfl investigation is under way. Stam stein and plooik barnacle back with me. And craig melvin. What did you think of that . Two things. I that was it was telling is when someone asked if he was a chatter and his response to that was, no absolutely not. I mean that struck me as a bit odd. Secondly. Its mind bolling that the nabl Football League that is allegedly conducting an invebs gags that they have not questioned the central character. One would have thought by now, hey, did you do anything to the balls . Did you notice merp they were deflated . Thats odd to me. You would also think the nfl would want this h behind them before the game. I dont know if thats the case now. You had thought on how brady should handle this. He took every question this that room. I thought he was spectacular. Incredibly likable. Oi thought he was exactly who he is. To your question about his response to that question. I dont think so. Thats who he is. Hes a very laid back california guy. If he doesnt think he did anything wrong, it would seem to me that would have been the opportune thing to say. He did say i didnt do anything to the balls. Yes. And he said that in no uncertain terms. Yeah. And sam, we talk about the nfl. The fact that they have not talked to tom brady. There are suggestions that the nfl is dragging this out once again. This goes back to Roger Goodell and how hes handling this. Yeah. I mean it hasnt been that long. The super bowl is next weekend. This is literally a case for the pink panther. You already have your own theorys about thumb tacks in the gloves. I think you could figure this one out pretty fast. Correct. I presume they will get answers to us. I thought the truest thing tom brady said in the whole press conference was quote. This isnt isis. And its not. Its football. And its cheating. Its sbreszing and im intrigued. Im noz as sympathetic to the patriots as our dear friend Mike Barnacle is. You would be surprised. Go ahead. I knew that. Youre no much. Yes. His patriots hat is not on at this particular moment. But mike i mean there was a moment when brady was asked, you know, and its a moment craig asked earlier. If he would apologize to the country. Folks who watch this h and question if people play fair. To put yourself in his position, what would he apologize snr . He asserts he the did nothing wrong. What would he apologize for . For letting down the kids mike. For letting down the kids. Something went wrong, right . This is not atmospheric pressure, the cold that deflated 11 out of 12. I dont know if we ever find out exactly. You say you think we will. Im not sure we ever find out what happened to those 11 footballs. I guess it could have been some sort of crazy that didnt affect the colts footballs at all. I dont know. Something clearly happened. I just got something clearly happened. The question is someone clearly did something. The question is will that person come forward voluntarily . Will they do so willingly . It could be someone takes the fall for this and they had no responsibility. Or they were instructed to do it. I steer clear of the word pressure. The punning continues. One thing we always missed myself included is the context of where this is happening. The context is the locker room mentality. They regard anything outside of the locker room as infringement on their game preparation. We have no appreciation for how assertive they are in a single goal of winning a football game. In this case the super bowl. The idea that he is surprised, i get that. You think that seems legit . Yeah. What about the the fact that americas star quarterback is out there talking about the deflation of super bowls the week before the deflation of footballs the week before the super bowl. The patriots are like the cowboys in the sense thats it elicits strong feelings from fans. You either love the patriots or you despite them. The people that hated them before, this gives them another reason to hate them. I was going to say, i think this notely motivated the patriots. This is the stuff that belichick will completely use to his advantage. I dont remember what happened the week after quote unquote spygate when they were caught cheating or allegedly cheating. They were cheating. Im sure it was just a royal beatdown. And they just useded it to their psychological advantage, no one believes us. Everyone is against us. This works in their favor in some respects. I want to replay a little bit of sound for people who didnt catch that press conference. I have no knowledge of anything. I have no knowledge of any wrongdoing. Yeah. Ch im very comfortable saying that. Im very comfortable saying nobody did it as far as i know. I also understand that you know, was in the locker room preparing for a game. I dont know what happened over the course of the process with the footballs. When you listen to it again. He also has that aw shucks presentation. Which helps. Thats why everyone loves tom. Hes terrific anyway. And to sams point. In the darkest recesses of bills totally paranoid mind everyone is against us. He will regard this as a gift. He will regard this as a gift. He will tell that team that everyone is against us. They dont like us. We have to gout out and show them despite what they think about us were going to crush them. To both of your points i feel this its also motivating for the seahawks. I think we have the sound of Richard Sherman. We do not. I will paraphrase. No need to paraphrase. People somehow get a skewed view of tom brady that hes just a clean cut, does everything right, and never says a bad word to anyone. We know him to be otherwise. Zbr boom. Zblf heres him talking to us in the future. Watching tom brady. Got to love Richard Sherman. There you go. Theres Richard Sherman predicting the future. But you know hes sort of right. You know. Richard sherman is telling the truth. I dont care what you think about the press komps. Its clear that tom brady tries to take advantage where he can. Hes a big time trash talker. Whatever. Thats football. There is an image slightly different publicly than privately. I dare say to your point, mike, this is motivating in the Dark Recesses of bills mind. Probably for the seahawks as well. Right . But pete carroll is not Bill Belichick. But Richard Sherman would like to be a team that parts of the country think is not playing fair. I wonder as we close out this extensive hour. Youre dismissing spy gate. No. Im dismissing what he does with his team. He makes his team smarter than other teams. The half back pass two weekses ago. Sure. All of them. Is that legal . Of course its legal. Yeah. I guess, as we round out this hour of sports. This is it. Lets be clear. We started this broadcast, mike talked about how the pa trots are guilty until proven innocent. If this is the last word we hear between now and the super bowl are they still guilty . Yes. Google patriots and cheating. Youll get 8 billion responses and 1. On your word processor . Or on your laptop. There has to be some sort of punishment from the nfl before the sooul boup. You have to. They cant let this continue. Zbl you think we get a punishment handed down before super bowl sunday . I do. I dont think it can leenger for a full week. I dont know what the heck heir going to do in terms of punish. Theres a number of possibilities. Not one is going to satisfy everyone. Im working on the brady interview for tomorrow. We let it linger the whole hour. Im just going to say. An allstar team. Thank you guys for your time. That is all for us here at now. The ed show is coming your way next. Good evening, america. Welcome to the ed show live from new york. Lets go deep on deflategate. Lets get to work. You know i didnt alter the ball in any way. Its important to us that we respect the game. I was shocked to learn of the news reports about the footballs. If big story in football is the footballs themselves. So called deflategate. Sucking the air. Whats going on here . I have no explanation for what happened. Its cheating. Its not in the spirit of the game. You aint cheating you aint trying. Its real easy to deflate a football. I was shocked. We play with whats out there