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Jerry Rice: Asterisk is needed if Patriots win Super Bowl

By Robby Sabo

Feb 1, 2014; New York, NY, USA; Jerry Rice walks the red carpet prior to the NFL Honors at Radio City Music Hall. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 1, 2014; New York, NY, USA; Jerry Rice walks the red carpet prior to the NFL Honors at Radio City Music Hall. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jerry Rice, one of the greatest football players in the history of the NFL, is just another important figure to weigh in on Deflate-Gate.

By not taking action when they could have and should have, Roger Goodell and the National Football League has opened themselves up to anybody with an opinion and a platform to express it.

Opinions are always available, but now because it’s Super Bowl week, so are platforms.

You name the famous figure and he or she has likely already weighed in on the latest cheating allegation thrown in the direction of Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the rest of the New England Patriots organization.

Another person to add to the opinion list is one of the greatest football players in NFL history, Jerry Rice.

While on the Jim Rome Show today, the Hall of Fame receiver and former San Francisco 49ers great had this to say:

“I’m going to be point blank, I feel like it’s cheating,” Rice told Jim Rome. “Because you have an edge up on your opponent and its unfortunate that it happened…. I’ve played in cold weather, I know how hard the football is and you can grip the leather just a little bit better [if it’s deflated].”

On top of that interview, Rice recently said this while on KGMZ-FM in San Francisco:

“I think you have to really put an asterisk on it, because this is going to follow them, you know, for the rest of their lives, because when you look at it, when people go back and they think about the New England Patriots, they’re going to think about these controversies,” Rice said. “So it’s unfortunate. I’ve always wanted to do things the right way. I didn’t want to take any short cuts or anything like that. It’s just unfortunate that we’re talking about them using underinflated footballs instead of talking about the Super Bowl.”

Rice knows a few things about championships as he is a three-time Super Bowl Champion himself (1988, 1989 and 1994).

While the over-riding feeling out there is opposing the Patriots denials, there still are some who stand by their shady ways. Furthermore, some are even trying to excuse the NFL for delaying this investigation until after the Super Bowl has ended.

In the past week, many former NFL greats have chimed in including Troy Aikman. It seems most quarterbacks are opposing the notion that Brady wouldn’t have known that two lbs. of air pressure had been deflated from the football.

It’s just a sad story. The one year the Patriots are finally on their way to the Super Bowl in effort to rid themselves of the cheating tag from over a decade ago, they actually have a new issue peak its ugly head through the cracks.

You cannot make this stuff up.

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