Current and former NFL players reacted on Twitter to the release of the Deflategate report
Wednesday, the NFL released the Wells report, the look into the claims that the New England Patriots were deflating footballs during the 2014 season. Though it could not say definitely, the report’s verdict was that it is “more probable than not” that the Patriots deliberately deflated the footballs, and that quarterback Tom Brady was probably aware of it.
The report comes four months after the AFC Championship game, a 42-7 Patriots win over the Indianapolis Colts. After the game, the Colts told the league they believed the Patriots deflated footballs. “Deflategate,” as it was dubbed by unimaginative reporters and/or Nixon enthusiasts, caused some waves leading up to the Super Bowl, but the actual affect of the deflation is unclear.
Following the release of the Wells Report, many current and former NFL players tweeted their reactions.
No one seemed surprised.
Well Well Wells
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) May 6, 2015
Well Well Wells indeed, Pat McAfee.
There will be no real punishment for the Patriots regardless of what the reports says #NFL
— Shawne Merriman (@shawnemerriman) May 6, 2015
They still on this deflate stuff?????
— JAH (@J4hvidbest) May 6, 2015
Many made fun of the bet-hedging wording of the report’s conclusion (“more probably than not,” etc.)
After 4 months of extreme, detailed investigation.. NE might have, probably, possibly, maybe deflated balls... Most likely.
— Teej. (@TJLang70) May 6, 2015
Ex-linebacker Shawne Merriman was among those amused by some of the text messages in the report between Patriots locker room employees.
Omg somebody please tell me these text messages from the Patriots report are not real...If so I'm going to the hospital of laughter
— Shawne Merriman (@shawnemerriman) May 6, 2015
Here are some of those text messages:
Jim McNally...not a Tom Brady fan pic.twitter.com/HFPuwObbv5
— shalise manza young (@shalisemyoung) May 6, 2015
Some players questioned whether the deflation actually contributed at all to the Patriots’ winning ways.
We all were "generally aware" that the Patriots push the rules. We also knew it was "more probable than not" that they cheat. No news here!
— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) May 6, 2015
I'll be ok. God bless RT @pilotmwangi: @Realrclark25 I liked you, until this statement :(
— Ryan Clark (@Realrclark25) May 6, 2015
So to sum up: The consensus seems to be that the report was wordy, late, and (in the case of the texts) sometimes hilarious, but players don’t seem to feel that this had much of an effect, if any, on the Patriots’ success. That sounds about right.
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