Deflategate Karma

I promised myself I’d leave Deflategate in the rear view. Like Tom Brady, I wasn’t going to worry about the past; I was moving on but that’s been easier said than done. Maybe it’s all the chatter from pigskin pundits and bobbleheads about Brady’s “Revenge Tour.” Maybe it’s that Colts owner Jim Irsay just refuses to shut up. Maybe it’s simply the siren call of schadenfreude (so delicious). Whatever the reason or reasons, I hope you’ll indulge my bitter inner child just this once.

First, I’ll acknowledge Jim Irsay is right about one thing; the season isn’t over. So, who knows where we’ll all be come December? The Colts could easily make a comeback in the pudding-soft AFC South. The Patriots could stumble. I’m sure there’s a possible future where that’s a possibility. Mathematically. Anyway, I was less convinced by his observation his Colts could just as easily be 6-0-0 so I took a look at how Indianapolis had been so unfortunate as to stagger to a 2-4-0 record. Indeed, three of their four losses were by one score or less so I’ll grant a 5-1-0 record was possible. So, was it just bad karma that comes from those unpredictable bounces an oblate spheroid will take?

Perhaps.

I wonder where that bad karma may have come from?

Okay, yeah, bad drafts and questionable free agent signings probably had a lot to do with that. Still, I do like to think what goes around comes around and Irsay and the Colts have trace DNA all over Deflategate.

John Harbaugh continues to complain about pesky rules that unfairly penalize his team because of their unfamiliarity with them. The Ravens are considered co-conspirators because of their rumored contacts with the Colts prior to the AFC Championship game but in this case I'd say their unimpressive 3-3-0 start is less about Deflategate and much more about their complete lack of class. Have the Ravens ever lost a game fair and square? Been beaten by a better team? The Ravens should be Donald Trump's favorite team. The NFL is rigged, people! That's why the Ravens lose!

The Jets’ Deflategate karma is indirect; based on the ties of Commissioner Roger Goodell and Mike Kensil of the NFL front office to the Jets and their involvement with the independent investigation of how aware Tom Brady was relative to air, footballs and whether or not science exists.

Whatever the case, it’s hard for any Patriots fan not to enjoy the dumpster fire in a sink-hole surrounded by alligators that is your 2016 New York Jets. Throughout the public, often acrimonious, offseason negotiations with QB Ryan Fitzpatrick we should’ve seen this coming. Fitzpatrick was coming off a career-year but was that the new normal or would we see the inevitable regression to the mean? Then again, what were the Jets’ alternatives?

Geno Smith as it turns out.

Perhaps this is a good place to remind everyone of the criticism Bill Belichick took when he used a 2nd round pick on Jimmy Garoppolo a few years ago. Oh, and let’s also note the Jets didn’t have Tom Brady as their starting quarterback for the last fifteen years. QB was a position the Jets clearly needed to upgrade. It would just be cruel of me to mention Mark Sanchez here, wouldn’t it?

<sarcasm> Oh wait. The Jets drafted Christian Hackenberg, the next great NFL quarterback from Penn State. So, maybe this is just a bridge year. </sarcasm>

The Jets look like a White Paper on how not to run an NFL franchise. Get old, overspend on veterans already in decline, mismanage the single most important position in the game.

Perhaps this is a good place to remind everyone of the criticism Bill Belichick took when he refused to overpay for Darrelle Revis.

The Houston Texans are also on my list because of owner Robert McNair oversharing his feelings on Deflategate. Not to say J.J. Watt’s season-ending injury was caused directly by McNair involving his defensive superstar as a straw man in his ridiculous assertion that everything would’ve been cool if Brady had simply confessed to something he didn’t do. Somehow McNair blames Brady and the Patriots for fighting Deflategate even though there wasn’t “any conclusive evidence.”

Having said all of that, you’re no doubt thinking, “Big deal. So what? The Texans are in first place.”

Yes. They’re in first place in the aforementioned pudding-soft AFC South, a full game ahead of the Tennessee Titans. They’ll be playing the Broncos this coming Monday night in the Brock Osweiler Referendum Bowl. Does anyone think this will be the game where Osweiler proves John Elway was wrong and he’s worth every penny the Texans paid him?

No. The answer is no. We’re all waiting to see what Brock Osweiler looks like in a Von Miller suit.

Full Disclosure: I’ll be rooting for the Texans and Osweiler on Monday night. That’s just how much I fear the Broncos in Denver in the playoffs.

I’d like to give a post-Deflategate shout out to the Minnesota Vikings and Carolina Panthers.

The Vikings and Panthers were involved in actual game ball tampering though they apparently didn’t realize that it was underinflated footballs that provided a competitive advantage as they were warming footballs to - hey, wait a minute! You aren’t telling me that cold weather will cause a football to lose pressure, are you?

Anyway, Carolina’s 1-5-0 start probably has more to do with the Super Bowl Loser’s Curse than Deflategate karma. And the Vikings? They’re the only remaining undefeated team in the NFL with a 5-0-0 record. They play the two toughest games left on their schedule - the Cardinals and Cowboys - at home. Of course, the Vikings also have a rather tragic history in the postseason.

But I digress.

This is all only about one team and one player. The New England Patriots and Thomas Edward Patrick Brady, Jr. Revenge? Retribution? A reckoning? I don’t think so. Sure, Robert Kraft, Belichick and Brady would enjoy the moment if they win another Super Bowl. It will taste just a little sweeter because of Deflategate but for the moment, it’s can’t be anything other than a distraction and you know how the Patriots feel about distractions.