The lawyer who has been representing the New England Patriots through "Deflategate" since it erupted in January has claimed the team's locker-room attendant called himself "The Deflator" because he wanted to lose weight.
Attorney Daniel Goldberg published a response to the NFL's recent conclusions, which he says are "at best, incomplete, incorrect and lack context." Last week, investigator Tom Wells released the long-awaited "Deflategate" report that analyzed whether the Patriots deliberately deflated balls during last season's AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts.
The NFL concluded there wasn't a deliberate attempt by the team to use a non-approved ball during the game. But the document said it was "more probable than not" that quarterback Tom Brady was, at minimum, generally aware of the inappropriate actions of Jim McNally, the team's official locker-room attendant, and John Jastremski, an equipment assistant for the Patriots, to release air from their game balls.
Goldberg, who was present during all the interviews of team personnel conducted at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, provided annotations to the report's executive summary. McNally, he wrote, is a big fellow and wanted to lose weight. Goldberg wrote:
'Deflate' was a term they used to refer to losing weight. One can specifically see this use of the term in a Nov. 30, 2014 text from Mr. McNally to Mr. Jastremski: 'deflate and give somebody that jacket.'
A video taken before the AFC Championship Game shows McNally detouring into a backroom for 1 minute, 40 seconds while walking from the locker room to the field with the game balls of both the Patriots and the Colts.
In the wake of the report, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Brady for four games and issued a $1 million fine to the Patriots. The team also will lose its 2016 first-round draft pick and their 2017 fourth-round pick.
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Michele Gorman is a Newsweek political reporter, with a focus on gun policy. She previously worked at msnbc.com, where she ... Read more
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