The NFL released the "Deflategate" report by Ted Wells on Wednesday and the investigation has found that it's "more probable than not" that the Patriots "manipulated" balls for the AFC Championship game and now Tom Brady and the team could face discipline down the line for those infractions.
The report was released after a lengthy investigation and it named Jim McNally and John Jastremski as people involved in the situation from the Patriots. According to Pro Football Talk, McNally is the Officials Locker Room attendant for the Patriots and John is an equipment assistant for the team. Text messages from the two show that they spoke about the deflating balls and that they were in contact with Brady.
According to Pro Football Talk, the NFL could discipline Brady for his actions regarding the investigation and that text message show he "likely" knew about the deflating issues. The report from Wells was extensive and his conclusion is that it's "more probable than not" that the team manipulated balls in the AFC Championship game.
Brady has long been known to complain about the way the balls are inflated, including years ago when he was part of a contingent that got the rules changed about handling balls for games on Sunday's. The rules allowed the visiting teams to work with their own balls. Rich Cimini at ESPN also writes that this season Brady complained about how the balls were during an October game against the Jets.
According to Adam Schefter at ESPN: "NFL considering discipline for Tom Brady, locker attendant Jim McNally, equipment asst John Jastremski, per source close to investigation."
Check here for more on the investigation and the report.
Some text message excerpts:
Jastremski: "Tom sucks. im going make that next ball a f-in balloon."
McNally: "Talked to him last night. He actually brought you up and said you must have a lot of stress trying to get them done..."
McNally wrote: "The only thing deflating sun..is his passing rating."
