Are the Patriots rightful Super Bowl champs?

[HammerDown]

Knowing what you know now.

 

[Manster7588]

Yes they win the game, can't take it away no matter how you feel.

 

[Uhsplit]

Yes.

 

[chf]

As a Seahawks fan, XL bothers me MUCH more.

 

[boogiewithstu2007]

Yes they are ... Were not talking about paid off refs, were talking about slightly deflated football's ... Ravens and Colts have an argument, they had the slight disadvantage... But still, Ravens were up 14 and couldn't seal it .. Colts got man handled, and I don't think nerf ball's would a mattered in that game... And we were up 10 with 5 minutes left, then 1 yard away from winning with 3 downs to go... Pats until knocked off are the champs ... You just can't take that away from them... Brady will have to live with what he did, but the Pats entire team was not in on this deflate plan ... And of course in the Super-Bowl this deflate thing was a non factor... We lost, period ...

 

[Cave_Johnson]

Hard to give this a definitive yes or no answer. Basically it comes down to two questions.

1. Did they cheat in the Super Bowl?
2. Did they cheat in order to get to the Super Bowl?

I don't believe there was any funny business during the actual Super Bowl itself, the Patriots would have been stupid to try to pull anything off and I haven't seen anything that leads me to believe it wasn't a fair game. I imagine most people would agree with me on this point.

The issue here is question number two. Knowing what we know now it sure seems like there was some shady shit going on during the AFC championship game. However, that game wasn't close......at all. The Pats probably run away with that one with Uncle Rico at QB.

Keeping all that in mind it really comes down to if they were doing this all season, or possibly longer than that. We've all seen the article showing the ridiculously low Patriots fumble rate as well as the response to that article which makes some corrections and shows that the fumble rate, while still best in the league, is not THAT ridiculous. Enough to raise questions, but not really proof of anything. Honestly we'll probably never know the truth here, but you've got to think the AFC championship game was not an isolated incident.

My conclusion:

At best they are the champs and at worst the championship is tainted. Saying they're not the rightful champs would imply that the Seahawks are the rightful champs, and that's just not true no matter how you look at it. They lost the championship game fair and square. This isn't like cycling where it makes sense to give the second place finisher the title if the first place guy gets caught using gopher testosterone or something. It's more complicated than that.

TL;DR version: Blah blah really wordy non-answer, #loveislove. Bush did 9/11. Bernie Sanders. The N word.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

Nope. It's what we don't know that scares me.

 

[DetroitFan*]

Shady business happened throughout the playoffs this past season anyway, so why not?

 

[Pariah]

Nope. It's what we don't know that scares me.

9/11 was an inside job.

 

[Voltaire26]

Shady business happened throughout the playoffs this past season anyway, so why not?

I think what happened to the Lions was 10 worse than deflategate. What Suh did to opposing players after the play was worse (and I still like Suh).

 

[NWPATSFAN]

Nice to see so many Hawk fans giving props. Hats off to you.

 

[Rock Strongo]

somewhere, a car is back firing as it leaves a chinese buffet.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

I thought the whole deflate thing was ridiculously blown out of proportion (saying it for a while now). New England won fair and square. Only thing that bothered me about the SBOWL was I didn't think Brady deserved the MVP (but I'm biased against QBs that receive the MVP in the SuperBowl every freaking time). Colts got man handled as well I don't think the ball mattered for that game.

Seattle/Indy players both agreed that the deflated balls were a non-factor. Harbaugh bitched but he's a Harbaugh and that's just natural.

The Dallas/Detroit game I had a problem with. That was so blatantly paid off it was ridiculous.

 

[Center Ice]

No question they are the champs! Wilson throwing a game losing interception sealed that!

 

[Tai Chi≈Surfing]

 

[Money]

Yes...they are the rightful champs.

 

[gohusk]

Of course they are. But they're also an org that has a culture of lying and cheating. How many times do they have to get caught for people to realize this? Why the fuck should they get different rules than everyone else?

 

[Rock Strongo]

this...didnt go well for @HammerDown

 

[HammerDown]

this...didnt go well for @HammerDown

I like the avy, Rock. Show's courage. You're taking this all so much better than some. I can tell a few are ready to melt the fuck down.

@NEhomer called me a "pussy baby" or something?!

 

[HammerDown]

First this...

Of course they are

Then this...

Why the fuck should they get different rules than everyone else?

I'm confused.