It's one of the biggest controversies, in a year of controversies surrounding the NFL, or at least the most recent.
"Deflate gate" has fans and foes of the New England Patriots alike debating whether someone in the organization tampered with the footballs used by Tom Brady to get to help them win their way to the Super Bowl.
A civil engineer from Washington, D.C., who also runs a gambling website on the side, decided to look at the numbers to pass blame or clear the names of Brady and head coach Bill Belichick, Yahoo Sports has found out.
Warren Sharp examined how often the Patriots dropped the ball before and after 2006.
That year, according to the Boston Globe, the coach, and according to Belichick, more so Brady pushed the NFL to allow teams to supply their own footballs. Before the change, the home team provided the pigskins, to the likes of the home quarterback.
Sharp looked at how well the team did when it rained vs good weather during regular season games and at the total number of fumbles, turnovers or not.
Sharp claims his analysis, which you can read in its entirety on his website, proves "something" happened between 2006 and 2007 that changed the Patriot's game and that prior to 2006, the team was average with the number of fumbles in non-dome games compared to other teams under the same conditions. In 2007-onward, they were at the bottom of the list with some of the fewest fumbles.
Sharp won't, or can't, say exactly what happened, only that "something" did.
Read Sharp's entire analysis here.
