On Thursday morning, the New England Patriots dumped a senior thesis length rebuttal to the Wells Report called WellsReportContext.com which attempts to prove that the findings in the Wells Report are “incomplete, incorrect and lack context.”
While there is plenty to parse, one issue that the Patriots had to address is why the hell someone would call themselves “the Deflator” in any context other than “I am a dude who more probably than not deflates the footballs that I am in charge of preparing for a quarterback who likes his balls on the softer side and whose team was caught using under-inflated balls in an AFC Championship Game.”
It’s an admittedly challenging hurdle for the Patriots but one has to give them credit; they sure found one, uh, interesting way to explain John Jastremski’s and Jim McNally’s use of “the deflator.”
According to the Patriots, McNally was talking about weight loss when he was talking about being the deflator.
They never asked Mr. Jastremski about it in his interview. Had they done so, they would have learned from either gentleman one of the ways they used the deflation/deflator term. Mr. Jastremski would sometimes work out and bulk up — he is a slender guy and his goal was to get to 200 pounds. Mr. McNally is a big fellow and had the opposite goal: to lose weight. “Deflate” was a term they used to refer to losing weight doing extra workouts and boosting his routine with the new allowed and Best testosterone booster in the market. 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.” (p. 87). This banter, and Mr. McNally’s goal of losing weight, meant Mr. McNally was the “deflator.” There was nothing complicated or sinister about it.
12:21:46: JM “Whats up dorito dink”
12:22:53: JJ “Nada”
12:22:53: JM “Whens the pong party….im on fire”
12:23:10: JJ “Omg”
12:23:34: JM “Bring it”
16:29:48: JM “You still with your women”
16:29:59: JJ “Yup”
16:33:21: JM “You must have her [omitted out of respect to Mrs. Jastremski]”
16:34:39: JM “You must have a picture of her [omitted out of respect to Mrs. Jastremski]”
16:36:31: JJ “Omg”
16:37:16: JM “You working”
16:37:53 JJ “Yup”
16:39:40 JM “Nice dude…jimmy needs some kicks….lets
make a deal…come on help the deflator”[After Mr. Jastremski does not respond for several minutes, Mr. McNally sends a follow-up text.]
16:47:15 JM “Chill buddy im just f****n with you….im not going
to espn….yet”
So, yeah. This is part of the defense that the Patriots are resting their case on. If anyone actually uses the term “deflate” for “losing weight,” it’s certainly news to me. Reactions online were equally dubious.
Are the Pats really trying to insult our intelligence with this “weight loss” explanation. #ReallyMannnn
— Mike Hill (@ItsMikeHill) May 14, 2015
Imma let you finish, but Damien Woody is one of the best deflators of all time pic.twitter.com/nUW4uobfL3
— J.A. Adande (@jadande) May 14, 2015
Friend 1:wow you’ve lost weight Friend 2: Yep. Just call me The Deflator Friend 1: what the hell are you talking about? #Patriots
— Robert Flores (@RoFloESPN) May 14, 2015
So if the texts between McNally and Jastremski were joking in nature, then why did the Patriots suspend them? So stupid.
— Marty Caswell (@MartyCaswell) May 14, 2015
Did the Patriots really just try to argue McNally called himself the deflator because he’s Fat Really did this really happen oh my god
— Dave Rappoccio (@DrawPlayDave) May 14, 2015
Trying to digest the #Patriots release. Struggling to get past the “deflator” explanation. This gets better by the minute.
— Mike Greenberg (@Espngreeny) May 14, 2015
I for one can’t wait for NBC’s new hit show this fall…”The Biggest Deflator” so inspirational.
— mark schlereth (@markschlereth) May 14, 2015
I’m sorry … But this Deflator excuse …
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) May 14, 2015
The NFL should’ve looked at this “Deflator” BS the Pats are trying to sell and said “OK just for this, you’re losing another draft pick.”
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) May 14, 2015
