Handsome rich man from New England forced to take four-week vacation with supermodel wife.
As a football fan, New England Patriots fan and a compliance professional, I can’t let the Wells Report and the punishment levied by the NFL pass without comment.
There was a violation of the league rules and there should be punishment.
A low level employee, Jim McNally, admitted to working on the footballs. A high-level manager, Tom Brady, had previously expressed his dissatisfaction with the condition of the balls. Brady has said he likes his footballs inflated to the lowest permissible levels because they are easier to grip, throw, and catch.
It is easy to conclude that McNally wanted to please Mr. Brady and worked hard to do so. Hard enough that he was even willing to step over the line and work the balls after they inspected by the NFL referee.
There is no clear evidence that Brady told McNally to deflate the balls, but clearly McNally was working to please Brady. The “tone at the top” was to fix the balls and win at all costs.
The NFL levied punishment that affects the team at all levels. Brady loses a quarter of his pay for the year with a four game suspension. Coach Belichick loses a first-round draft pick next year and a fourth-round choice the year after. Robert Kraft, the owner has to write a check for the $1 million fine. The franchise as whole loses their most important player for a a fourth of the season and dramatically reduces their chances to repeat as the Super Bowl winner.
You can argue over the appropriate punishment.
Ray Rice was initially suspended for two games for assaulting his girlfriend, now wife. That punishment was only increased after the clear and convincing evidence in the videotape was made public.
A previous ball tampering violation in the 2014 season went with out punishment. During the frigid December game between the Vikings and the Panthers, sideline attendants were videotaped using heaters to warm up the footballs. That is a clear violation of NFL rules. The penalty was a verbal warning.
You can also argue that the football condition standards are outdated. Before 2006, the home team prepared all the footballs used by both sides. The football condition rule would keep the preparation within a range of acceptable norms. Each quarterback has their own preference for the condition of the balls. Mr. Brady and Peyton Manning helped change the rule so that each team could prepare balls to the their liking, with the rules parameters of course.
The Patriots scored 17 points with one interception in the first half with the under-inflated footballs. The team scored 28 points and had no interceptions in the second half with the properly inflated footballs. It’s hard to see how the small change in the footballs’ pressure affected the outcome of the game.
But it does affect the integrity of the game. For the Patriots, that came from the tone at the top. “Win at all costs.” Mr. Brady pressured the lower level employee to fix the balls.
The Wells Report did not find a smoking gun. There was no written message to condition the balls outside the rules parameters.
From the compliance perspective, there was no message to obey the rules. For most organizations with a compliance program you would expect the employee to have signed a certification that they understood the rules.
Perhaps the outcome would have been different if the investigation had turned up the certification that Mr. McNally understood the ball rules and protocol for handling them. You would have another one from Mr. Brady that he also understood the parameters. Maybe the incident would never had occurred in the first place.
In the end, Patriots-haters will call them cheaters. Patriots fans will scream over the injustice and over-punishment.
I see it as a call for the teams to start implementing compliance programs.
Sources:
- Investigative Report Concerning Footballs Used During the AFC Championship Game on January 18, 2015 (.pdf)
- Tom Brady suspended 4 games, plans to appeal by Gregg Rosenthal in NFL.com
- NFL aware of game ball incident during Panthers-Vikings
- How Tom Brady helped change rule for pre-game care of footballs
I find it more than a bit interesting that in an article title “tone at the top” you completely fail to mention that Brady was wholly uncooperative with the investigation, yet state that there was no evidence Brady was involved.
I didn’t say there was no evidence. I said there was no “smoking gun” of written message to deflate the balls.
The Wells report has the ball boys messages and there was no message to deflate the balls.
Clearly, the balls were manipulated improperly. Clearly, there was a message from the top to get the balls into good shape.
The tone at the top was win at all costs. The compliance failure was to make sure people understand the rules and complied with the rules.