It's the story that just won't die. Maybe it's because the New England Patriots and the NFL couldn't even seem to make it through the 2015 season's opening week without the Pats finding themselves embroiled in some kind of controversy - this particular controversy involved the oddly failing headsets of the visiting, and eventually losing, Pittsburgh Steelers.
Maybe it's just because the Deflategate scandal brought no real resolution for NFL fans who reside outside of New England - Tom Brady was found to be at least partially guilty of deflating footballs by the league as a result of an admittedly questionable investigation, but ultimately had his suspension overturned not because U.S. judge Richard Berman determined the future Hall of Famer was actually innocent, but because of the myriad of procedural mistakes which the NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell committed along the way.
Either way, Deflategate lives on and the focus has again shifted back to the two Patriots team employees who were once at the center of the entire saga - Jim McNally and John Jastremski. Both men were recently reinstated by the league and the team, seemingly bringing their segment of the scandal to a close, but a report released Thursday by Bob Kravitz of NBC affiliate WTHR in Indianapolis again zeroes in on McNally and what was apparently a history of odd and "suspicious" conduct involving footballs pre-game.
"He always asked for the footballs way, way before he was supposed to get them,'' said Mark Baltz, a former NFL head linesman, of McNally, via Kravitz. "If he could get them 10 or 15 minutes before he was supposed to get them, instead of the usual two minutes before the game - and there were some crews that let him do that - he would do it. I wouldn't let him take them early, and I think he eventually figured that out because he stopped asking after a while. I probably did 10 to 15 games up there (in Foxboro, Mass.) and those first few times, he'd always ask. I always thought it was very suspicious. He certainly acted in a suspicious manner.''
Baltz worked as an NFL official from 1989-2013. During his time in the league that coincided with McNally's time with the Patriots, Baltz says there was ample evidence from McNally's behavior that something was going on.
Baltz found McNally's behavior so questionable, in fact, that he actually reported him to the league office "six or eight" years ago. The reports got no "reaction" from the league, per Baltz.
"For an officials' locker room attendant, I always thought he was an unusual dude,'' Baltz said, via Kravitz. "Most locker room guys, they sit there and if you need something, they got it for you. When you left the locker room, you'd lock the door and they'd stay right there. The other 31 teams, that's what they would do. That was his job.
"But McNally, he was running all around like a chicken with his head cut off. Asking for the balls early. What I specifically reported him for several years ago, and I thought this was really unusual, he'd run out on the field with the footballs before the game and the next thing you know, he's playing pitch-and-catch with (Tom) Brady. Then, next thing, he's on the sidelines right next to (Bill) Belichick, like he's a (bleeping) assistant coach or something."
Of course, part of Ted Wells' report on his investigation into the Patriots showed text messages in which McNally referred to himself as "the deflator." McNally has been involved with New England in some way for over three decades, starting out as a ball-boy and working his way to locker room attendant. His gameday job was said to be attending to the wants and needs of the officials, to ferry the balls to the field.
Baltz told Kravtiz that he believes McNally, who he said was "always worried about the footballs," did his homework on what officiating crews were covering Pats games and would tailor his act accordingly. Baltz said he believes that at the time he reported McNally, the league didn't believe that he was engaged in anything that could be deemed a "big deal."
Of course, that now seems to no longer be the case.
"All I know is, when he got them (the footballs), he would run," Baltz told Kravtiz. "He would take off. Whether he was going somewhere and letting air out, I'm definitely suspicious, but I don't know for sure.''
