Patriots Clarify 'Deflator' Explanation In Wells Report In Context
BOSTON (CBS) -- There's been a little editing done to the document that attempts to dismiss The Wells Report.
The Patriots responded to Ted Wells' report on the DeflateGate matter with a nearly 20,000-word document, wellsreportcontext.com. In it, they said texts sent by a Patriots locker room attendant in which he refers to himself as "the deflator" were taken out of context.
Jim McNally was simply talking about his weight loss program, the document stated.
"Mr. McNally is a big fellow and had the opposite goal [as equipment assistant John Jastremski]: to lose weight. 'Deflate' was a term they used to refer to losing weight," it read. "There was nothing complicated or sinister about it."
But in a June 18 annotation to the document, Patriots' attorney Daniel J. Goldberg links to a separate page containing text that was removed from the original document. Goldberg writes that the weight-loss explanation had overshadowed other points made in the nearly 20,000-word document.
"The focus of public discussion about the one and only text that used the term "deflator" -- and what the term as used in that single text refers to -- has detracted attention from the numerous flaws in the Wells Report described in these annotations," the website's annotation reads. "The original paragraph discussing that text can be found here. The following paragraph has been added to clarify the basic point being made ... that one cannot reasonably rely on that one uncorroborated and unexamined text to conclude that there was improper ball deflation."
Claiming the use of "deflator" or "deflate" as a reference to weight loss was met with a lot of criticism when the document was first made public. On Wednesday's Felger & Mazz, Tony Massarotti and Jim Murray had some fun with the tinkering of the document.
"We all said that by including that, they completely diminished anything else that was in the Wells Report In Context," said Mazz.
"They finally realized what most people with a brain have realized: It was a pathetic excuse and this was a way to try to save face. No one in their life has heard 'deflator' in reference to fat loss. This was a lawyers way of trying to take a word and twist it," said Jim Murray. "No one believed this… No one says 'deflating' to lose weight – you don't. If you do, you're an idiot.
"They tried to invent a word, it's what lawyers do," added Murray.
The Patriots have said they intended for the Wells Report In Context to be a "live" website that can be updated, with notes of any adjustments made since it was first posted online on May 14.
We'll see if there are any other edits before the whole DeflateGate saga ends.
