Did the NFL run a sting operation on the Patriots?

The NFL cannot afford to screw up Deflategate, which is why the investigation has been ongoing for days and the league has yet to reveal any of its findings. But one thing has become clear — either Bill Belichick is lying and many of the reports we have heard are false, or the NFL basically set up a sting operation on the New England Patriots.

Here’s what we know so far. The NFL reportedly determined that most of the 12 balls the Patriots were using in the first half against the Indianapolis Colts were underinflated. We’ve also heard that the league inspected and approved the balls before kickoff, so air had to have come out of them somehow.

After hearing how convincing Belichick sounded on Thursday morning when he said he was “shocked” to hear of the investigation, many now suspect that it was Tom Brady who found a way to have air taken out of the game balls. Whether Brady will admit to that during his Thursday afternoon press conference remains to be seen.

The report that really makes things sensitive for the NFL is the one about the Baltimore Ravens tipping off the Colts before the AFC Championship Game. A separate report (a lot of reports, I know) indicated that the Colts believed the Patriots possibly used under-inflated balls when the two teams met in November and that they informed the league about it.

If all that is true, why wouldn’t the league let the Patriots know that they were being monitored? If they were hoping to catch New England in the act like many have said, does that mean Roger Goodell was willing to compromise the integrity of the first half of one of the biggest games of the year just to catch the Patriots red-handed? Or did the league let the Patriots know they were being watched, and Brady and whoever else brushed it off and did their thing anyway?

These are the questions…