Patriots say Jim McNally called himself ‘Deflator’ referencing weight loss

The New England Patriots published a lengthy rebuttal to the Ted Wells report on Thursday, and it is obvious the most difficult aspect of the report for the team to defend is Jim McNally referring to himself as “the deflator” in a text message.

The Patriots, through one of their attorneys, point out that McNally was never once asked about the “deflator” reference in an interview. If McNally had been asked, he supposedly would have explained that he and equipment manager John Jastremski use that term to describe weight loss.

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. 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.

Of course, no one believes that to be true. Twitter is already having a field day with it.

The Patriots also provided an explanation for why McNally joked that he is “going to espn.” Here’s the context of the text conversation in question:

In their rebuttal, the Patriots claim Jastremski made it clear to McNally that his boss would be angry if he gave McNally free sneakers.

Getting sneakers or apparel for his friend Mr. McNally, in short, meant Mr. Jastremski would have to do so behind his boss’s back. They teased each other about whether Mr. Jastremski would get in trouble for giving him sneakers. The May 2014 McNally text reference to “not going to espn” follows his request for “new kicks,” and was Mr. McNally’s way of saying, in substance: “Hey, don’t worry about whether giving me those sneakers will get you in trouble — I’ll never tell.”

Again, people aren’t going to buy this stuff. But at this point, the Patriots probably don’t care. They don’t need they approval of Twitter — they need to convince an arbiter (assuming it’s not Roger Goodell himself) that the text messages are all open for interpretation and there is no way to prove they are about illegally deflating footballs.

Most people consider the “deflator” explanation to be laughable. But if it somehow helps the Patriots accomplish this goal, they don’t care.