http://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/blog/2015/the-new-england-patriots-prevention-of-fumbles-is-nearly-impossiblehttp://www.sharpfootballanalysis.com/blog/2015/new-england-patriots-fumble-more-often-when-playing-for-other-teamsOk, ok, they INDICATE the Patriots are a bunch of cheaters, but this is a pretty damning statistical analysis.
Since 2007
1, the Patriots have fumbled the ball less than every other NFL team. That's pretty impressive. In fact, it's so impressive that their fumbling rate of 1 fumble every 187 plays on offense that they are 78% higher than the average. For comparison, the second highest is 33% better than average and they are a bit of an outlier. According to the blog posts, it's so far out of the norm that there's a 1 in 16,000+ chance to have occurred randomly.
He makes some points that possible explanations are that the Patriots purposely choose players who fumble less or are able to teach better techniques to prevent fumbles.
So he analyzes the players who join and/or leave the patriots. When players join the Patriots, they fumble less. A LOT less. And when they leave the Patriots, they fumble more. A LOT more.
Interestingly, players who joined the patriots after 2007 started fumbling less and then when they left the fumbled MORE than before they joined the Patriots!
The implication is, then, that the Patriots have been deflating their balls since 2007 in order to have a better handle on the football and prevent fumbles. Seems to me that they ought to be punished more than just a few game suspension for their "star" quarterback.
1:
Coincidentally, the year where teams were able to use their own balls on offense, meaning the opposite team never or rarely touches "your balls"
