ESPN's Outside The Lines investigative team dropped quite the report Tuesday morning, breaking down the New England Patriots from Spygate to Deflategate. The extensive report is a culmination of interviews with 90 league officials, owners, team executives, coaches, staff and players, and a review of numerous private notes from meetings that were previously unpublished. The report is extensive and worth a read when you get some time.
The investigation reveals that some owners viewed Deflategate as a sort of "make-up call" for a perception that the Patriots got a break in the Spygate investigation. The idea is that there is a "long, secret history between Goodell's NFL .