re: Breaking news: Non-referee entered refs locker room and took game balls

From a post in the other thread on this very same "research" and the very same link:

"The Patriots have fumbled once every 67 offensive plays (once per game) since the beginning of the 2007 season, not once every 187 plays.

NFL stats per NFL.com and Pro football Reference websites:

Offensive Plays by New England:

2007 - 1080
2008 - 1126
2009 - 1189
2010 - 1078
2011 - 1002
2012 - 1072
2013 - 1094
2014 - 1053

Total offensive plays 2007 through 2014 seasons = 8694

Fumbles by New England per season:

2007 - 14
2008 - 17
2009 - 17
2010 - 9
2011 - 15
2012 - 14
2013 - 27
2014 - 16

Total fumbles 2007-2014 seasons = 129

8694 offensive plays divided by 129 fumbles = 1 every 67.39 offensive plays

By comparison, another bad-weather, winning team, 2007-2014 Green Bay Packers averaged 5 fumbles more per season than the Patriots did over that 8 year span. FIVE per season. One additional fumble for every 3+ games.

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In addition, your PJMEDIA guy repeatedly quoted 2007 as the beginning year for studies numbers, while the Sharp Football website clearly states they only went back to the year 2010. The significance of this 3-year variance is that PJMEDIA attempted to link it with 2007 because both "Spygate" and the perfect 16-0 regular season took place in 2007, creating a scenario that the Patriots started "cheating" on ball pressure immediately after being caught doing the sideline filming. The numbers used by PJMEDIA in your link are for 5 years not 8 years as they claim, and they are incorrect anyway

Some of you can read just about anything on the internet and run with it, when you can just as easily verify the numbers for yourself. But then, it sounds so much more sinister to claim they fumbled once every 187 offensive plays than once every 67 offensive plays."

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