1. Will the Patriots be affected by deflategate?
Not if past performance is any indication. The Patriots have gone through numerous distractions throughout the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick era. The biggest one came during the opener of the 2007 season when they were caught taping the Jets’ sideline. It became a national scandal known as spygate. The Patriots were punished for spygate by the NFL and the team faced constant questions and ridicule about it throughout the season. Despite that, the 2007 Patriots were three points away from an undefeated season after losing the super bowl. The deflategate story started after last season’s AFC championship and was the talk of the country for two weeks leading up to the super bowl. The Patriots were able to block it out and rallied from a ten point fourth quarter deficit to win the championship. The Patriots will again face constant scrutiny over deflate gate throughout this season but it shouldn’t affect them.
