In their epic-length rebuttal to the Wells Report on Deflategate, the New England Patriots included a report by scientist Roderick MacKinnon, who won the 2003 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. MacKinnon writes that the Wells Report featured major uncertainty with regard to the science of deflated footballs and that the scientific analysis in the report was based on data that are simply insufficient.
If youre wondering why the Patriots turned to MacKinnon, heres the possible reason: As first pointed Thursday by Nature magazines Noah Gray, MacKinnon co-founded a biotech company that has received investment funding from, among other entities, the Kraft Group, which was founded by Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
ESPNs Bob Ley relays just how conjoined Kraft and MacKinnon are, as reported by colleague Paula Lavigne:
Boy Ley @OTL
Nobel laureate, cited by @Patriots in rebuttal to @nfl Wells Report, has significant financial ties to co. in which Kraft Group is investor
The Patriots noted this connection after originally releasing their rebuttal on Thursday, adding the following line to the introduction of MacKinnons report: Prior to the company going public, the investment arm of The Kraft Group made a passive investment in Flex Pharma as part of a large syndicated investor group.
This was a fairly significant revision of the original introduction, in which the team said it had absolutely no connection to MacKinnon. Per Pro Football Talk:
In the original introduction to his work, MacKinnon is described as someone with no business or personal relationship with the Patriots who offered his scientific expertise to the team once news of the investigation went public.
The Patriots appear to be guilty of exactly the same issues that they say plague the Wells report (again, via PFT):
Elsewhere in their response to the report, the Patriots raise the issue of the longstanding relationship between the NFL and Wells law firm Paul Weiss. They suggest that it would have been appropriate to be clearer about the nature of that relationship in a report that found no fault with the way the league handled the matter.
Such disclosures would help the public better assess the findings regarding League conduct, of which there is not a single critical comment or single suggestion for improvement in the report. No one should take calls for such disclosure personally.
After spending the first 17 years of his Post career writing and editing, Matt and the printed paper had an amicable divorce in 2014. He's now blogging and editing for the Early Lead and the Post's other Web-based products.
Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter
NFLPA @NFLPA
