On the Wells report

n 2012, two of us (Hassett and Veuger) performed a statistical analysis of injury data and investigated whether that data supported the contention that New Orleans Saints players were statistically more likely to injure opponents than players on other teams. We found that, in fact, the Saints players injured fewer competing players than all but one team during the first year of their supposed “bounty” program, and that there was no evidence over the entire period that the Saints injured more players than the typical team. Following our testimony before former National Football League (NFL) Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, the NFL’s penalties against the Saints players were withdrawn, and news accounts have pointed to our analysis as contributing to that decision. In the current “Deflategate ” controversy in which the New England Patriots have been accused of illicitly deflating footballs before the start of the 2015 American Football Conference championship game, the NFL and lawyers it hired have produced a report that has been used to justify penalties against the Patriots and, specifically, Tom Brady (Wells Jr., Karp, and Reisner 2015).1 The Patriots received a $1 million fine and lost two draft picks, which the team declined to appeal (Jones 2015). The NFL Player