ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, whose report about 11 of the 12 “significantly underinflated” New England Patriots footballs at the AFC championship provided a kickstart (but not nearly as big as some would like to believe) to the whole Deflategate controversy, went on the defensive Monday, telling Dan Le Batard that he wouldn’t retract his report, didn’t think he was being used and that while the semantics of his reporting were incorrect, and since corrected, the general gist was not.

He also said that the belief of the Patriots and fans that Tom Brady was a target of this investigation is “an insult […] to the intelligence.” Yet Mortensen did say that he spoke with Robert Kraft after the owner’s infamous declaration of war in which he took a backhanded swipe at ESPN and Mortensen, but was told that New England’s beef was with the NFL, not ESPN.

(USA TODAY Sports Images)

Mortensen, who bailed on a Friday appearance on Boston’s WEEI, was cool and polite in a more friendly environment (the radio show of a fellow ESPNer) and basically smacked away all the shots that are being taken at him, mainly from the New England area by fans desperate to pin this controversy on anyone not affiliated with the Patriots organization.

Most importantly, Mort said no one from the NFL passed him information. Everything he was given was something he had called to inquire about. The respected reporter insists the Wells Report wasn’t commissioned because of his reporting but didn’t have to answer any questions about how his report shaped the public’s opinion on the matter. Still, he defended the “11 of 12” report by saying that a number of footballs were under inflated, just not by the amount that he initially reported. That fact was “clarified and corrected,” he said.

(AP)

When asked whether this started as a smear campaign against Brady (via masslive.com):

“No, not at all. Nobody from the NFL ever identified Brady as being the target of an investigation in that first week we’re talking about, within three days of the game. Brady’s never mentioned. The Patriots are never mentioned. And the Wells investigation was not launched because of my reporting.[…] And Ted Wells himself in a conference call said, ‘It’s ludicrous to think that the league would want to smear its face of the league in Tom Brady with this type of campaign.’ To me, it’s an insult a little bit to the intelligence. But I do know the Patriots believe that, by the way. That is their belief, and therefore obviously their fanbase believes that, too…”

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Translation: Wake up, stop whining and realize Brady did this to himself, not Chris Mortenesen, not Ted Wells and not Roger Goodell. The NFL loves a good controversy, but not when said controversy involves revealing that the most decorated quarterback of his generation is a cheater.

So get rid of the conspiracy theories, Pats fans. They’re ludicrous. When you report as many stories as Mortensen, rely on so many unnamed sources and deal with complicated stories about the pressure of football using general terminology, you’re going to get burned occasionally. Yes, Mort’s defense dabbled in semantics a bit too much (particularly the section on retractions) but he’s not the villain here.  That honor belongs to the man who’s the entire reason Mort had to place those calls in the first place, a Hall of Fame quarterback who wanted a slight advantage in a game his team was going to win anyway.