Using the Social-Mediated Crisis Communication SMCC Model to Examine Post-Crisis Rhetoric: A Case Study of Deflategate

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During the 2015 American Football Conference (AFC) championship game, which saw the New England Patriots playing host to the rival Indianapolis Colts, fans cheered as their home-team became victorious: a win that provided them a ticket to the Super Bowl. However, the headlines surrounding the game focused more on scandal than it did on victory, as the events surrounding what some media analysts and sports critics have called the most infamous team misconduct to ever manifest itself unfolded. With just over nine minutes remaining in the second quarter of the game, and the Patriots leading 14-0, Indianapolis Colts’ D’Qwell Jackson, an inside linebacker, intercepted a ball thrown by Tom Brady, the quarterback of the opposing team. Given that this was such an important game, Jackson decided to keep the intercepted ball as a souvenir, so, once back on his team’s sideline, he gave the ball to a member of the equipment staff and asked him to safeguard it for him. This moment began the genesis of what has become infamously known as the Deflategate crisis.