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FOXBOROUGH, Mass., July 31 (UPI) -- One of the most prominent NFL Insiders backed out of a radio show appearance Friday because he didn't want to be the "centerpiece" of a story. ESPN's Chris Mortensen was on deck to speak on WEEI Friday morning but said that the network wanted to make "me the centerpiece of a story that has been misrepresented far beyond anything I did in the first 48 hours."
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Mortensen authored an article after the AFC Championship game that claimed an NFL investigation concluded that 11 of the 12 New England Patriots footballs were underinflated by two pounds per square inch of what is required. The Wells report later found that just one of the footballs was deflated by close to that amount.
The NFL never corrected Mortensen's report. Mortensen was due to appear on Friday's Dennis and Callahan Show, but was only able to offer post-show comments.
"You guys made a mistake by drumming up business for the show and how I would address my reporting for the first time," Mortensen told WEEI. "I will not allow WEEI, [Robert] Kraft or anybody to make me the centerpiece of a story that has been misreported far beyond anything I did in the first 48 hours. Maybe when the lawsuit is settled, in Brady's favor, I hope, we can revisit. Don't call."
Mortensen sited "multiple sources" when he came out with his original report. Tom Curran of CSNNE.com reported that one of Mortensen's "main sources" for the report was NFL V.P. of game operations Mike Kensil.
On Thursday, fellow ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter defended his colleague.
NFL has found that 11 of the Patriots footballs used in Sunday’s AFC title game were under-inflated by 2 lbs each, per league sources.
— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) January 21, 2015"First of all, I've never had in-depth conversations with Chris about the story," Schefter told WEEI. "Chris is as good a reporter as there is. And he's been a pioneer in this industry. So when he decides to do things, he has a reason for doing them. And I'll just stand behind him as a reporter and as a man. I love him."
"And I don't know the particulars of what happened. I really don't, OK?. But I can tell you this, somebody wanted information out. You're blaming him. But I will say this. Number one, I'm sure he has an explanation. Number two, any reporter in the country, if they have high level people calling them, giving them this information, almost anyone's gonna run with it."
"If that is indeed the case that one, two, three high-level individuals intentionally misled him to try to smear the Patriots, I say more shame on those people than Mort," Schefter told WEEI.
On Friday, the Patriots also published a post to its blog: The Wells Report in Context. The post was regarding an email chain between vice president of media relations Stacey James, team counsel Robyn Glaser, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello and league counsel Jeff Pash,
The thumbnail photos of the email chain show Glaser requesting the NFL to correct Mortensen's report by Feb. 18. The NFL officials said that the leaks were not coming from the league.
