FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Hitting on a few points that stand out from Wellsreportcontext.com:

Salvos fired not just at Wells report, but also the league office: Before getting into the specifics of the actual text, one thing that stands out is how the New England Patriots didn't just challenge the Wells report. They aggressively challenged the NFL league office, too, starting with publishing emails from senior vice president T. David Gardi and NFL executive vice president/general counsel Jeff Pash. In doing so, they highlight some of the missteps the NFL made in its handling of the investigation and subsequent follow-up (e.g. Gardi incorrectly stating in an email to the team that one Patriots football measured at 10.1 psi at halftime), creating the perception of a league office that doesn't have its act together. Another example: Despite starting its investigation after the AFC title game, NFL security didn't take possession of the game footballs that night and the Patriots later sent the footballs to attorney Ted Wells to aid his investigation. The Patriots' anger with the league office, which it believes had a predetermined outcome from the start, comes through loud and clear.

Text messages from Patriots' perspective: One of the most damning parts of the Wells report for the Patriots was text messages between officials locker room attendant Jim McNally and equipment assistant John Jastremski; specifically, text messages that read "the deflator," "I'm not going to espn........yet" and "Can't wait to give you your needle this week :)" Wells previously referred to them as direct evidence. On Thursday, the Patriots provided their version of context to the texts, saying McNally referred to himself as the "deflator" only once, and he was referring to losing weight. Meanwhile, "I'm not going to espn........yet" was McNally's response to Jastremski when they were discussing the possibility of Jastremski getting a pair of team sneakers for McNally without his boss's consent. And the text about needles was, according to the team, a running joke between the two based on McNally sometimes being sent back to the Patriots' equipment room by officials before games for another needle. Whether one chooses to believe it or not, this part of Wellsreportcontext.com stood out to me, because those text messages were such a big part of Wells' findings.

Poking holes in the science: By pointing out the Wells report used referee Walt Anderson's best recollection in all areas except one (determining which gauge he used to measure the Patriots' footballs before the game), the club highlighted how significant that was. Had the Wells report accepted Anderson's best recollection that he used the "logo gauge" before the game on Patriots footballs -- which it did for the Colts' footballs -- it would have proved that basic science fully explains the drop in psi. This point of Wellsreportcontext.com was very strong. Likewise, revisiting the scene in which McNally took the footballs from the officials locker room -- walking by numerous league officials in the process after hearing word the game would soon be starting -- was effective in countering the narrative that McNally sneakily took the footballs without consent.

Why not make McNally available one final time? Part of why the Patriots' punishment from the NFL was so significant was because they didn't make McNally available for a final interview. The Patriots explained their thought process as to why they took that step at the time. When Wells initially interviewed McNally, it was based on the understanding that barring unanticipated circumstances, it would be the final interview (at that time, investigators already had McNally's phone and all text messages, and interviewed him for seven hours). When Wells investigators requested another interview, the Patriots refused for two reasons: (1) McNally and his family had endured media harassment as a result of leaks regarding his name and hometown; (2) There was no explanation of what unanticipated circumstance had occurred to lead to the follow-up request. The Patriots also said they suggested other ways to help Wells investigators ascertain what they needed from McNally but didn't get a response.

We'll circle back with more thoughts from Wellsreportcontext.com, but these were a few thoughts/points that stood out among others.