The Colts sent the NFL an email explaining exactly what the Patriots were going to do before the AFC title game

The NFL has concluded its months-long investigation investigation into Deflategate and determined that it is "more probable than not" that two employees deliberately released air from game balls and that Tom Brady "was at least generally aware" of the plan.

The entire scandal is a huge black eye for the New England Patriots and Brady, and it draws the legitimacy of last year's champion into question.

Perhaps the most dumbfounding part of this is that the NFL had more than one chance to stop it from happening and did nothing.

According to the report, the league first became aware of the possibility that the Patriots were deflating the footballs when Ryan Grigson, the general manager of the Indianapolis Colts, sent an email to two senior members of the NFL Football Operations Department days before the AFC championship game.

In the email, Grigson included a note from a Colts' equipment manager which said the Patriots are known for deflating footballs, and added "all the Indianapolis Colts want is a completely level playing field. Thank you for being vigilant stewards of that not only for us but for the shield and overall integrity of our game."

Here is the note from the equipment manager to the NFL. It describes exactly what NFL investigators believes happened before the AFC title game:

"As far as the gameballs are concerned it is well known around the league that after the Patriots gameballs are checked by the officials and brought out for game usage the ballboys for the patriots will let out some air with a ball needle because their quarterback likes a smaller football so he can grip it better, it would be great if someone would be able to check the air in the game balls as the game goes on so that they don't get an illegal advantage."

That email was then forwarded to several other league officials, including two senior members of the NFL Officiating Department, who responded by saying they would bring the issue up with Walt Anderson, the referee assigned to the AFC Championship game.

At no time is there any indication that the Patriots were made aware of the Colts' concerns or that the NFL was making members of the Patriots' front office aware of a potential rules infraction.

Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com spoke with an anonymous league official who said this would have never happened under previous commissioners.

"As one league source with no connection to the present controversy explained it to PFT in January, past Commissioners like Paul Tagliabue would have informed the Patriots of the situation," wrote Florio. "[Tagliabue would have] warned them that the NFL is paying attention, that the league reserves the right to check the air pressure in the footballs during the game, and that any funny business would be met with a decidedly unfunny reaction from the league office."

Doing this would have almost certainly scared the Patriots enough to make sure nobody was altering the footballs during that game. It also would have eliminated any doubt raised about the weather's impact on the pressure of the footballs, a central point to the Patriots' defense as evidenced by Robert Kraft's statement following the release of the Wells report.

To make matters worse, the NFL and the game's referee were made aware of the allegations and yet the footballs still went missing prior to the game.

Knowing that the Patriots were being accused of deflating footballs and knowing that the footballs went missing, the officials could have easily re-tested the footballs once they were found. Again, that would have eliminated the weather defense, but more importantly, it would have kept the Patriots from using illegal footballs during one of the most important games of the season.

The report also makes it clear that the NFL should have taken the allegations made by the Colts seriously, noting that the actions of one of the employees accused of altering the footballs, locker room attendant Jim McNally, had come under review of the NFL after allegations arose that he was supplying "non-approved practice balls" in place of approved footballs during a game in 2004.

The report insists that there was "was no 'sting' operation" put in place by the NFL. However, if the goal was to catch the Patriots red-handed, it apparently worked.

But at the same time, the NFL has another ugly mess that looks like it could have easily been avoided.