They've been debating it on Mike and Mike a few days now. They're going back and forth on the difference between gamesmanship, breaking rules, and cheating.
They don't have a clear definition but they seem to agree cheating involves both of the first 2, but at a level where it's not widespread so "everyone is doing it" is not true, there's a clear belief you're getting a benefit from it, and you're in a position to do it in a way that harms the other team.
That is in this case we're not aware any other team was tampering with the balls in this manner. The Pats clearly believe they got a benefit or they wouldn't have been doing it, apparently for years. And with McNally having the bag of balls that belonged to the Colts, it crossed the line into them having the ability to sabotage the other team.
There's also some weird back story that has been dropped about Gostkowski apparently attempting to get a kicking only ball onto the field in regular game play. It's not clear to me if it was when the Pats had the ball, or the opponent, I assume it's opponent the kicking balls are not designed for passing at all. That's why the NFL wanted to talk to him too but they apparently decided it wasn't pertinent to this case so they didn't suspend him for failing to cooperate like they did with Brady.
But if they were a college, New England would be on probation now for lack of institutional control and fostering an atmosphere of non compliance.
