Sources Confirm: 11 of 12 Patriots Footballs Were Underinflated

Following their AFC Championship win, the New England Patriots became suspects of underinflated footballs and have undergone investigation by the NFL.

Halfway into Sunday’s game, a Patriots-marked ball was removed due to deflation, prompting the eyebrow raise of league officials. Earlier Wednesday, ESPN reported that New England’s game balls were in fact underinflated by 2 pounds per square inch (below NFL criterion). You see, the purpose of an underinflated ball is to make catching and gripping easier for the receiving players. So with inclement weather, any little bit would have helped. Deflation can even change a ball’s air travel.

NFL regulations permit each team 12 balls that are inspected two hours and 15 minutes prior to kick-off by officials and must remain in said officials’ possession at all times. All balls are marked accordingly, including six separate balls used for kicking. Each ball must be inflated with 12.5-13.5 pounds of air and weigh anywhere from 14-15 ounces. Balls are rechecked immediately before the game.

No one has been implicated as of yet and whoever is could face an array of punishments “including but not limited to, a fine of $25,000,” says ESPN’s, Mike Reiss. But this does leave everyone with the question of “who will take the fall?” Anyone from players, to officials and all the way up to coaching staff and management, could be disciplined. Now, I’m not saying the Colts would have won, but there’s a chance that score may have been a little less embarrassing. It’s even got people taking to Twitter asking if the team can win without swanky maneuvers and loopholes.

You almost feel bad for the players because their hard work will always be affected with allegations and we’re not sure that they were initially aware of what was going on in front of them. However, having been a football manager, I know that you can feel the difference in inflated and underinflated balls. I say that to say, they weren’t totally in the clouds about everything. Colts head coach, Chuck Pagano, avoided confirmation that he or his staff gave insight to the underinflated balls and also stated that he saw no problems with them during the game.

This is the second accusation of “cheating” for the Patriots during this postseason, alone and we all remember “SpyGate” in 2007 when head coach, Bill Belichick, was accused for having some of his staff spy on other teams’ defensive calls. He was fined $500,000 and somehow abstained from any suspensions. My question is: should we start to question the integrity of the Patriots or of the NFL for not having seriously penalized the team earlier.

Sources Cited:

11 of 12 Pats Footballs Underinflated: Chris Mortensen, ESPN.com

NFL looking into Pats’ possible use of deflated balls: Kevin Patra, Around the NFL

NFL investigating Patriots’ footballs: Mike Reiss, ESPN.com