ESPN: 11 of 12 footballs under inflated by 2 pounds of air.

CheekyDave said:

and Eli Mannings balls are months in the making

Here's how Eli Manning's balls are handled : http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/sports/football/eli-mannings-footballs-are-months-in-making.html?_r=0… (Months of work.)

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Well know the helmet catch makes more sense.

BradyManny said:

The report you read is the NFL handing out torches to the mob a day in advance. The sound you hear is the mob warming up to drown out voices of reason. Get ready for more stupidity.

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I think the league is in a bind......first I think they don't believe it to be as big an issue as the hater media has made it out to be, second, they need to come up with a way to get past this.

If Brady steps up and says it's on him, it would maddeningly complicate the handling of the situation......the BB hating media won't buy it, and the league will sort of be powerless to do anything other than send out a memo

LightSkinSmurf said:

Because its against the rules. That is why we are talking about this.

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The evidence on this issue is the actions of the refs during the game. The refs took no action because altering the ball is common ... they are used to it. They took action because they had to due to complaint. The NFL needs to explain away this issue ... not the Patriots.

To force cold weather teams to play with the same ball as in the Bills vs the Dolphins is simply unfair. The rule is there but my guess is the refs never check the balls with a gauge ... they simply feel them.

Who cares, seriously...I laugh at anybody who makes an issue of this. Get over it.

SyN65 said:

Watching a lot of fans here try to justify 11 of 12 balls being under inflated by exactly 2 PSI is pretty disgusting.

It's not the weather, plenty of colder games have been played.

More info needs to come out but right now the Pats look pretty guilty. Should be an interesting next couple of days. I'm so tired of this **** as a Pats fan. They get another chance to win a SB post spy gate and this comes up. Sigh.

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Lots of speculation in play. If they were 11 psi, then that is 1.5 psi under-inflated, not 2. My theory is that they keep the balls in a warmer prior to the pre-game inspection and then keep them out in the open leading up to the game. No tampering of the balls is done. I don't see anything in the rules about heating the balls before the game. The Vikings and Bengals were told not to use heaters during the game. It's like a reverse Spygate (tapes for use during the game, etc).

Fixit said:

Really? How?

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Can't tell if trolling or that stupid.

IllegalContact said:

I think the league is in a bind......first I think they don't believe it to be as big an issue as the hater media has made it out to be, second, they need to come up with a way to get past this.

If Brady steps up and says it's on him, it would maddeningly complicate the handling of the situation......the BB hating media won't buy it, and the league will sort of be powerless to do anything other than send out a memo

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Why would it be on Brady? Do you think he sits there with a PSI gauge before the game? This is a non-issue that the league get out of hand, just like spygate. Goodell has botched another situation. He's great at enforcing arbitrary punishments for arbitrary rules, but when it matters, like say one of his star players almost killing his wife, he shoots a blank. This is all more noise, and the idiots in the NFL office don't know what to do with it. They could've just said "cut it out" like they did to the Vikings, instead, they are busy undermining the biggest game of the season. Well done, again, Roger.

While the espn report gives some information, it does not tell the whole story. all it says is 11 balls were found to be under-inflated. Were they all underinflated the right amount? did the refs actually check the balls, or just squeeze them?

maybe the patriots underinflated the balls before the game to fit bradys preference(like most QBs like Eli manning, Aaron Rodgers) the refs never really checked them that closely because it is widespread across the league. and the colts called them out on it because of sour grapes between the organizations which lead to the finding

this seems much more likely than belicheck sending out a ball boy between plays taking air out of the balls. in the end probably the league says they didnt appropriately check the balls and send out a memo that you cant do that anymore.

I cant imagine the league wanting this to hang over the superbowl

Breaking News! The individual responsible for deflating the footballs has been identified. Apparently he has a long history of committing sabotage.

Danger Zone said:

Brady prefers to throw with footballs that are lower in PSI.

It was rainy.

It's all but a guarantee that the Patriots submitted 11 footballs at 12.5 psi and a kicking ball at 13.5 psi. It's just common sense.

Experts have shown that with the Gay-Lussac Law, a 20 degree drop in temperature, from a 70 degree room to a 50 degree playing field will result in a 1.5 to 1.75 drop in PSI for the footballs.

Thats exactly the results we are seeing here.

That 11 of these footballs were the exact same PSI tells my common sense that we are talking about Mother Nature here, not a sneaky ballboy with a needle and a couple extra hundred dollar bills in his pocket.

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We've all experienced this when the air pressure in our tires goes down when winter arrives. The question then is, were the balls inflated indoors or outdoors. If indoors, even if they were checked outdoors, the air temperature inside the ball may not have had time to drop before the inspection, but then a couple of hours passed before kickoff which would have allowed the temperature, and thus the pressure, to drop. Would be interesting to know the procedures for both teams.

You know what i think is hilarious?

If the weather can in fact cause the psi to drop based on the air temp, wouldn't it make sense for most of the balls to be low? I heard the balls were 11psi, instead of the minimum 12.5. seems like nature doing its thing. if like 5 balls were 9psi and the rest were 11 then something funky might be up, but for all of the balls to be almost exactly the same? imo thats a clear cut case of eh they probably just submitted them at the bare minimum, maybe a little under.

This is really so sad. My hate for the Colts just surpassed the Jets, and I loathe the Jets. The first time we beat their asses and Pollan complains and gets the NFL to change the illegal contact rule. Now after a 45-7 beat down this crap.

To be honest I will feel a lot better if our coach, QB, and owner come out a flatly deny this instead of stonewalling.

rlcarr said:

Because there is a black and white completely unambiguous rule saying the footballs are not to be altered in any way after they are given to the ref.

I haven't seen anyone (even Florio!) saying seriously that this affected the outcome.

But breaking a clear rule (if NE in fact did so) is cheating and there's no way to handwave that away.

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Meh. I'm not taking this as seriously as others, it seems.

Most, if not all teams, find wiggle room within rules and take advantage where they can. Everyone is treating this like it's some huge breach of the game's integrity. They took some air out of the balls, the refs didn't catch on, pats won by 38. End of story.

This should be a footnote, yet it's the the biggest story of the week in all of the sports world. Overreaction nation. Welcome to the world with twitter and social media.

BradyManny said:

Why would it be on Brady? Do you think he sits there with a PSI gauge before the game? This is a non-issue that the league get out of hand, just like spygate. Goodell has botched another situation. He's great at enforcing arbitrary punishments for arbitrary rules, but when it matters, like say one of his star players almost killing his wife, he shoots a blank. This is all more noise, and the idiots in the NFL office don't know what to do with it. They could've just said "cut it out" like they did to the Vikings, instead, they are busy undermining the biggest game of the season. Well done, again, Roger.

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first, I don't think it's as big of a deal as it is being made out by the hating media.....second, when I said 'it's on Brady', I said it in the context that it's the QB who works with the equipment guy to make the balls the way he wants them.....it didn't say it in a negative way, I said in an matter of fact way since he is the critical player when it comes to ball characteristics. It is quite possible that BB didn't even have a clue.....

Some of my thoughts on this (in no particular order)


1. I doubt BB had any direct knowledge or say about the exact PSI the balls were inflated to. As a head coach, he most likely couldn’t care less. If anything, TB would have a word or two on this, as he is the one operating this offense.

2. 11 out of 12 balls were found to be deflated by EXACTLY 2PSI… - wait, WHAT?!?! Let’s assume the balls were properly inflated pre-game and inspected by the officiating crew, and that someone on the Pats sideline stuck a needle in the balls (forget about how he did it without being seen). HOW THE FCK do you deflate 11 out of 11 (12th is for kicking) balls by EXACTLY 2PSI without proper pressure reading equipment on hand?!?!?

3. The refs touch the balls on EVERY SINGLE DOWN. A ball that is deflated by 2PSI, or roughly 16% less than the legal pressure, can be determined to be deflated by any average fan, let alone a playoffs ref who has touched a million balls throughout his career. HOW THE FCK did they not notice it throughout the whole first half (unless they did, but couldn’t stop the game for 10 minutes while they take the balls back indoors to check them).

4. I find it hard to believe that BB would risk his and this franchise’s legacy in an AFCCG nonetheless to do something stupid like tempering with the balls’ pressure. I think this is more of a trivial thing that no one really gave a thought to. If this is a simple matter of TB’s preference, he probably viewed it as an ordinary request he always makes to keep the balls inflated to the absolute minimum allowed by the rules. It may have been nothing more than a screw-up by someone in the equipment department.

5. Ball attendants! – no one talked about these guys yet (at least not that I’ve seen). Who are these guys? Are they team or league employed? If they are employed by the league, is it possible that one of them had a malicious intent to cause just that? I find it hard to believe that the Pats were ‘caught’ incidentally right at the 2nd most important game of the season. Which leads me to my next point… how come no other intercepting players in any of the prior games (especially during the regular season) have noticed it. And if they now claim they DID notice it (Re: Ravens in the divisional, Colts earlier in the season), how come they didn’t raise hell at that point?!?! Why was this raised after a Pats beatdown in the AFCCG? I have a feeling someone got pissed and didn’t want to see the Pats go to yet another SB without a cloud over their heads.

6. One must wonder, had the Pats lost that game, would we have heard of this deflation story? I have a feeling this was a result of someone who was seriously butt hurt and utterly embarrassed by the game’s outcome.

7. Were the Colts’ balls tested at halftime as well? Do both sets of balls get tested and inflated with the same equipment? If it’s the same, the Colts balls MUST be tested as well!

8. I’m seriously concerned about the team’s ability to maintain focus while preparing for Seattle. This will surely be on everyone’s mind (even though McCourty claims no one gives a ****).

9. Regardless of this investigation’s outcome, this will never go away. Even if it found to be the result of a malicious act by someone outside of the organization, fan bases and mediots outside of this club and region, will always believe the Pats (Kraft to be exact) slicked it out with Goodell, and that the league let it slide because it’s the ‘almightily Patriots and Robert Kraft’ who were a week before the Superbowl and needed to put the whole thing to rest. This AIN’T GOING ANYWAY – EVER!!! We were hated up to this point, and this incident is now just more fuel to the fire. Believe me, I live and work in the middle of Jets/Giants land, it’s only 9am, I’ve been in the gym and office since 6am this morning, I’m ready to put a bullet through my right temple…

10. I’m concerned that in addition to the preparations, this might also affect the players’ emotionally whereby the believe that after all the effort they gave during this season, they were betrayed by their quarterback and/or coach, where either one (or both) had to resort to such low tactics. I’m concerned they will show up to the big game a little less motivated (even if it’s just subconsciously). I could and hope to be wrong on this point, but it’s just something that’s bothering me.

11. I’m still cautiously optimistic, while waiting for the investigation to conclude. I really hope this was the result of an ill-intent by someone on the Colts side, or someone outside of this organization, doing something illegal on the sidelines. Whoever or whatever the cause is, I REALLY, REALLY hope he or it are not associated with the New England Patriots.


Good luck to us all.

SyN65 said:

More info needs to come out but right now the Pats look pretty guilty. Should be an interesting next couple of days. I'm so tired of this **** as a Pats fan. They get another chance to win a SB post spy gate and this comes up. Sigh.

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Guilty of what? Underinflating balls by 2 psi? OK. So maybe they tried to break a rule. DBs try to break a rule every play when they grab the opponent. Linemen try to break a rule every play when they hold. If its not called, its not a penalty. If it is called, it is. The balls were taken out of play. The Patriots continued to stomp the Colts.

How is this an issue? At what point did this affect the outcome of the game in any way?

No excuses, this is as almost as serious as the Colts tanking scandal and should be punished as such.

Tanking was season was just awful. Throwing games!

Wait.... What was the punishment for that?

Seahawxx said:

Devils advocate


As someone who isn't an expert on air pressure two questions.
Why didn't the cold temperature deflate all 12 footballs? And should the colts balls also be checked for deflation? Theoretically all these balls are composed of the same internal and external properties and these properties all respond equally to the external temperature. So shouldn't all 12/12 balls be deflated and the colts balls should also have been deflated?

Discuss.

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Unless one ball was accidentally over inflated. Then deflated to a normal range because of the cold.

gmtaxi27 said:

This is really so sad. My hate for the Colts just surpassed the Jets, and I loathe the Jets. The first time we beat their asses and Pollan complains and gets the NFL to change the illegal contact rule. Now after a 45-7 beat down this crap.

To be honest I will feel a lot better if our coach, QB, and owner come out a flatly deny this instead of stonewalling.

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Well, it might still make sense to hate the JEST more. Nobody would care about this if Cameragate hadn't happened.