Bill Belichick will meet with the media today at 9:30 a.m

From NFL.com
Coach Bill Belichick on Thursday acknowledged that he was "shocked" this week to learn of the NFL's investigation of overly deflated footballs allegedly used by the Patriots during the AFC title game.
Addressing a swarm of reporters, Belichick addressed the controversy with a prepared statement:
"When I came in Monday morning, I was shocked to learn of the news reports about the football. I had no knowledge whatsoever of this situation until Monday morning.
"I would say I learned a lot more about this process in the last three days than I knew or had talked about it in the last 40 years that I've coached in this league.
"I had no knowledge in the various steps involved in the game balls and the process that went through, that happened between, when they were prepared and went to the officials and went to the game, so I learned a lot about that.
"I obviously understand that each team has the opportunity to prepare the balls the way they want. Give them to the officials and the game officials either approve or disapprove the balls, and that really was the end of it for me, until I learned a little more about this the last couple days."
Belichick went on to say that his personal coaching philosophy has always been to make conditions as "tough as possible" for players in practice. He insisted that any current or past player of his would attest that the football the team practices with are "as bad as they can be," and "however bad we can make them, I make them ... any time the players complain about the quality of the footballs, I make them worse."
Said Belichick: "We never make the conditions of the footballs an excuse."

I frickin love Bill effin Bellichick. He saved the Superbowl! Now they just gotta take care of business a week from Sunday.

Charlotte Pats Fan said:

Unless I'm missing something wouldn't BB's denial indicate the Pats have never been warned about under inflated footballs?

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Absolutely, that **** was straight up made up.

Ivan said:

Who said Brady is having footballs deflated?

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Nobody. I wrote IF.....

I noticed the following:

"BREAKING: NFL investigation shows Patriots footballs were deflated during AFC Championship Game"

Does this mean that balls were properly inflated at the begining of the game ? and they got deflated somehow during the game (on the field) ?

Ivan said:

The interesting thing that came out of that was his statement that they inflate to 12.5, which explains how so many balls came in under, as any deflation would put any ball under specs. IMO this is a no harm no foul situation and all by that is needed is better rules and handling by the league. The NFL needs to have the courage to be honest about this and clear the Patz.

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The problem is that the balls were deflated by 2 pounds

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MoreBellhorn said:

He also said that the NFL is going to have a hard time finding evidence to pin this on the Patriots

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The bottom feeders will do their best to put a conspiracy spin on that.

pats_premi said:

I noticed the following:

"BREAKING: NFL investigation shows Patriots footballs were deflated during AFC Championship Game"

Does this mean that balls were properly inflated at the begining of the game ? and they got deflated somehow during the game (on the field) ?

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Yes, where have you been? The key question everyone is trying to answer is how those balls got deflated.

Connecticut said:

It seems like the heat wave is dying down.

The second day was the worst, everyone calling for our heads, but slowly, it's being diffused. That's what it seems like anyways.

Deliberate plan by the NFL?

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I dont; think it was deliberate. that ws the day more and more players and coaches came out and said they had they're own preferences and doctored the balls to their liking and coaches said it had no affect on the out come of the game.

"We never make the conditions of the footballs an excuse."

Unlike a couple of other teams we've beaten recently

Living in the DC/Balt area, I have to say that even on the local 'hater' sports stations, it's largely being brushed off as poor loser BS ... well they do have callers just spreading 'cheaters' and other hate. Even Luck said this is being overblown. They are, however, really enjoying sticking another finger in the eye of one of the greatest football franchises in NFL history. Haters gotta hate... and the 'sports media' now has another hype story while hoping for sanctions so they can have another story and not have to wait until media day.

BB pretty much set the stage for the pressure differential being a weather related issue since they put the balls on the minimum accepted pressure.
TB was not 'thrown under the bus' and will likely say it doesn't really matter, it's the reading of the defense that matters.
This is a coordinated response otherwise BB would have just deferred to NFL investigators and stayed away from mentioning TB....
Face it, is he going to throw TB under the bus and then expect a good superbowl performance in a week and a half??!??

IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE. On to Seattle.

I'm not sure why anyone would think Brady is being "thrown under the bus" here. We are simply seeing a series of denials from the people involved because the whole thing is ridiculous.

Tom Brady: "I work with the ballboys constantly. They're aware of my preferences, and they do a great job making that happen, but they adhere to the rules, guys. Like Coach said, we fill the balls to the minimum, and if they lose some pressure during the game due to weather or 320-pounders playing Twister on them, well I'm not exactly going to be unhappy."

*grins, gets standing O and several hotel keys*

Done.

TommyBrady12 said:

The problem is that the balls were deflated by 2 pounds

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Based on what measurement 13.5 or 12.5. I'm so sick of this crap. A giant FU to all the haters is in order.

Tom's presser is simple. The balls get pumped to 12.5. He likes 12.5 as opposed to 13.5 b/c it's squishier and easier to handle. A cold ball does tend to get a little smaller but I'm not a physics expert so not sure about that.

Tom's engaging guy. He has the opportunity to insert some humor here and disarm the haters and bring to light how ridicuous this his. Maybe go into Iverson mode..

"We're talkin' 'bout balls?..."Not the game, not the game...balls"

robertweathers said:

Thoughts after the presser...

• I think BB has complete knowledge of the league's process in how it handles footballs on game day
• I think BB has a complete understanding of what QB's do to footballs prior to games.
• Does he know if Brady mucks with the balls on game day? Yes. Will he give him up? No, but clearly he is leaving it to TB to explain/handle.
• BB did what he had to do.

One thing is for sure, Stacy James is earning his money.

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You are calling BB a liar. Maybe you shouldn't be so cynical. Sometimes, it truly "is what it is."

Double TE said:

So we still don't know: who, how and when. Neither does the NFL.

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He told you everything he knows.

When that women reporter asked why all this negative BS follows BB he should have said "Haters gonna hate" (Drops mic, backs up, walks away)

This is different to spygate, in that case the camera man was caught, i feel now the nfl cant prove the patriots deflated the balls, they would be idiots if accept the acusation without evidence, pats have the leverage.

I feel slightly better. BB doesn't look guilty to me. If Tom comes out and denies, and the NFL is unable to find evidence then **** the haters. Onto the SB.