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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."
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."