If the league mandates 12.5 to 13.5 at measurement then the pats complied with that. If colder air lowered pressure then that's on the league.
Either tell the refs to re inflate in cold temp games or perhaps the 12.5 already takes into account that balls lose a little pressure in cold air and that's ok. Either way the pats did absolutely nothing wrong if it's only slightly lower due to temps.
Here's a question. Do they measure pressure of the balls in other cold air games? How do we know all those balls are equally soft? Maybe that's why the refs didnt notice it. It's not unusual.
There's no standard to measure against. Indy is a dome team. Of course it seems soft to them, they don't play in the cold.
The steelers might have played with lower inflated balls all December in their home games then that ball. It's just that the refs weren't told to check it.
Either tell the refs to re inflate in cold temp games or perhaps the 12.5 already takes into account that balls lose a little pressure in cold air and that's ok. Either way the pats did absolutely nothing wrong if it's only slightly lower due to temps.
Here's a question. Do they measure pressure of the balls in other cold air games? How do we know all those balls are equally soft? Maybe that's why the refs didnt notice it. It's not unusual.
There's no standard to measure against. Indy is a dome team. Of course it seems soft to them, they don't play in the cold.
The steelers might have played with lower inflated balls all December in their home games then that ball. It's just that the refs weren't told to check it.