John Elway played 256 games in his NFL career, and he threw 7,901 passes. He never was concerned about the inflation level of the football he threw. But after the Tom Brady scandal erupted earlier this year, he was curious. He went to his equipment staff, and had footballs inflated to 13 psi, and 12 psi, and 11 psi, and he felt them and tested them himself.
“I mean, it’s not that big a difference,” said Elway. “It’s hard to tell the difference. Not a big enough difference to have the attention on this that it’s gotten. What I come down to is, does it really matter? Some guys like the ball a little softer. And if a guy likes a harder ball, that’s fine too. We want the quarterbacks to be as successful as they can be, and we want them to give the fans the best entertainment they can. Who cares if a quarterback likes it at 10 and a half? If that makes him play better, fine.”
Of course, Elway isn’t alone in thinking the balls should be, within reason, left without regulation. But the fact is there are rules in the NFL, and the balls must be inflated between 12.5 psi and 13.5 psi when measured on gauges in the officials’ locker room two hours before the start of games. Until the rules are changed, if they ever are, quarterbacks will have to use footballs at that pressure.
Not that it seems to matter to Brady. If the footballs used by Brady at home were ever tampered with, the record shows his performance at home over the years is remarkably similar to the performance on the road—where visiting teams hand over the balls to the officials and then to home-team ballboys independent of the visitors.
As for the effect of the off-season scandal on Brady’s motivation this fall, Elway said: “The last thing you want to do is poke the bear. The bear got poked, and this is what happened.”
