Deflate-Gate Investigation Puts Locker Room Attendant Jim McNally In Hot Seat

The Deflate-Gate investigation is beginning to focus on officials’ locker room attendant Jim McNally, according to Outside the Lines. McNally is just an average employee who has worked part-time for the organization for over a decade and has run this locker room since 2008.

Deflate-Gate has called into question the Patriots’ 45-7 win against the Colts in the AFC Championship game. During halftime, 11 of the 12 balls were deemed underinflated by one to two pounds of pressure. As a result, an investigation into the underweight balls has been looming over the NFL ever since. Bill Belichick has claimed this had to do with the “atmospheric conditions,” which have been known to deflate the balls to a certain degree.

But McNally is being eyed for another reason: he tried to introduce an unapproved special teams ball in the first half. Before every game, each ball is weighed and given a distinct mark to show it has been approved. The alternate official, Greg Yette, noticed McNally’s special teams ball did not have a mark and felt it was odd that the locker room attendant was handing him one — a responsibility that is not usually handled by them. Yette soon notified the upper management about the discrepancy.

Suspicions were further raised when Colts GM Ryan Grigson told the league officials in the second quarter that the Pats might be tampering with the footballs. So after all of this, a decision was made to test them at halftime.  Mike Kensil, NFL’s vice president of game operations, personally came down to weigh the balls and in doing so he made the underinflated discovery.

Now, it is important to point out that the NFL’s investigation is ongoing, so they have refused to comment on the matter.  Nally’s personally handing an unapproved football to an official does not mean the Patriots are unequivocal cheaters. The world just has to wait a few more weeks until Ted Wells‘ full discoveries are revealed, even if we all just want this media circus to end.

Until then, everyone involved in the matter refuses to comment and the Patriots will continue to proclaim their innocence. Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft has even demanded an apology if the the investigation does not show any fault by the Pats — bold move Mr. Kraft, lets see how that pays off.