NFL Investigation Reveals 11 Of The 12 Patriots Balls Deflated

After the NFL’s investigation into what the media has dubbed “deflate-gate” — seriously it is time another word is created to describe a scandal — it has been revealed that 11 of the 12 Patriots balls were deflated: according to ESPN’s report, “the investigation found the footballs were inflated 2 pounds per square inch below what’s required by NFL regulations.”

At the moment, the league is unsure what the specific penalty will be for the New England Patriots; each team provides their own balls, which is inspected by the officials roughly two hours and fifteen minutes before the game. Under league rule, the balls are not allowed to be changed or altered after this time period: something obviously happened in that 135 minute time frame. However, is it really as big of a thing as people are making it? Furthermore, does Bill Belichick really have time to worry about the weight of the game balls with everything else on his plate?

Recently, Brad Johnson’s interview, about how he paid to alter the game balls before Super Bowl XXXVII, resurfaced; now, this has little correlation with the New England incident, but still it does show a pay to win attitude, which demonizes the Patriots in the press. And in many ways, one must agree that deflating the ball would have aided Brady’s grip during the game against the Indianapolis Colts.

At the same time, the Patriots still destroyed the Colts 45-7, meaning their three touchdowns on the ground by LeGarrette Blount was enough to seal their trip to the Super Bowl — so those asking about a disqualification need to take Aaron Rodger’s advice and relax. Even Colts tight end Dwayne Allen took to Twitter to somewhat agree that the so-called “deflategate” is not a big deal.

Again, this is not to say the Patriots are innocent in the matter; they should be appropriately fined for the actions of whoever did this — this could even lead to a loss of a draft pick. At the same time, to say this is what resulted in their win undercuts what their defense did to a very dominant Colts passing offense.

Either way, Belichick and the Patriots are already seen as the bad boys of football: there image is still hurt from the spying scandal in 2007, yet this does not change the fact that when it comes to January they are still one of the most dominant/successful dynasties in NFL history. So everyone needs to pump their brakes a bit and relax: appropriate measures will be taken, but lets not call for their heads just yet.

Article by Anthony Falco