The New England Patriots’ so-called Deflategate scandal has become so inflated that former quarterback Mark Brunell was brought to tears on ESPN. In fact, some fans and analysts are calling for the Patriots to be disqualified from the Super Bowl. Some fans have called for Bill Belichick to be suspended for at least a season.
And what is it over? The PSI (pounds per square inch) of a football. And just weeks before the Patriots and Seattle Seahawks square off in what should be a Super Bowl for the ages, the NFL and its fans are left over obsessed with how much air was pumped into the Patriots’ game balls during their thrashing of the Indianapolis Colts, 45-7. Put simply, the sports media needs to get its priorities in check and stop overblowing Deflategate.
The Colts claim to have become suspicious of foul play after linebacker D’Qwell Jackson intercepted a pass before halftime and voiced concerns to the team’s equipment manager that the ball could be underinflated. Then last Tues., NFL reporter Chris Mortenson came out and said that the league found that 11 of the 12 balls used by the Pats were under inflated and below the minimum level of 12.5, which some say gave Patriots quarterback Tom Brady a better grip on the ball. The league rule states balls must be between 12.5 and 13.5 PSI and weigh between 14 and 15 ounces.
Colts quarterback Andrew Luck didn’t have the same advantage, as teams don’t share game balls, with each supplying their own while on offense. NFL officials must approve the balls before kickoff and that’s apparently what happened Sunday.
However, in the recent days, the NFL and media’s smear campaign has started to unravel as Belichick has put the league on the defensive and new reports have begun to discredit many of the original claims.
Over the weekend Belichick called his second press conference in three days and explained how after conducting his own experiments, the weather conditions alone could have lowered the PSI of the balls in question. Many scientists (I have a video I want to include that ran the same experiment that Belichick talked about–click here) have agreed with Belichick except for Bill Nye, who went on Good Morning America to refute the claims with no statistical evidence of his own to back himself up. ESPN has also removed one of their “Sports Science” segments from their website detailing the same ideas that Belichick discussed.
A new report has also found that only one football, the one that Jackson intercepted, was in fact two PSI under the legal limit, with the rest only one PSI or less under.
Now don’t get me wrong, if the NFL finds the Patriots intentionally did in fact deflate balls after the officials check them, there should be punishments levied against whomever the league finds was involved. But that should be it. If that means the team loses some draft picks or is fined a hefty amount, so be it. But calling for a team to pull out of the Super Bowl for deflating a football is asinine.
Taking a step back from the issue that has now been beaten to death in the media, the Pats are accused of lowering the PSI of a football by one to two PSI. That’s it. This isn’t PED’s or even ignoring concussion protocol like some have compared it to, it’s about how inflating a football. And while talk shows have beaten the topic to death, most people can’t tell the difference between the two balls.
The Patriots did get caught. A team that habitually toes the line of right and wrong (who could forget Spygate?) now finds itself in hot water. But does a deflated ball make up for a 38-point loss? I don’t think anyone can make that argument, especially with running back LeGarrette Blount tearing up the Indy defense for 148 yards and three touchdowns. Brady only threw for 226 yards, most of which was in the second half, and the Colts even saying it was a non-issue.
The team the Patriots are battling in the Super Bowl, the Seahawks, was fined $300,000 for an illegal practice schedule, which would provide a team with an even greater advantage in the long term than deflating balls. Many Seahawks have also violated league’s PED policy, yet another form of cheating. Yet these mishaps were but footnotes to this NFL season.
Doctoring footballs is also nothing unique to the Patriots. Former Buccaneers quarterback Brad Johnson paid to have the game balls altered before Super Bowl XXXVII. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers came out and said he hates when the refs take air out of his footballs. Both the Minnesota Vikings and Carolina Panthers were warned by the league not to alter game balls during their matchup against each other earlier this season.
Former quarterback Matt Leinart even tweeted “Every team tampers with footballs. As any QB in the league, this is ridiculous.”
So just like Ray Lewis and his infamous deer antler spray two years ago during the dead week leading up to Super Bowl week, Belichick and the Patriots find themselves in the middle of a classic, over-exaggerated controversy—and the media is licking its lips for another story.
