have not heard a realistic explanation of how they would actually deflate the balls. the step by step possession of the balls makes that extremely unlikely and hard to do.
have heard an explanation that the balls pressure was measured at a much higher temperature, inside, than on the filed, and that may have caused some deviation.
the likelihood that someone, while standing not the sidelines during the game, deflated all the balls to exactly the same pressure, highly unlikely if not impossible.
They pay the ball handler to do it. Simple. As I understand it the home team controls the balls after they are inspected. They have ball boys of sorts that do it. The Bucs QB in the superbowl paid off one of the ball boys to scuff up the balls to make them easier to handle because he heard the superbowl balls are slick since they are brand new and no one gets to touch them before the game (except the ball boys).
Seriously? The temperature? And it effected 11 out of 12 of the Patriots balls but exactly ZERO of the Colts balls. All of which were under the control of the Referee until they were given to the ball boys and hit the field. Please....
Shoot, all you'd have to have is a pop-off valve set at 11 psi. Push it in,,,ffffftt....11 psi! Next.