Source tells Bob Kravitz that Patriots may have deflated footballs in DeflateGate scandal

WTHR ^ | Updated: Jan 19, 2015 6:34 AM EST

[Perdogg]

A source within the NFL tells wthr.com's Bob Kravitz that the league is investigating the possibility that the Patriots deflated footballs in their 45-7 win over the Colts Sunday night.

The source told Kravitz that officials took a ball out of play at one point and weighed it.

A deflated football could potentially be easier to throw and catch in poor weather conditions than a properly inflated ball.

[rlmorel]

That is all very true...

But it is really funny to see people frothing at the mouth over it!

One can only imagine what is in their fevered minds, of a Nixonian-Belichick in a darkened room with a laundry list of things such as letting the air out of footballs, accompanied by statistical results spit out by some evil “Giant Brain” computer locked in the basement, indicating when to use that item, and against whom, in what situation!

It all reminds me of the fever-swamp rantings of liberals, except a lot funnier, because the liberals are driving a lot of our policies.

[rlmorel]

LOL, that probably isn’t as interesting as speculating on the mental acuity of those feeble-minded people who make a big deal out of them...:)

[rlmorel]

This is great!

[Kartographer]

The heart of my post is this; If you do something that you even think will give you an unfair advantaged no matter if it does or not is that still cheating? Apparently to many it isn’t.

[discostu]

And the point of my post is: it’s just a hollow accusation at this point with no proof, so ass-u-ming that people are excusing cheating is all happening on YOUR side. Out here in the real thread people are questioning whether it even happened, and why somebody would bother to do it, not excusing the cheating if it did.

[timestax]

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Yes.

[rlmorel]

I apologize, I didn’t mean to imply you are one of those idiots. My experience has shown you to be an intelligent and reasonable poster.

[Kartographer]

No problem. I really don’t have a dog in this fight. My whole concern is the overall culture in which cheating is not only accepted, but at times admired.

I do think its funny that so many claim it is impossible that anything could had occurred, yet people who would know the most are investigating.

with something as high profile as the NFL and especially during the playoffs and the super bowl, you don’t let something like this fester. If it is totally impossible/improbable/ludacris you put the fire out quickly and certainly.

[Delta Dawn]

ok, ok, ok...I know that I am getting old end everything and that I just recently found out that Linda Ronstadt is no longer hot...but I thought that the officials took custody of the game balls 24 hours before game time to preclude something funny being done to the balls...I thought that this was done to prevent another, Son of Flubber incident...

[timestax]

Each team is allowed to bring their own footballs to use during games. A little more than two hours before each game, referees inspect each team’s footballs to make sure they are properly inflated to league specifications. After this, the balls are given to the teams’ respective attendants, who will hand them off to referees as needed during games. Apparently, several “abnormal” footballs had to be removed from play during Sunday night’s game in Foxboro and the NFL is investigating whether or not these balls were intentionally deflated by the Patriots’ staff. In order for this to have happened, the Patriots’ staff would have had to deflate the balls during the game on the sidelines, which seems like it would have been an awfully big risk for the team to take given how many cameras are covering all aspects of the stadium. On Boston sports radio station WEEI on Monday, Patriots coach Bill Belichick denied that he’d -intentionally- deflated any balls and said that he and the team would fully cooperate with the league’s investigation. If the Patriots are found guilty, they will likely be stripped of draft picks and fined for violating league rules. Did the New England Patriots really cheat their way to the Super Bowl?

[Kartographer]

I think that the NFL is investigating what they see as a reasonable probable cause of an act of cheating. You are the one ass-u-ming that such a act is impossible and could not have occurred.

[Leto]

Wonder if the source for homer Kravtiz, is the drug addict owner of the team.

BTW anyone get outraged when A Rogers said they over inflated the ball cause he like em that way?

Weight isn’t the issue boys and girls, A football is inflated to about twice the pressure of the air we breathe, Wonder how much the air in a football weighs? :D

The pressure of the ball is specified to be between 12.5 and 13.5 psi. Think that could change when the ball get wet spiked cold ect? Think the bar increases in PSI when the temp is 90 and dry ect.

Sour grapes by losers.

[FDNYRHEROES]

This is probably the same reporter that found the rubber bullets in Ferguson. Weighing a football to determine if it is inflated correctly?....I’d expect this from a six year old’s mind. Don’t tell me our education system is working when you see something like this in the news.

Are you saying that a ball with 13.5 pounds of air pressure in it does not weigh 1 pound more than one with 12.5 pounds air pressure? LOL....

[FDNYRHEROES]

In the NFL, each team brings 12 Wilson footballs to the game and uses its own. As such, the Patriots' offense uses one set of footballs and those are taken off the field when possession shifts. The Colts then bring theirs into rotation. It is not uncommon for teams to try to alter, however slightly but within the acceptable limits between 12.5 and 13.5 pounds, the ball that is most agreeable to their quarterback. So if New England was actually using an illegally inflated ball, it would only help their offense and not hurt the Colts' offense.

Theoretically, Belichick could have had all the Pats balls deflated to exactly 13 pounds PSI, which would still be NFL legal, and the haters are still gonna hate...

[Triple]

Less air pressure = less weight... (PV=nRT)

And

wet balls weigh more than dry ones...

[sport]

The Colts took a page from the Democrat Party playbook. We lost. You cheated. You won you cheated. It is only when their [the Colts] opponent wins that cheating occurs.

[ez]

Also,if you plan to use deflated balls, you have the opportunity to practice with them, whe your opponent does not.

[timestax]

[timestax]