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.

[newfreep]

A slightly deflated ball is easier to grip tightly in wet and/or cold weather.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

The balls became deflated because of so many touchdown spikes!

lol...I love the butthurt sore losers.

[BluH2o]

the QB to grip when wet, but if too under-inflated wouldn’t throw as well.

Remember folks the offensive co-ordinator & QB coach for the Patriots is none other than Josh McDaniels. He was caught up in a cheating scandal while head coach for the Broncos. It was during the annual London game and it had to do with one of his assistants taping the opposing teams practice session. The Broncos later that same season fired McDaniels and the taping scandal was cited as one of the reasons.

[Squawk 8888]

Air has mass, just like all matter. Compressed air at a given volume weighs more than uncompressed air at the same volume.

[Squawk 8888]

I don't think weighing the ball is the most accurate way to determine the pressure of air in it

It would be as accurate as the scale used. The only other accurate way to measure it would be to squeeze the ball, as inserting a gauge would inevitably cause some air to leak out.

[mylife]

I understand that.
I question the weighing of it.

[babble-on]

It would not help them equally if the ball boys only put the underinflated ones in play when the Patriots are on offense.

I have no idea whether it happened or not, but Belicheck is a known cheater, and the league is investigating it surely for that reason.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I’ll calling BS. The weight of a football is officially 410–450 grams, a range of 40 grams. The difference in the mass of air in an uninflated and inflated football is about 5 grams. You cannot *reliably* determine whether or not a randomly selected football is inflated by weighing it.

[Labyrinthos]

Just prior to the start of the game. Timing still makes it hard to figure out how they would tamper with them after that. I'm sure the Pats are loving this. It's the kind of mind game that will give the Seahawks pause.

The attendant need only keep a ball needle in his pocket and insert it into the ball bladder for a couple of seconds to let some air out when everyone has their eyes on the game.

[Nervous Tick]

Losing by a score of 45-44, with a RB fumble the deciding play? OK, maybe you have a cause to pursue.

Losing by 45-7 ? Sorry. There’s more to it than underinflated balls. Like, maybe, your team sucks at playing football.

By the way, I don’t have a dog in this fight. I hate both teams equally.

[DoodleDawg]

The attendant need only keep a ball needle in his pocket and insert it into the ball bladder for a couple of seconds to let some air out when everyone has their eyes on the game.

I would think that it's more complicated than that. If you want to deflate a ball that's fine. But I assume that if they want the ball underinflated then they still have a certain pressure that they want it to be at.

[Excellence]

1 cubic foot of air at standard temperature and pressure assuming average composition weighs approximately 0.0807 lbs. A sensitive enough scale would pick it up.

[Nervous Tick]

>> It would be as accurate as the scale used.

It would also depend on the variance of the “tare weight” (the weight of the pigskin, completely empty) between football instances.

If the weight difference between a full and a partially deflated pigskin was “in the noise” of the variance in tare weight, then weighing the balls would not provide a meaningful measure of inflation pressure.

>> The only other accurate way to measure it would be to squeeze the ball, as inserting a gauge would inevitably cause some air to leak out.

I wonder if they could use a technique like the one where they test the pressure in your eyeball (sort of a “squeezing” test). They neither weigh your eyeball nor do they stick a needle in it — at least not at my optometrist’s office — yet they can measure small inflation pressure differences accurately.

As a side comment, once us engineer types get our meat hooks on a topic such as this, it goes from contentious controversy to boring snooze in less time than it took New England to score again and again and again, apparently :-)

[mware]

To really test them, wouldn’t they have to test the air pressure in the football, like you would do with car tires?

[Cboldt]

I think we're on the same page. Theoretically, the pressure can be calculated from delta mass, -IF- one know s the weight of the empty container with sufficient precision.

I figure if the officials are weighing the ball, that is done to find whether or not the weight of the ball is regulation. If they wonder about the pressure, they will use a different method of evaluation.

[RetSignman]

Air, even at the same pressure as the environment it is in, isn’t weightless
++++++
Anyone who uses canned air know when it’s getting empty.

[HapaxLegamenon]

Does anyone have a link to rules online. My old rule book says that the officials take possession of the balls supplied by home team two hours before kickoff.

[McGruff]

Expect Eric Holder to get involved. :)

[G Larry]

You guys must have missed Bill Cosby’s “Why is their air” album.

or, never changed a tire.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

-—does a slightly deflated ball weigh less than an inflated one?-—

I’m guessing that the reporter got onfused between lbs and psi