Posted on 01/21/2015 4:04:41 AM PST by Boston Blackie
The NFL is investigating whether the Patriots deflated footballs that were used in their AFC championship game victory over the Colts.
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonherald.com ...
Wonder if they also checked the Colts footballs.
Assuming the same pre-game gauge was used to check both the Patriots and the Seahawks balls, why weren’t the Seahawks balls shown to be similarly under inflated?
What you describe would have happened to the12 balls the Seahawks provided as well, but it didn’t. Explain that.
“Ok...then why was the 12th, properly inflated ball not affected?”
For the kicker.
I sense some butthurt in your comment, please elaborate.
The “more” to this story is that sometime between the time the balls were tested before the game and the start of the game, only 11 of the balls the Patriots provided “magically” lost 15-20% of the air that was in them.
No such “magic” occurred with the balls the Seahawks provided.
There has to be a reason for this and in the next few days, the NFL will find out the reason.
They would have had to. The Colts would have been insane to make their concerns known if their own footballs weren’t within regulations.
That is not correct. From the NFL's official rule book...
Section 2
BALL SUPPLY
Each team will make 12 primary balls available for testing by the Referee two hours and 15 minutes prior to the starting time of the game to meet League requirements. The home team will also make 12 backup balls available for testing in all stadiums. In addition, the visitors, at their discretion, may bring 12 backup balls to be tested by the Referee for games held in outdoor stadiums. For all games, eight new footballs, sealed in a special box and shipped by the manufacturer to the Referee, will be opened in the officials’ locker room two hours and 15 minutes prior to the starting time of the game. These balls are to be specially marked by the Referee and used exclusively for the kicking game.
I would suspect that is why you will see a kicker rubbing, kneading and flexing the football before kick-offs. It's brand new when it's given to him.
The rules say that the balls "remain under the supervision of the referee until just prior to the start of the game" before they are handed off to each team's ball attendants. I guess defining what "just prior" means is the key. How much time before the start of the game did the Belichick have to cheat and was it enough time? "Just prior" has to allow time for the trainers and ball attendants to get their set-up in order so what, 15 minutes prior? As stated by the referee consultant during the game, the teams have enough time before the game to scuff up the game balls (not the kicking balls) prior to use. Stick a pump needle in each one as you scuff them up, done.
But for such a supposed "trivial matter", the rule book does spend a seemingly inordinate amount of time on game ball specs...
Does under-inflated to 2 pounds equate to getting your ass handed to you by 38 points? I don’t think so. Try playing defense.
Hi Diana,
It was a well-played game - you should be proud of your Packers. I practically needed a defibrillator at my house.
Russell is a class act and usually a good player - couldn’t believe the 1st 3 quarters.
I heard a discussion on the radio about the Packer fans and Seahawk fans at the game. They mentioned that both were very respectful towards one another, Hawks fans shook Packer fans’ hands after the game and said things like, good game. Not always the case with other teams’ fans here - 49er fans are the worst.
Thought you might be interested in this story, I thought it was very touching. While there are always a few idiots that are exceptions - if they get out of hand, they get tossed from the game - low tolerance level for bad behavior by fans and security, it shows that us Seahawk fans try to be cordial to other fans.
This is the story on our local news, but it’s been in the national media, too (just saw the update about Sherman, which is cool):
Seahawks fan’s gesture touches Packers family:
http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/seattle/2015/01/19/seahawks-fan-packers-nfc-championship/22008327/
I certainly don't care that the Patriots are heading into the biggest football game of the year either looking like cheaters or proven beyond a doubt that they are cheaters.
No care from me that all the press will be talking about for the next two weeks is the lack of integrity the Patriots organization has with spygate, etc. being rehashed.
I can't muster up even one iota of care that even if the Patriots win the Super Bowl, the win will be tainted.
B.F.D.
Geek that I am, I did the actual math for your scenario. If the footballs were inflated to 13 psi at 90F, and then cooled to 20F, the pressure in the balls would be 11.3 psi. That’s not too far different from what they were measured to be.
Using the ideal gas law, and assuming the volume of the footballs stay the same, then
if the balls were inflated to 12.5 psi in an 80 degree room, then were brought outside to 20 degree conditions, then the ball pressure would be reduced to 11.1 psi.
P1=12.5 psi
T1=80 F = 299.8 K
T2=20 F = 266.5 K
P1/T1 = P2/T2
P2 = P1 (T2/T1) = 12.5 psi x (266.5 K / 299.8 K) = 11.1 psi
kidd’s conclusion: The cold air alone would account for 1.4 psi of the 2 psi underinflation. I doubt that pressure gages were used with enough accuracy to make a case that the balls were purposely underinflated.
I would guess that the Colts balls were equally deflated.
Under further review, there is not enough evidence to overturn the ruling on the field. The Colts are charged with a lost game.
There’s a rubber bladder inside a football which would be unaffected by the moisture. Temperature, yes, but not the moisture.
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