Rogers may have over inflated the balls before they were given to the refs who (if they were doing their jobs) would have deflated them before returning them. The way I understand it is the refs are given the balls to approve of and then they return them. If the balls are manipulated after the refs have approved them it’s a different issue. Same here. If the patriots deflated them before giving them to the refs to approve then it’s not so serious, although still a little devious.
***If the balls are manipulated after the refs have approved them it’s a different issue.***
The balls were given to the refs a few hours before game time, which were checked by the refs at that point, and were given the ok. The deflating happened after the balls were returned to the teams before the start of the game. During the first half was when Colts player made the interception and noticed that the ball felt deflated. He gave it to the ref and said something about it to him. That’s when this whole thing started being examined.