Posted on 01/22/2015 7:45:17 AM PST by Red Badger
Bill Belichick said he did not know how the Patriots’ footballs became underinflated in Sunday’s game. By Matt PepinGlobe Staff January 22, 2015
Coach Bill Belichick said he did not know of any issue with the Patriots’ game balls in Sunday’s AFC Championship, and did not learn the league was investigating his team until Monday morning.
He also said he did not know how the Patriots’ footballs became underinflated during the game.
“I have no explanation for what happened,” he said.
It was Belichick’s first appearance since news emerged that 11 of 12 footballs the Patriots used against the Colts in the AFC Championship were underinflated. He gave a lengthy opening statement, but responded to questions only by saying he had no more to say about it.
“When I came in Monday morning, I was shocked to learn of the news reports about the footballs. I had no knowledge whatsoever of this situation until Monday morning. I’d say I’ve learned a lot more about this process in the last three days than I knew or had talked about it in the last 40 years,” Belichick said.
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David L. Ryan/Globe Staff
Bill Belichick said he did not know how the Patriots’ footballs became underinflated in Sunday’s game. By Matt PepinGlobe Staff January 22, 2015
Coach Bill Belichick said he did not know of any issue with the Patriots’ game balls in Sunday’s AFC Championship, and did not learn the league was investigating his team until Monday morning.
He also said he did not know how the Patriots’ footballs became underinflated during the game.
“I have no explanation for what happened,” he said.
It was Belichick’s first appearance since news emerged that 11 of 12 footballs the Patriots used against the Colts in the AFC Championship were underinflated. He gave a lengthy opening statement, but responded to questions only by saying he had no more to say about it.
“When I came in Monday morning, I was shocked to learn of the news reports about the footballs. I had no knowledge whatsoever of this situation until Monday morning. I’d say I’ve learned a lot more about this process in the last three days than I knew or had talked about it in the last 40 years,” Belichick said. View Gallery Photos: Belichick speaks about Deflategate controversy
Patriots coach Bill Belichick spoke to the media Thursday morning on issues surrounding underinflated balls used during the AFC Championship game.
Belichick said he does not concern himself much with the condition of game balls, although he acknowledged players would have a greater interest in it.
“I think we all know that quarterbacks, kickers, specialists, have certain preferences on footballs, they know a lot more about it than I do, they’re a lot more sensitive than I am, and I hear them comment on it from time to time, so I can tell you, and they will tell you, that there is never any sympathy whatsoever from me on that subject,” Belichick said.
Belichick said he did not know quarterback Tom Brady’s preferences for game balls.
“Tom’s personal preferences on his footballs are something that he can talk about in much better detail and information than I could possibly provide,” Belichick said. “I can tell you in my coaching career I have never talked to any player, staff member, about football air pressure. That is now a subject that I have ever brought up. To me, the footballs are approved by the league and game officials pregame, and we play with what’s out there. And that’s the only way I have ever thought about that.”
Belichick said prior to this issue emerging, he was unaware of the exact process by which game balls were prepared and handled.
“Let me just say that my personal coaching philosophy and my mentality has always been to make things as difficult as possible for players in practice, and so with regard to footballs, I’m sure that any current or past player of mine will tell you that the balls we practice with are as bad as they can be. Wet, sticky, cold, slippery, however bad we can make them, I make them,” Belichick said. “Any time the players complain about the quality of the footballs, I make them worse.”
The Patriots face the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX on Feb. 1.
Quarterback Tom Brady is scheduled to meet with the media on Thursday at approximately 4 p.m.
If this was the first time the Patriots had been in the news over something out-of-the-ordinary, this would not be a big deal I don’t think. If this happened to the Dolphins or Jets and they were in the Superbowl nevertheless, I don’t think people would care. Just my view.
It’s the biggest nothing of the 2015 playoffs, or any year’s playoffs for that matter.
Wanna do the math again?
P1T1=P2T2, where T is in Kelvins.
:)
As for actual effect? Essentially none. Anything over about 9 pounds is hard, and pretty indistinguishable. Apparently part of the first half they were using the Colts balls, and the entire second half the Pats balls had been quietly readjusted, with no sign Brady noticed.
The Colts player credited for noticing the difference claims he didn’t.
Yeah, but that was the operation of his own team...this is the operation of the referees in their locker-room.
The precedent is...a reminder note. The penalty in the rule book for submitting balls out of specs is...the ref gets to add air. The penalty for altering the balls during the game is up to $25k.
Given that the refs are supposed to control the balls directly between initial inspection and the start of the game when they turn them over to the ball boys, and then change out any balls which seem out of spec..or just wet..while checking the balls between every play gives little chance for actual mischief of what is being alleged without being seen and filmed.
Anyone found any pictures of a ball boy standing there going through ball after ball?
2PSI is one report...albeit not completely clear on -2 PSI from what. If altered on the fly, it is exceedingly unlikely to be precise. There was another report that that was wrong, and it was 1 PSI...which is entirely within range of the temp change (about 1.2, assuming 71F starting point to 51F. More if they’d just filled the balls and not let them reach equilibrium)
As for the Colts balls meeting specs, reporters have been having a lot of trouble pinning down when they were checked, and whether they were rechecked...forget finding out whether they began at the high end or not. So far...lots of tenuous assumptions extrapolated into silliness.
Here’s Theisman on the effects of the assumed difference: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2015/01/21/joe-theismann-steve-young-nfl-deflategate-patriots/22130249/
There are other articles with other QBs stating basically the same thing.
Rained all game. Prior to kickoff the network turned the cameras up to show how hard it was already coming down.
FWIW, a Sports Science segment determined that the under inflation alleged would result in a 20 yard, 50 mph pass arriving .003 seconds *later*. maybe.
I doubt that there is actually any such data...though it is possible that someone actually cared.
...they used to. Manning and others lobbied for their own balls so they could get the grip they want. Kicking balls are another matter, as they are shared, and nearly new.
The main reason they don’t is apparently because this fuss is just silliness in a gotcha that no one cared about because it doesn’t actually matter after about 10 pSI.
None of this is official. The NFL has said they’re reviewing...and there may be leaks...and a lot of assumptions and direct contradiction.
Oh...all the QBs complain. Thats what they used to do, but QBs pretty unanimously say that that sucked.
Notably Luck is just kind of rolling his eyes at the fuss.
On the other hand, the reports are beginning to coalesce around Irsay instigating all this - especially after the Colt LB who intercepted the ball and was attributed as having started the thing has said he didn’t detect anything different about the ball and was just keeping it as a souvenir of a big interception.
The Vikings were caught on TV warming balls in front of a forced air heater during a game in November. They were sent.a reminder note that that was not legal.
No they haven’t. People unfamiliar with physics have guestimated, or only used a couple assumptions which may or may not be correct.
Not to mention we only have one oblique leak - lacking a lot of detail - as to how much they were inflated.
Harbaugh has gone on record denying that.
Gay-Lussac’s law, or the pressure law, was found by Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac in 1809. It states that, for a given mass and constant volume of an ideal gas, the pressure exerted on the sides of its container is proportional to its temperature.
As a mathematical equation, Gay-Lussac’s law is written as either:
P/T=k3
P1/T1=P2/T2
where P is the pressure (Pa), T is the temperature (measured in Kelvin), and k3 (is the constant from this equation—it is not the same as the constants from the other equations above.
I used the second form, as there aren’t reliable figures for how the ball may stretch when wet. For that form, with a unchanging number of moles of the gas, there is no need for a constant.
Or after it's been 'GRONKED'....................
That too...
BTW, I saw that he is selling T-shirts on the issue.
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