[iontheball]

George Blanda played QB very effectively well into his 40s and he was no Brady. I’m a Romo fan, but deflated balls or not, Brady is the best in football and there are a LOT of jealous wanna-bes taking shots at him. Brunel never came close to a Super Bowl.
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A lot of people talk about this issue and they do not have a clue about the issue. Early on, I heard some say they were going to “weigh” the footballs to determine if they were under inflated. Give me a break, these were supposed sports ‘experts.’ Now, they have finally got around to talking pressure, but again they know nothing about air pressure. Were the balls inflated with warm or hot air and then tested in a colder environment? Did they test the balls with the SAME pressure gauge used to inflate them? Did they lose any of the air pressure as they tested them? When you are testing a small quantity of air any loss in the quantity of air will have a major difference on the pressure. All these variables (and likely others) have to be taken into consideration. Bottom line: We will never know if there was any intentional malicious manipulation of the air pressure.

[LS]

That may be true. Certainly it has to be proven beyond doubt. IF, however, it is proven, I think the Pats should forfeit their playoff win AND, since it’s too late to stop the SB, forfeit that win if they in fact win the game.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

-— Bottom line: We will never know if there was any intentional malicious manipulation of the air pressure. -—

Correct. My guess is that Brady submits them at what he thinks is the minimum pressure or just below regulation pressure. Then the bored equipment manager inflates them by feel to a below reg pressure. And then the refs don’t bother to check the pressure of all 24 balls with a gauge, but can’t admit to it. So its a failure all around to do due diligence with regard to a fairly trivial matter. No conspiracy necessary.

[BluH2o]

We will never know if there was any intentional malicious manipulation of the air pressure.

Given the cast of characters Belichick, McDaniels, Brady it's a given ball tampering occurred by someone on the Patriots sideline. The NFL will decide, probably today, as to what action they will take against the Patriots ... the Patriots will take a big hit. The powers that be in the NFL are embarrassed by this controversy ... particularly with the SB a little more than a week away.