Yeah, but the legal minimum is 12.5, so they were 16% below the level allowed. Sounds like it’s a pretty common thing for QBs to try to sneak the same past the refs, however, and more QBs are supposed to like their balls under-, rather than over-, inflated. Also, the balls lose pressure in the cold and this is January, so they’re probably used to balls at or below 12.5 before they’re taken out to the cold, so the difference may not have been that great.
I corrected my math. They were 19% under on the average. I would expect professionals to notice the difference, easily. The Colts player that intercepted the ball in fact did.
I’m wondering where the gauge(s) came from when they did the original spec check. When the Colts brought it to the ref’s attention, the ref’s used a different guage and found 11 of the 12 balls provided by the Patriots were illegal.