The balls are controlled by the refs until 10 minutes before the game.
I believe this is incorrect. The balls are controlled by the refs until 2 hours 15 minutes prior to the game and then handed over to team representatives. Plenty of time to take a needle to the balls.
From
this link:
Each team provides 12 footballs for their offense to use each game. The footballs are inspected by the referee 2 hours and 15 minutes before kickoff, then are given to the team of attendants who handle the balls throughout the game. The attendents are provided by the home team, in this case the Patriots.
Also, regarding the weather scenario, it was over 50F outside...a relatively average nfl gameday temp. The chief of Boston College's physics department says it is impossible that weather could have affected the ball this much.
Here is
a link.
“The pressure loss due to the temperature alone cannot be the issue in my mind,” said BC physics professor Michael J. Naughton, after plugging temperature data into a formula that calculates pressure loss. “If the footballs were notably lower pressure, then the only way it could have happened was if someone went in and stuck a needle in the ball and let two-thirds of the gas out, which means it is now up to the NFL to follow the chain of command — but no logical physics can explain the kind of pressure loss they’re talking about.”