Bill Belichick responds to report of underinflated footballs
No, this isn’t an old headline from January 2015. This Friday – December 22, 2023 – New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick stood at the podium at Gillette Stadium and answered questions about underinflated football used in a recent game.
Last time Belichick did so was following the 2014 AFC Championship Game, when the Patriots were accused of using underinflated balls on offense in a ‘scandal‘ that later became known as Deflategate. Now, the balls in question are the kicking footballs – or ‘K-balls’ used by both teams.
READ MORE:
—Week 16 Patriots Mailbag
—What to watch for when the Patriots face the Broncos on Sunday
—Thursday’s injury report
As first reported by MassLive’s Mark Daniels on Wednesday, the kicking balls used by both teams in last Sunday’s Patriots-Chiefs matchup were underinflated by as much as two pounds per square inch (PSI). The issue was identified by the Patriots sideline, which brought it to the attention of the officiating crew which rectified the problem at halftime. In the case of K-balls, the league is responsible for providing (and therefore inflating) them for each game.
When Belichick was asked about the situation on Friday, there were no Mona Lisa Vito references like there were 10 years ago. Instead, he addressed the issue directly.
“We were aware of it in the first quarter,” Belichick began, when asked if he was aware of the issue during the game. “The officials handle that, and they were underinflated by two – two and a half pounds. I think you could see that by the kicks. Both kickers missed kicks – [Chiefs kicker Harrison] Butker hadn’t missed a kick all year. Kickoffs, we had two that almost went out of bounds.”
“You’d have to talk to the league about what happened on that, because we don’t have anything to do with that part of it,” Belichick continued, before seemingly identifying one issue that stood out to him. “They control all that, then they fixed them at halftime but didn’t do it before then. It’s just another question you could ask, but we don’t have anything to do with it.”
“So were we aware of it? Yeah, definitely,” he concluded. “But they were all – as I understand it – they were all the same.”
As of noon on Friday, the league has not released any sort of comment or statement on the underinflated football issue.
Read more…
We've got another case of underinflated footballs at Gillette Stadium
Dec 17, 2023; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New England Patriots place kicker Chad Ryland (37) tries for a field goal during the first half against the Kansas City Chiefs at Gillette Stadium. Credit: Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports
Of course, this incident will have many football fans flashing back to the 2014 AFC Championship Game, when the Patriots were investigated for using underinflated football against the Indianapolis Colts. An early report about ’11 of 12′ game balls being underinflated later proved to be erroneous, yet despite never compiling sufficient evidence the league fined the Patriots and suspended quarterback Tom Brady for four games after a drawn-out legal battle. Last year, Pro Football Talk reported that data collected by the league that would have absolved the Patriots was “expunged” by the league.
When the original Deflategate story broke in January of 2015, many were quick to point out the lack of air pressure in the footballs was likely due to the ideal gas law. With the balls being inflated in a warm room indoors, then brought outside into the cold the air pressure would naturally drop – like with car tires on a winter day.
Knowing that, it’s worth noting how similar the conditions were this past Sunday to that AFC Championship Game almost a decade ago. This past Sunday the temperature at kickoff was 53 degrees, with 74 percent humidity. The AFC Championship Game against the Colts? 51 degrees with 71 percent humidity.
Again, in this case the league was solely responsible for the footballs, which were underinflated for both teams. With that, it wouldn’t be surprising if this incident gets a little less attention from the NFL head office.
