“I wasn’t really aware of what was said outside the locker room… It was a shame. We’d rather celebrate our trip to the Super Bowl. But that’s the situation,” said Matthew Slater, New England wide receiver. Aren’t we all? I actually wish I was reporting on your team’s incredible performance and your preparations for the Super Bowl rather than your team’s deflated game ball.
The deflate-gate scandal was first delivered to our attention by Bob Kravitz, of WTHR in Indiana who tweeted “The NFL is investigating the possibility that at one point officials took the ball out of play and weighed it.”
At first, I just thought “can’t the Patriots win without being accused of cheating?” And I honestly believe they’re innocent this time. Flat ball? Ridiculous – as Tom Brady would like to say. It’s as if New England have not had the all-time advantage by playing Andrew Luck and his colts of Colts at home.
Not so ridiculous. The NFL found that all but one of the game balls didn’t meet league requirements. 11 of 12 balls inflated well below standard.
“I was surprised to learn about football on Monday. I had no knowledge until Monday morning. I think I’ve learned more about this process in the last three days than I know, or have talked about, in the last 40 years I’ve coached in this league.” Bill Belichick addressed the deflating gate issue with an 11-minute press conference, stating how he was not aware of it.
“Throughout my coaching career, I have never spoken to any player or staff member about the air pressure of football,” Belichick continued by saying, “Soccer balls are approved by league and officials before the game, and we play to what is out there. . That’s the only way I’ve ever thought about it.
When the Patriots’ running back was asked a few deflated ball, LeGarrette Blount simply said, “I don’t know the exact feeling of inflation, but it feels like a normal ball.”
Kyle Arrington, the Patriots’ cornerback prefers to “ignore the noise” and feels as if the rest of the team should do the same.
“It looks like I’m preaching right now, but that’s our motto. That’s what we really believe. We have one job to do and hopefully we will get out of it. Let the dust settle,” said Arrington.
Pete Carroll, head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, commented on the deflating gate scandal in an interview with Rachel Nichols when he asked how important it’s for coaches to relentlessly protect the integrity of the game.
“I believe this is eventually, very important. We’ve seen the strength of the league and how at each turn of issues that have cropped up one after another, people look to the league for leadership. And for the kind of guidance, and the kind of wisdom it takes to make these great choices – there’s yet one more opportunity. Of course we want to do it right. We want to do everything in the best way we can for all the right reasons. Not only because of football or because we are coaches. But for all the right reasons. And you can see we’re working to figure it all out. You can see the league, and the league office is working to determine what’s right, and let’s stand up for what’s right. And when we make a mistake, we admit it and we correct the situation and we send the message that that is the right way to do things. So we’ll see what happens to us.”
For the record, I love how the National Football League puts far more effort into investigating deflated balls than it does domestic violence. It’s funny how you can be fined up to $25,000 for too much or too little air pressure in football and only a one game suspension for doing all Street Fighter on your wife. No?
