#Deflategate: NFL reportedly found 11 of 12 Patriots footballs were deflated
This will come as a surprise to almost no one outside of, say, Massachusetts, but multiple news outlets were reporting that the Patriots had deflated footballs during Sunday’s AFC Championship Game.
NFL rules state that footballs are required be inflated between 12 1/2 and 13 1/2 pounds and weigh between 14 and 15 ounces.
ESPN reported that 11 of their 12 footballs allotted to the Patriots were under-inflated by 2 pounds. That was according to “league sources either involved or familiar with the investigation.”
There’s a local connection to the story:
The referee charged with inspecting the footballs at Patriots' game was Walt Anderson. He's also the Big 12's coordinator of officials.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) January 21, 2015Naturally, the Patriots got buried on Twitter:
Apparently the patriots should have deflated those balls a little more at arrowhead am I right. #uptop pic.twitter.com/2UJa2RBYqA
— Gregor Avey (@gregoravey) January 21, 2015A New England Patriots football in AFC Championship game vs Colts? #deflatedballs #superbowl #Patriots pic.twitter.com/RWlQikNSvv
— Michael Enloe (@Real_MikeEnloe) January 21, 2015The New England Patriots will be playing with special footballs during the Super Bowl! #Cheatriots pic.twitter.com/ePsVdlT49J
— Chris Leach (@TheChrisLeach77) January 21, 2015Oh the Patriots... pic.twitter.com/gtBN65PyBn
— Aaron Besonen (@AaronBesonen) January 21, 2015To reach Pete Grathoff, call 816-234-4330 or send email to pgrathoff@kcstar.com.
This story was originally published January 20, 2015 at 11:04 PM.