The New England Patriots are under investigation by the NFL for potentially deflating footballs during the AFC Championship. What advantage would that give Tom Brady and company?
Late Sunday night, the NFL world was hit with “Deflate-Gate,” after reports surfaced that the league would be looking into the possibly of the New England Patriots intentionally deflating balls throughout their AFC Championship matchup with the Indianapolis Colts.
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You can read the full report here.
If the NFL discovers the Patriots were intentionally altering the footballs, New England could be stripped of upcoming draft picks.
But many people have been asking: What advantage would come from deflating footballs?
Well, it is fairly simple and this isn’t the first time we have heard of a team deflating balls during a game. In 2012, an equipment manager at USC was fired for deflating the balls during a game against Oregon.
In the Patriots-Colts game, the rain was coming down hard and each team uses their own balls. So while the Colts were tossing around a slippery, fully inflated pigskin, the Patriots could have theoretically been throwing and carrying a ball that had more give and would allow players to have a better grip on the ball.
From Tom Brady to LeGarrette Blount to any of the team’s pass catching options, handling the ball would have been much easier if it was not inflated to full capacity.
The potential deflating issues were discovered when a referee weighed a ball during the game and it came in lower than the required weight.
We will have to wait and see if the NFL is able to reveal whether the Patriots intentionally deflated the footballs, but until then they will continue to prepare for their Super Bowl XLIX matchup with the Seattle Seahawks.
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