New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady says they won the AFC Championship fair and square.
This morning New England Patriots coach Bill “Belicheat” Belichick held a press conference addressing the growing concerns that 11 of the 12 balls used by his team in the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts were under-inflated. Despite ESPN’s Chris Mortensen description of the balls being “significantly less than the NFL requires,” Belichick was quick to deny any knowledge of the footballs being any less than regulation.
As NJ.com reports:
"“I had no knowledge whatsoever of this situation until Monday morning,” Belichick said. “… I had no knowledge of the various steps involved in the game balls … Obviously, I understand that each team has the opportunity to prepare the balls the way they want, give them to the officials, and the game officials either approve or disapprove the balls, and that really was the end of it for me, until I learned a little bit more about it the last couple days.”"
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Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who was originally supposed to speak on Friday, held a press conference today in order to address the situation, in light of the team’s Superbowl bound status.
As the live tweets show, he is outrightly denying the claims against his team.
Brady: "I have no knowledge of any wrongdoing. I am very comfortable saying that."
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) January 22, 2015
Tom Brady: "I don't like that this is taking away from the accomplishments of the team"
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) January 22, 2015
Brady: "I didn't alter the ball in any way."
— Nick Powell (@nickpowellchron) January 22, 2015
"Once I'm out on the field I have no thought about the football at that point." - Brady
— Nick Powell (@nickpowellchron) January 22, 2015
"To me those balls are perfect." - Tom Brady. Said he has a process he goes through with footballs before each game.
— Nick Powell (@nickpowellchron) January 22, 2015
Tom Brady: "I feel like I always play within the rules and I respect the rules. I believe in fair play"
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) January 22, 2015
Brady: "I feel like we won the game fair and square."
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) January 22, 2015
Brady’s conference is interesting, considering that during Belichick’s conference, he seemed to be eager to pass the blame onto his quarterback saying, “Tom’s personal preferences on his footballs are something that he can talk about in much better detail and information than I could possibly provide, I have no idea what happened.”
Regardless of what happens, the Patriots seem to be a team that cannot escape looming shadow of scandal (that or they’re just terrible at cheating).
[H/T: NJ.com]
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