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Deflategate

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Deflategate
DateJanuary 18, 2015 (2015-01-18)
StadiumGillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts
FavoritePatriots by 7
RefereeWalt Anderson
Attendance68,756
TV in the United States
NetworkCBS
AnnouncersJim Nantz and Phil Simms

Deflategate is a controversy in the National Football League (NFL), stemming from an allegation that the New England Patriots used underinflated footballs in the AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts on January 18, 2015. It has also been referred to as "Ballghazi".[1][2]

Background

The official rules of the National Football League require footballs to be inflated to a gauge pressure between 12.5 and 13.5 pounds per square inch (psi, or 86 to 93 kPa). The rules do not specify the temperature at which such measurement is to be made.[3]

Prior to 2006, NFL custom was for the home team to provide all of the game footballs. In 2006, the rules were changed so that each team uses its own footballs while on offense. Teams rarely handle a football used by the other team except after recovering a fumble or interception. Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots (along with Peyton Manning, who was quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts in 2006), argued for the rules change for the express purpose of letting quarterbacks use footballs that suited them.[4]

Underinflating a football may make it easier to grip, throw, and catch, and may inhibit fumbling, especially in cold rainy conditions.[5] A ball inflated in a warm room and taken to a cold field could lose pressure, according to Gay-Lussac's law. Specific experiments and calculations suggest that the footballs could have lost as much as 1.95 psi.[6][7]

Early reports suggested that the Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens first suspected that the footballs the Patriots were using in the games against each team might have been deliberately underinflated to gain an illegal advantage during the 2014 NFL regular season,[citation needed] although head coach John Harbaugh denied reports concerning the Ravens.[8]

AFC Championship Game

See also: 2014–15 NFL playoffs § AFC Championship Game: New England Patriots 45, Indianapolis Colts 7

The American Football Conference (AFC) Championship Game for the 2014 season was played on January 18, 2015 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, home of the New England Patriots, who hosted the Indianapolis Colts for the chance to play the winner of the National Football Conference (NFC) Championship Game in Super Bowl XLIX in Glendale, Arizona.

During the first half of the AFC Championship Game, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady threw an interception to Colts linebacker D'Qwell Jackson. After the play was over, Jackson handed the ball to the Colts equipment manager for safekeeping as a souvenir. Early reports suggested that Jackson was the first to suspect the ball was under-inflated, but Jackson said he did not notice anything wrong with the ball he caught.[9] Jackson says he actually did not even know the ball was taken or that the controversy existed until he was being driven home from the team's charter plane after the Colts had arrived in Indianapolis."I wouldn't know how that could even be an advantage or a disadvantage," Jackson said. "I definitely wouldn't be able to tell if one ball had less pressure than another."[10]

At halftime, league officials inspected the footballs. It was initially reported that eleven of the twelve balls used by the Patriots were measured to be two pounds per square inch below the minimum,[11][12] but later reports refuted this allegation, citing only a single ball two pounds per square inch below the minimum.[13]

According to NFL official Dean Blandino, referees do not log the pressure of the balls prior to the game, or if checked during the game, and did not do so in this case. Walt Anderson, the referee, "gauged" the footballs. The Patriots' game balls were re-inflated at halftime to meet specifications.[14]

Conflicting reports arose over what footballs were used in the second half. An unconfirmed report states that the Patriots used their backup set of footballs in the second half, instead of the original 12 footballs,[15] while other reports asserted that the under-inflated footballs were re-inflated at halftime. No issues were raised on the pressure of the footballs used in the second half.[16][17] It is unknown whether the pressures of the Colts' footballs were measured at halftime.

The Patriots led 17–7 at the half; in the second half (with properly inflated footballs), the Patriots scored 28 unanswered points for a final score of 45-7.[18]

The National Football League began an investigation into the underinflation of the game balls,[19][20]

Investigation

See also: 2014–15 NFL playoffs

On January 22, Patriots' Head Coach Bill Belichick indicated that he did not know anything about the balls being under-inflated until the day after the event, and that the New England Patriots would "cooperate fully" with any investigation.[21] He said,

When I came in Monday morning, I was shocked to hear about the news reports about the footballs. I had no knowledge of the situation until Monday morning. [...] I think we all know that quarterbacks, kickers, specialists have certain preferences on the footballs. They know a lot more than I do. They're a lot more sensitive to it than I am. I hear them comment on it from time to time, but I can tell you, and they will tell you, that there's never any sympathy whatsoever from me on that subject. Zero. [...] 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.[21]

Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady initially referred to the accusations as "ridiculous."[22] Brady also held a news conference on January 22, prepping his team with a talk beforehand. He denied any involvement and stated that the National Football League had not contacted him in regard to their investigation.[23] He went on to say that he was handling the situation before the Super Bowl and that "this isn't ISIS." [24]

In another report, on January 25 a "league source" disclosed to Mike Florio of Profootballtalk.com that 10 of the 12 footballs may have been closer to 11.5 PSI, a smaller deviation beneath the legal minimum than originally claimed.[25]

On January 27, an anonymous league source stated that the investigation was focusing on a Patriots locker room attendant who was seen on surveillance video taking the 24 game footballs (12 from each team) into a restroom for approximately 90 seconds. This video was provided to the NFL by the New England Patriots the day after the 45-7 Patriots victory.[26]

Dean Blandino, NFL head of officiating, confirmed on January 29 that the NFL does not log the exact pressure of each football so they would be unable to determine if they were slightly or significantly under-inflated.[27] In the same news conference referee Bill Vinovich said

We test them. It's 12.5 to 13.5. We put 13 in every ball. ... Dean tested a couple in the office and had one underinflated and one to specs, and you really couldn't tell the difference unless you actually sat there and tried to squeeze the thing or did some extraordinary thing. If someone just tossed you the ball, especially in 20 degree weather, you're going to pretty much play with the ball. They are going to be hard. You're not going to notice the difference.[28]

Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, did a scientific investigation of deflated balls and explained that the temperature difference between the locker and the field would account for a drop in pressure of almost two pounds per square inch.[29]

Additional details released by the NFL on February 1 confirmed that only the intercepted ball was deflated by two pounds, and that many balls were under inflated by "just a few ticks".[13]

The investigation also found that officials noticed during the game that a game ball was missing, and two different officials handed replacement balls to a Patriots equipment manager. One of those officials was found to have been selling game balls for personal profit, and was fired by the NFL.[30]

Origin of the investigation

Colts general manager Ryan Grigson, speaking at the 2015 NFL Combine, stated that "prior to the AFC Championship Game, we notified the league about our concerns" that the Patriots might be using under-inflated footballs."[31] A New York Post article noted that Grigson's claim implied that the NFL had advance knowledge of the issue and was trying to run a sting operation, contradicting Dean Blandino's claim that it was an issue that "came up in the first half."[31] The claim also contradicts NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent's statement that Grigson notified the league "during the second quarter of the game."[32]

Media coverage

Media reaction to the incident was extremely strong. Factors that may have helped fuel media interest[according to whom?] in the incident include:

  • The 2007 Spygate incident, in which the Patriots were sanctioned for having a video camera in an unapproved location filming an opponent's defensive signals during a game in violation of a memo that was sent to the NFL teams.[33]
  • A series of unrelated but embarrassing player incidents earlier in the season, with Ray Rice knocking his girlfriend unconscious and Adrian Peterson whipping his child, and the media's focus on the reaction by the league.[34]
  • The two week hiatus between championship games and the Super Bowl creates natural pressure on sports journalists writing on the NFL to "fill the void."[35]

Before the investigation had concluded, several media outlets called for Belichick—or even the entire Patriots team—to be banned from Super Bowl XLIX.[36][37] Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports strongly criticized the league for deferring much of the investigation until after the Super Bowl so as not to interfere with the Patriots' preparations.[38] Former quarterback Troy Aikman claimed that Deflategate was worse than Bountygate, and that Belichick should receive a harsher penalty than the one-year suspension New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton received in the latter.[39] Other voices in the press, meanwhile, considered it a "phony scandal,"[40] or "the dumbest sports scandal ever",[41] and accused the media generally of overhyping the issue.[42]

The strength of the media reaction to the incident contrasts with the very superficial coverage which media outlets gave to allegations of prohibited texts sent by Cleveland Browns staff,[43] or that the Atlanta Falcons may have secured an unfair advantage by piping in artificial crowd noise during opponent's offensive snaps, even though some argued that if the accusations were true, "that's a far more serious offense than any deflated footballs could possibly be."[44] However, the Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons story were arguably less newsworthy as the Browns and Falcons admitted wrongdoing almost immediately and neither team had made the playoffs. In November 2014, the Minnesota Vikings and Carolina Panthers were caught on film using sideline heaters to warm the footballs during the game in violation of league policies,[45] but no penalties were issued in that case and the media reaction was superficial.

The controversy was not only the dominant topic in the build-up to the Super Bowl, but was discussed beyond sports media. National Review[46] and Rush Limbaugh provided social commentary.[47] Limbaugh and fellow talk host Mark Levin compared the amount of attention devoted to the controversy with the amount devoted to the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and the change of government in Yemen, to comment on the priorities of the American public.[citation needed]

On January 24, 2015, Saturday Night Live satirized the scandal in a cold open sketch with Beck Bennett as Bill Belichick and Taran Killam as Tom Brady.[48]

Allegation of tampering by the Colts

Former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason has implied (although stopped shortly of openly suggesting) that the fact that the only significantly underinflated ball was also the only ball which was in the Colts' possession might be related to a conspiracy between the Indianapolis Colts and the Baltimore Ravens to embarrass the Patriots following a spat which had arisen between the Ravens and the Patriots during their earlier playoff game.[49] The unstated implication is that the Colts may have tampered with that ball to enable them to subsequently falsely accuse the Patriots of cheating. Esiason cites closeness of the relationship between the coaches Chuck Pagano and John Harbaugh, and the fact that the only ball seriously under the 12.5 PSI threshold was the ball in the Colts' possession. In addition, a large proportion of the leaks damaging to the Patriots (many of which were later proven incorrect) came from Indianapolis media, including Colts media employee Bob Kravitz, who broke the story within a few hours of the game ending.

Mike Kensil has been directly tied to this theory,[50] which could explain the contradictory reports. At first it was reported that Colts defensive player D'Qwell Jackson noticed the ball was under-inflated immediately. Later it was reported that Jackson wanted to keep the ball as a souvenir; common practice would be to hand the ball to the equipment manager for safekeeping. As far as this report goes, the equipment manager immediately noticed the ball was under-inflated, which was what led to the Colts alerting the officials and the subsequent investigation. However, a report surfaced on the 17th of February that was completely contradictory to both of the previous reports (especially the one already confirmed by NFL media members and officials), stating that what started the investigation was the Patriots attempting to place an illegal kicking ball in the game. This was irreconcilable with the other confirmed report, which added plausibility to the framing theory.

"K" Ball issues

On February 17, 2015, ESPN reporter Kelly Naqi reported that a Patriots ball attendant, Jim McNally, had tried "to introduce an unauthorized football"—lacking the markings found on approved footballs—into the game during the first half.[51] That initial report did not indicate why or exactly when this happened, but did state that Kensil went to the officials' locker room at halftime to inspect the game balls, "in part because of the suspicions McNally's actions raised." Naqi later led a report on ESPN's program Outside the Lines, in which she interviewed an Indianapolis-based ex-referee who claimed that NFL officials had been "aware" of McNally for years and had raised concerns about him. This football was a "'K' ball," one of the footballs used for special teams plays.

Naqi's report was immediately contradicted by another ESPN reporter, Adam Schefter.[52] Schefter's report cited sources stating that a "K" ball had gone missing, and that an NFL employee in charge of collecting game footballs for charity had handed the unmarked ball to McNally. Those sources also claimed that that NFL employee was fired after the game, as he had been taking footballs intended for charity and selling them at a profit "over a period of time."[53]

Media interest in the Deflate-gate scandal waned significantly during the weeks following Naqi's story, especially after Colts GM Ryan Grigson's admission, on 19th February 2015, that he and his team had approached the NFL regarding concerns about the Patriots' footballs prior to the AFC Championship game.


See also

References

  1. ^ "Ballghazi News, Video and Gossip". Deadspin. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  2. ^ Farhi, Paul (January 27, 2015), DeflateGate ... or Ballghazi? Will the new scandal suffix have staying power?, Washington Post
  3. ^ "Official Playing Rules of the National Football League – Rule 2-1" (PDF). NFL.com. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
  4. ^ Rakov, Abe (November 28, 2006). "Brady, Manning convince NFL to allow offenses to use own footballs on the road". Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
  5. ^ "Here's The Advantage Of Deflated Footballs - Business Insider". Business Insider. 21 January 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  6. ^ James Glanz (Jan 30, 2015). "Deflation Experiments Show Patriots May Have a Point After All". New York Times. p. B11.
  7. ^ Thomas Healy. "In The News". HeadSmart Labs.
  8. ^ "Ravens didn't tip off Colts about PSIs". ESPN. 1 February 2015.
  9. ^ "D'Qwell Jackson of Indianapolis Colts says he wasn't the one that noticed ball was under-inflated - ESPN". ESPN.com.
  10. ^ "Colts' D'Qwell Jackson: I didn't know football had less pressure". nfl.com. 22 January 2015.
  11. ^ Travis Durkee (2015-01-21). "Ex-NFL referee: All 12 Patriot footballs were underinflated". Sporting News. Retrieved 2015-01-24.
  12. ^ Dubin, Jared (January 20, 2015). "Report: NFL finds 11 footballs were under-inflated in AFC title game". CBSSports.com. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
  13. ^ a b Rapoport, Ian (1 February 2015). "More details on the investigation of Patriots' deflated footballs". NFL.com. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  14. ^ Howe, Jeff (January 29, 2015). "Dean Blandino: Referee doesn't document football PSI levels". Retrieved January 29, 2015.
  15. ^ Mortensen, Chris (January 21, 2015). "11 of 12 Pats footballs underinflated". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
  16. ^ "How did Colts know Patriots' balls weren't inflated? And Gronk takes blame". Yahoo Sports. 20 January 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  17. ^ "Deflate-gate: Bill Belichick says Patriots have followed every rule". BBC Sport. 24 January 2015. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
  18. ^ "NFL Game Center". NFL.com.
  19. ^ McLaughlin, Eliott (23 January 2015). "What the heck is Deflategate anyway?". CNN. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  20. ^ "Deflategate: NFL Probing Whether New England Patriots Used Deflated Balls". ABC News. January 19, 2015.
  21. ^ a b Pepin, Matt (22 January 2015). "Bill Belichick says he has 'no explanation' for Deflategate". Boston Globe. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  22. ^ "Deflate-Gate: New England Patriots Coach Says Team Will Cooperate With Probers". ABC News. January 19, 2015.
  23. ^ "Tom Brady: NFL hasn't contacted me as part of investigation - ProFootballTalk". nbcsports.com.
  24. ^ "Tom Brady: Press Conference - Youtube". youtube.com.
  25. ^ "PFT: Patriots footballs may have been closer to 11.5 PSI". Comcast SportsNet - CSNNE.com. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  26. ^ "NFL looking at Patriots attendant". ESPN.com. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  27. ^ "NFL didn't log the PSI of each Patriots football". NBC Sports. NBC. January 29, 2015. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  28. ^ "Learning more on how referees test and document football air pressure". ESPN. January 29, 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  29. ^ "Deflate gate". Khan Academy.
  30. ^ "- providencejournal.com - Providence, RI". providencejournal.com.
  31. ^ a b "There's a glaring contradiction in NFL's Deflategate timeline".
  32. ^ Brinson, Will (2015-02-03). "Ryan Grigson tipped NFL off to deflated balls in Patriots-Colts". Retrieved 2015-02-23.
  33. ^ Paul Doyle (20 January 2015). "Patriots And Belichick: Spygate, Deflategate ... And More". Hartford Courant. Retrieved 27 February 2015. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  34. ^ Rupert Cornwell (23 January 2015). "Deflategate: Soft balls causing a feeling of deflation before Super Bowl". The Independent. Retrieved 27 February 2015. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  35. ^ Frank Schwab (22 January 2015). "The five most unbelievable opinions about the deflate-gate controversy". Yahoo! Sports. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  36. ^ Paul Newberry. "Deflategate should keep Belichick out of Super Bowl". Retrieved 4 February 2015. Maury Brown (21 January 2015). "Should Bill Belichick Be Suspended For The Super Bowl Over Deflate-Gate?". Forbes.com.
  37. ^ Roxanne Jones (23 January 2015). "Throw the Patriots out of the Super Bowl". CNN.com.
  38. ^ Dan Wetzel (22 January 2015). "Most troubling news out of Tom Brady's deflate-gate comments: NFL hasn't talked to QB". Yahoo! Sports.
  39. ^ "Aikman: Patriots' punishment should exceed Saints' in bounty scandal".
  40. ^ Mike Downey (23 January 2015). "Deflate-gate: Will the air go out of a phony scandal?". CNN.com. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  41. ^ Matthew Kory (26 January 2015). "Deflate-gate Is The Dumbest Sports Controversy Ever". Forbes. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  42. ^ "Is media coverage overinflating 'deflategate'?". CNN.com. 25 January 2015. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
  43. ^ "Browns GM Ray Farmer apologizes for 'Textgate' controversy". Sports Illustrated. 19 February 2015. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
  44. ^ Jay Busbee (3 February 2015). "Falcons' Arthur Blank on crowd noise: 'What we've done ... is wrong'". Yahoo! Sports.
  45. ^ "NFL to remind teams not to warm footballs".
  46. ^ Tuttle, Ian (January 23, 2015). "Why DeflateGate Is a Cultural Problem". National Review Online. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
  47. ^ Rush Limbaugh (2015-01-21). "The NFL's Big Ball Problem". rushlimbaugh.com. Retrieved 2015-01-24.
  48. ^ Schwartz, Nick (January 25, 2015). "'Saturday Night Live' spoofs Deflategate". For The Win. USA Today Sports.
  49. ^ "Boomer Esiason: Colts-Ravens Conspiracy Behind Deflate-gate". Breitbart News. 5 February 2015.
  50. ^ Curran, T. (2015, February 19). Curran: Strong NFL link to recent 'Deflategate' leak. Retrieved February 19, 2015, from http://www.csnne.com/new-england-patriots/curran-strong-nfl-link-recent-deflategate-leak
  51. ^ Naqi, Kelly (2015-02-17). "Patriots locker room attendant tried to put unapproved ball into AFC final". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
  52. ^ "NFL official fired for stealing AFC Championship football". Youtube. 2015-02-18. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
  53. ^ "NFL employee handed kicking game ball to Patriots' locker room attendant". 2015-02-18. Retrieved 2015-02-23.
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