It is always something with Patriots.
Breaking: A league source tells me the NFL is investigating the possibility the Patriots deflated footballs Sunday night. More to come.
— Bob Kravitz (@bkravitz) January 19, 2015
I'm told at one point the officials took a ball out of play and weighed it. Should hear more tomorrow on this subject.
— Bob Kravitz (@bkravitz) January 19, 2015
Told if a league investigation confirms deflated footballs it will result in lost draft picks. Stay tuned.
— Bob Kravitz (@bkravitz) January 19, 2015
What advantage would the Pats get from deflating the football? The theory is deflated footballs are easier to throw and catch in bad weather conditions. With that being said, they won the game pretty handily, so there was no reason to do anything sneaky. Is this when the deflating took place?
The Patriots are most famously known for spygate, where they secretly taped opponents practices and walkthroughs (even at the Super Bowl). They were fined heavily for that, but the tapes were destroyed, which led to a lot of people believing it was a lot worse than what the NFL let on.
They have been accused recently of deceptive (but legal) formations against the Ravens. They used the same formations against the Colts and one of those plays led to an offensive lineman scoring a touchdown.
The question begs how many of these controversies had anything to do with the success of the Patriots? Some would say none at all, while others would say more than you think. It is an unsolved mystery we may never have the answer to.