Former Eagles great and NFL football operations chief Troy Vincent admitted to ESPN.com that a tip from Indianapolis Colts general manager Ryan Grigson helped kick off Deflategate by contacting league officials about the New England Patriots using underinflated balls in the AFC Championship Game.
During an interview with “60 Minutes Sports” that airs Tuesday on Showtime, Vincent said Grigson notified the league about a potential deflation problem.
“Everything I’m sure is going to come out in the investigation, guys. Like I said, it’s not appropriate for me to talk about. I can’t do that,” Grigson said Jan. 23 when asked whether he or anyone else in the Colts organization had notified the league about the Patriots using underinflated balls. “It’s in the league’s hands. I’m sorry.”
Vincent also said in the interview that he did not read former FBI director Robert S. Mueller III’s report that the NFL failed to properly investigate the Ray Rice case.
“The crime had already been committed,” he said. “There was a ton of public speculation at the time what we did, what we didn’t do. We acknowledge we made a mistake.”
He also expressed regret for the league’s handling of the Rice assault case and wants to move ahead.
“We didn’t apply the proper discipline,” he said. “I’m not sure how much we can continue to keep talking about that particular.”