Jets legend Joe Namath said that he wasn’t sure the deflating of footballs was that big of a deal, and comparing it to PED use was the wrong thing to do.
“There are other sports where rules have been breached,” Namath said Tuesday at the United Way’s Gridiron Gala in Manhattan. “Performance-enhancing drugs, to me, is a far worse issue, than what we’re talking about with the ball being deflated a little bit. I don’t even know that it was, mother nature does it on her own, like an automobile tire.”
Asked if that discipline fit the crime, Namath said, “I don’t know the details of everything. I really don’t know.”
Namath did say that a softer ball would be an advantage for the quarterback and his running backs and receivers, but said he never had balls deflated in his playing days.