One of the most important pieces of information pertaining to Deflategate is whether or not an official actually used a pressure gauge to inspect all of the New England Patriots’ game balls before the AFC Championship Game. Ben Volin of the Boston Globe reports that the balls were, in fact, properly inspected.
A source with “direct knowledge” of the situation told Volin that referee Walt Anderson inspected all 24 of the Patriots’ footballs and all 24 of the Indianapolis Colts’ footballs with a pressure gauge that was provided by the league. The air pressure in all of the balls was found to be between 12.5 and 13.5 pounds per square inch, which is the allowable range.
If true, that would mean that 12 of the Patriots’ game balls somehow lost 2.0 PSI of air pressure between Anderson’s inspection and kickoff. According to a report from Peter King, the NFL has determined that a human — not Mother Nature — had to have deflated the balls.
Again, proof is going to be the issue here — for both the Patriots and the league. While I’m not calling Anderson a liar, how can the NFL prove that every ball was inspected with a pressure gauge? Is there some sort of ledger that the official fills out after checking the balls, or is it a matter of Anderson saying “yeah, I did it.”
We already know that one former NFL ball boy said he can recall officials doing more of a squeeze test than actually checking game balls with a pressure gauge. And if officials checked every ball with a gauge before every game, why would someone like Aaron Rodgers admit he has tried to slip an overinflated ball past the refs? If they always check with a gauge and no one has ever gotten away with it, what would be the point?
Perhaps Anderson was so thorough with his inspection because the league had supposedly been tipped off about the Patriots possibly under-inflating balls. Or, maybe he was going to thoroughly inspect every ball no matter what because it was a playoff game.
Proof is undoubtedly the reason the investigation is dragging on for this long. How can the NFL prove Anderson did everything he was supposed to do? And if that can be proven, will the league need a video of someone tampering with balls to discipline the Patriots? We wish these questions would be answered sooner rather than later.
