When the Deflategate first erupted back in January, one of the first reports about the scandal indicated that the New England Patriots had used game balls in the AFC Championship Game that were underinflated by two pounds per square inch. That turned out to be false, and no one has apologized for reporting it.
ESPN’s Chris Mortensen is the one who broke the news. Most people believe Mortensen got the bad information from an NFL source who may have been trying to make the Patriots look bad. John Dennis of WEEI in Boston is reporting that Mort’s source was NFL vice president of game operations Mike Kensil.
.@JohnDennisWEEI is reporting that Mike Kensil was the source for this story. https://t.co/2uQYXqN050
— Dennis and Callahan (@DandCShow) July 31, 2015
Mortensen was scheduled to appear on “The Dennis and Callahan Show” on Friday morning, but he canceled after accusing the show of playing dirty.
“You guys made a mistake by drumming up business for the show and how I would address my reporting for the first time,” Mortensen said. “I will not allow WEEI [Robert] Kraft or anybody to make me the centerpiece of a story that has been misreported far beyond anything I did in the first 48 hours. Maybe when the lawsuit is settled, in Brady’s favor, I hope, we can revisit. Don’t call.”
If you remember the name Mike Kensil, that’s because we told you about him months ago when his name first came up in relation to Deflategate. Kensil, who happens to be a former New York Jets executive, was on-site in Foxboro during the playoff game between the Patriots and Indianapolis Colts. There have been reports that he sparked the entire investigation and attempted to spear-head a sting operation against the Patriots after being informed of their alleged ball tampering practices before the game.
It later came out that Kensil made an off-color comment to the Patriots at halftime that may have supported the theory that he was trying to catch them in the act.
Mortensen’s report about 11 of New England’s 12 game balls being underinflated by 2.0 psi was disproved by the Ted Wells report. That is all explained in detail here.
If Kensil, who works for the NFL, was at the game when the air pressure in each ball was measured and still fed Mortensen false information, you can understand how that would look very bad for the league. Without Mortensen’s initial report, you could argue that there would not have been nearly as much outrage over Deflategate to begin with.
