On Monday, Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reported that the NFL has reviewed a video of a New England Patriots locker room attendant taking balls from the officials’ locker room into another room before bringing them out onto the field. At first, it looked like that video could be the smoking gun the NFL needs in the Deflategate investigation. Now, we’re not so sure.
According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the room that the Pats employee went into was a bathroom. He or she allegedly brought all 24 game balls — 12 from the Patriots and 12 from the Colts — into the bathroom for less than two minutes.
First, per a league source, the other “area on way to field” is a bathroom. The bathroom consists of one toilet and one sink and a door that locks from the inside.
Second, according to the same source, the person carried two bags of balls into the bathroom: the 12 balls to be used by the Patriots and the 12 balls to be used by the Colts.
Third, from the same source, the evidence comes from a surveillance video that was discovered by the Patriots and given to the NFL early in the investigation.
Fourth, again from the same source, the video shows the employee in the bathroom for approximately 90 seconds.
We know what you’re thinking, and we’re wondering the same — did the person wash his or her hands? Man, we hope so.
If true, this would help explain why Bill Belichick and Patriots owner Robert Kraft have had no problem essentially calling out the NFL. On Monday night, Kraft had some incredibly strong words regarding the investigation and the way the media portion of it is being handled.
Is 90 seconds enough time to deflate 10 or 11 game balls? Or is the report we shared with you from earlier today about the officials not doing their jobs really what happened here?
Deflategate has reached absurd levels, and there are dozens of reports out there from credible sources. Most of them are directly conflicting. While it’s possible that the NFL has hard evidence against the Patriots and is waiting until after the Super Bowl to share it, the league seems to be looking worse by the day.
What the NFL will likely do is review surveillance footage from locker rooms that the Patriots visited and from home games they played earlier in the season. If a locker room attendant takes game balls into the bathroom before every game, the Patriots would look more guilty.
