The Indianapolis Colts are the ones who turned the New England Patriots in for allegedly under-inflating footballs. More specifically, it was Colts general manager Ryan Grigson who blew the whistle.
NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent told Peter King of TheMMQB.com that Grigson turned the Patriots in after linebacker D’Qwell Jackson intercepted a Tom Brady pass in the first half of the AFC Championship Game.
There have been a number of theories surrounding how the NFL was tipped off. Jackson said he was simply keeping his interception as a souvenir and did not notice anything unordinary about the ball. Baltimore Ravens coach Jim Harbaugh was accused of warning the Colts about New England using under-inflated balls, but he has vehemently denied doing that. And then there’s the NFL staffer who used to work for the New York Jets who was at the game. Some feel he has an axe to grind with the Patriots.
The one thing we’re pretty certain of at this point is that the NFL did not run a sting operation against the Patriots. If the league decided to do that, you would think having the officials log the exact PSI of each football would be a smart thing to do.
Between reports that an official approved under-inflated balls to new information from an NFL employee about the game balls not being two pounds under the allowable limit, the league’s case is looking weaker by the day.
