The New England Patriots are once again under the NFL microscope, this time for a claim they deflated footballs during the AFC Championship against the Indianapolis Colts. Pull a loose string and a lot more begins to unravel, so naturally other claims of deflated footballs have begun to pop up.
The Ravens’ claim of deflated balls against New England doesn’t add up
Everyone is piling on the Patriots, but at least one claim doesn’t make much sense.
Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports
Now members of the Baltimore Ravens believe the kicking balls used in their Divisional round loss to the Patriots weren't properly inflated, according to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports.
If the Patriots did indeed cheat against the Colts and intentionally deflate footballs, it stands to reason they would do the same thing against other teams as well. Although evidence may indeed pile up against New England, the alleged claim from the Ravens doesn’t appear to add up. The biggest reason is because of NFL rules for kicking balls.
If the Ravens were kicking with deflated balls, they did one hell of a job.
In the DeflateGate situation, the Patriots are accused of deflating 11 of their 12 game balls. Each team prepares 12 or 24 game balls. They are inspected by the officials more than two hours before the game, then given back to the teams. The team’s footballs are rotated into the game when it is on offense. If the Patriots deflated their game balls, they would gain an advantage -- if you consider playing with a deflated football an advantage -- that the Colts would not. The Colts would still play with their own footballs.
Kicking balls are an entirely different story.
Kicking footballs are shipped directly from the manufacturer to the official of the game. He then opens the eight balls prior to the game and a representative from each team is allowed 45 minutes to use brushes, towels and water to remove the slickness of a new ball, according to MMQB. At that point, the balls go under the control of the kicking ball coordinator. The coordinator keeps watch of the eight specially marked kicking balls during the game and works directly with the officials to get them into play, according to Newsday. There are eight kicking balls for the game. Period. The Ravens and Patriots used the same kicking balls. So if they were deflated for Baltimore, they would have been deflated for New England.
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According to La Canfora's report, Ravens sources said the Ravens were not getting normal depth and distance on kicks and punts and believed it was due to deflated balls. At least statistically, that claim doesn't add up either. Baltimore punter Sam Koch punted four times and averaged 50.3 yards per punt -- above his season average of 47.4 yards per punt. Justin Tucker only attempted one field goal, a 25-yard attempt. He did, however, kick off six times. According to The Football Database, Tucker averaged 64.8 yards per kickoff this season. On his six kickoffs against New England, he averaged 66.2 yards per kickoff. If the Ravens were kicking with deflated balls, they did one hell of a job.
The Patriots may have deflated their game balls against the Colts. New England may have even deflated its game balls against the Ravens or any of its other opponents. It’s highly unlikely, however, that the Patriots ever tampered with kicking balls. That would involve a very complex and devious plan or a kicking coordinator on the take, or both. If that’s the case, the NFL has a much bigger problem on its hands than two missing pounds of PSI.
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