D'Qwell Jackson, the man who inadvertently launched the DeflateGate scandal by picking off a Tom Brady pass during the AFC Championship, said he brought the football to the Indianapolis Colts sideline as a keepsake.
D’Qwell Jackson says he didn’t realize Patriots football had less pressure
What the Colts linebacker thought was a nice souvenir ended up sparking the biggest controversy of the NFL postseason.
"I wanted that ball as a souvenir!" the linebacker told NFL.com on Thursday amid burgeoning allegations that the New England Patriots intentionally deflated game balls to gain a competitive advantage.
The ball that Jackson intercepted in the first half and brought to the Colts’ sidelines eventually ended up in the hands of officials, who determined that the air pressure had been lessened. A followup investigation revealed that 11 of the 12 balls the Patriots had on the sideline were not properly inflated.
Jackson said he didn’t know about the controversy until after arriving back in Indianapolis. He did say, however, that he remembers an especially long delay during a first-half TV timeout in which officials told him they were searching for a usable ball -- something that struck Jackson as odd at the time. He added that the noticed the Patriots using the Colts balls after that timeout in the first half.
Jackson said he doesn’t believe the the balls played an significant factor in New England’s 45-7 win.
“It wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the game,” Jackson said. “They outplayed us. We didn’t match their intensity. I don’t feel slighted at all personally. They created turnovers, they ran the ball on us. They won that game because of their intensity -- not the pressure of a football.”
Jackson is hoping to get the ball returned to him once the league finishes its investigation.
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