Bill Belichick confirmed the footballs were not up to snuff in Foxborough against the Chiefs.
In yet another “Deflategate” saga during the Week 15 matchup, the Patriots’ sideline noticed the footballs designated for the both teams’ kicking units seemed off, and it was later revealed that the balls were underinflated due to an error by the officials.
Belichick confirmed the footballs were “underinflated by 2, 2 1/2 pounds” on Friday, according to ESPN.
“We don’t have anything to do with it. Were we aware of it? Yeah, definitely,” he added. “As I understand it, they were all the same. I don’t know what the explanation is. It was the same for both teams.
“You’d have to talk to the league about what happened on that. That part of it, they control all that.”
The mishap was discovered at halftime.
After complaints by both teams, officials discovered the footballs were at 11 PSI instead of between the 12.5 and 13.5 PSI range, per MassLive’s original report.
The officials pumped the balls up to the proper PSI for the second half of the game.
New England first had questions enter their minds when Butker’s opening kickoff landed at the three-yard line after over 87 percent of his kicks had gone for touchbacks this season.
Then, hang times on punts were significantly lower for each team on punts.
Both the Patriots kicker Chad Ryland and the Chiefs’ Harrison Butker missed field goals in the first half of the Chiefs 27-17 win.
Butker’s miss was his first of the season.
Before the 39-yard attempt in the first quarter soared wide right, Butker had made all 23 of his attempts.
However, he didn’t believe the miss was a result of the deflated ball.
“I think it was technique, one of those misfires that you wish you had back,” Butker said, according to ESPN. “My second kick of pregame warmup, I had a 38-yarder middle, and it kind of sliced off to the right like that. So it showed up, kind of, in warmup. I made a lot of big kicks with flatter balls, and shoot, even in college, I kicked a lot of flat balls.”
“I didn’t notice anything on that opening kickoff and then, second half, once you make that [field goal], you have the kickoff and you can feel the ball,” he added. “And it was noticeably more pumped up. But again, cold weather is going to make the inflation go down.”
Read more
