The Patriots: A deflating story

goldbybirth said:
So I heard this on the radio today as a possible explanation -

The ball needs to be inflated within a range. Brady may prefer the low end limit of the range and Luck may like the high end limit.

The balls are tested before the game and are within the range. As the cold wet game plays out the balls lose some inflation. New Englands are now under the low end limit but Indy's remain within the limit. All of the balls lost air, which is why 11 of 12 for the Pats were under.

Plausible?
Click to expand...

Well simply pv=nrt, so of course if the temp outside was lower than the tested temp inside it would make a big difference. But one would think the balls would be allowed to rewarm up, and more importantly, the refs would notice the differences over some amount of games doing it.
 
You'd think if the ideal gas law really had that big of an effect on ball inflation, that the NFL would have at least done their measurements in ambient temperatures.
 
goldbybirth said:
So I heard this on the radio today as a possible explanation -

The ball needs to be inflated within a range. Brady may prefer the low end limit of the range and Luck may like the high end limit.

The balls are tested before the game and are within the range. As the cold wet game plays out the balls lose some inflation. New Englands are now under the low end limit but Indy's remain within the limit. All of the balls lost air, which is why 11 of 12 for the Pats were under.

Plausible?
Click to expand...

Possible but I'd imagine that when investigating this, they would look at the end pressure for all the balls in the game, not just New Englands. If they all dropped the same amount, it would show then.

Also, that part about the difference, is that known or conjecture? Does the NFL record the pressures when they are taken the 2+ hrs before the game?
 
Why do the teams provide their own balls? That is kinda stupid and invites this stuff.
 
GTLiebs said:
Possible but I'd imagine that when investigating this, they would look at the end pressure for all the balls in the game, not just New Englands. If they all dropped the same amount, it would show then.

Also, that part about the difference, is that known or conjecture? Does the NFL record the pressures when they are taken the 2+ hrs before the game?
Click to expand...
Pure conjecture. They were discussing what could possibly make this NOT intentional and this was the only excuse that seemed plausible to them.
 
GTLiebs said:
Probably for the same reasons the NCAA still lets conferences have their own refs.
Click to expand...
Or the same reason that NBA teams get to provide their own score keepers (!).

What that reason is, I'm really not sure.
 
@MattLeinartQB
Every team tampers with the footballs. Ask any Qb In the league, this is ridiculous!!
 
05GTCorndog said:
Why do the teams provide their own balls? That is kinda stupid and invites this stuff.
Click to expand...

Why does it matter if the officials don't control access to the balls at all times?

They measure before the game then return them to the teams to provide as needed/called for during the games, right?

It's not really about who provides them, it's about controlling access to preclude tampering after they've been checked and found to be ok.
 
GTLiebs said:
Possible but I'd imagine that when investigating this, they would look at the end pressure for all the balls in the game, not just New Englands. If they all dropped the same amount, it would show then.

Also, that part about the difference, is that known or conjecture? Does the NFL record the pressures when they are taken the 2+ hrs before the game?
Click to expand...

Does anyone know for sure if the officials looked at the game balls from both teams to compare results?
 
This story is even stupider when you see that Aaron Rodgers has publicly admitted to inflating the balls to more than the legal pressure and hoping the refs just don't notice.
 
gtfan247365 said:
Why does it matter if the officials don't control access to the balls at all times?

They measure before the game then return them to the teams to provide as needed/called for during the games, right?

It's not really about who provides them, it's about controlling access to preclude tampering after they've been checked and found to be ok.
Click to expand...

That is a viable solution too. It would just seem to be easier IMO to have the officials maintain control of the entire process.
 
Sensors in the balls that measure and report PSI make this go away overnight. Something tells me the NFL doesn't want this because they are fully aware of the practice of changing PSI to suit each QB.

They are probably more pissed this was brought to light than anything else.
 
Diseqc said:
Same balls would have been used by Indy and it sure as öööö didn't help them any.
Click to expand...

Each team plays with their own balls...same in the NCAA

but the reason pats won has nothing to do with the ball. It has to do with the fact indy couldn't stop the run. Period.
 
33jacket said:
Each team plays with their own balls...same in the NCAA

but the reason pats won has nothing to do with the ball. It has to do with the fact indy couldn't stop the run. Period.
Click to expand...

deflated ball lead to fewer fumbles or the Patriots running backs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top