GLENDALE, Ariz. — Indianapolis Colts linebacker D’Qwell Jackson says he noticed nothing wrong with the football he intercepted against the New England Patriots in last week’s AFC Championship Game.
Talking after his Pro Bowl team practiced at Luke Air Force Base on Thursday, he said he merely wanted to keep the ball as a souvenir.
“Some guys, you make a big play, you want the ball,” Jackson said. “That was my intention.”
He said he took it to the sidelines, hasn’t seen it since and probably never will.
“I’ll do my best to try to get ahold of it,” Jackson said. “But right now it’s in the middle of, what do they call it, ‘Deflategate.'”
The normal procedure when a player wants to save the ball, he said, is for it to go to the equipment staff “and you have it in your locker come Monday morning.”
“I don’t know how it got to this point,” Jackson said, “but somehow I’m in the middle of it.”
Jackson said he doesn’t handle the ball enough to know whether it was properly inflated or not.
“The deal about me saying that I noticed anything about it, that’s totally false,” he said.
Initial reports claimed that Jackson told a Colts equipment manager the ball felt under-inflated after he intercepted it. A later report from FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer claimed that the referees planned to inspect the Patriots’ footballs at halftime before the game even started.
Thumbnail photo via Stew Milne/USA TODAY Sports Images
