It sounds like the air is starting to come out of DeflateGate.
NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport on Sunday had the most recent update on the controversy surrounding the Patriots’ alleged use of under-inflated footballs in the AFC Championship Game. Perhaps the most important tidbit contradicted one of the initial DeflateGate reports.
ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported the day after the AFC Championship Game that 11 of the Patriots’ 12 footballs were found to be under-inflated. According to Mortensen, the balls were roughly two pounds per square inch under the legal level. However, Rapoport’s report, which cited multiple sources, indicates all but one of those 11 footballs were either roughly a pound or “just a few ticks” under the the 12.5 PSI minimum.
Rapoport also confirmed a report that a Patriots game-day employee — described as “elderly” — took two bags of footballs into a bathroom for 98 seconds before the game. The NFL acquired video of the attendant going into the bathroom after the Patriots turned it over to the league.
Thumbnail photo via Matt Slocum/The Associated Press
