A seventh-grader in Lynn, Mass., is the latest to poke holes in Deflategate.
Coincidentally, the 12-year-old student’s name is Ben Goodell — no relation to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell — and his school science project entailed inflating an official NFL ball to legal size and subjecting it to various conditions for two hours to prove that atmospheric changes can affect the air pressure in a football.
“I put it in humidity, cold, snow, wind chill and the same temperature that occurred during Deflategate,” Ben recently told WBZ-TV, alluding to the conditions in Foxboro, Mass., on Jan. 18, 2015, when the New England Patriots were accused of using underinflated footballs during their AFC Championship Game win over the Indianapolis Colts.
Sure enough, according to Ben, the pressure readings dropped, perhaps in a manner similar to what occurred that fateful night at Gillette Stadium.
“Every single time I did this test the PSI dropped at least 2 PSI,” Ben told WBZ-TV. “That means it was scientifically proven that Tom Brady didn’t deflate the footballs, and it was just the weather conditions.”
Brady, of course, was suspended four games after the NFL launched an investigation and independent investigator Ted Wells determined that it was “more probable than not” that the Patriots quarterback was “at least generally aware” of activities involving the release of air from the balls. The 243-page Wells Report has come under scrutiny on several occasions, though, especially since science — who could forget head coach Bill Belichick’s press conference citing the Ideal Gas Law? — seems to suggest that the weather conditions indeed could have been a factor in the PSI levels dropping.
“I don’t think it was fair for them to just say he’s a cheater,” Ben said.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman later vacated Brady’s four-game suspension, allowing the Patriots QB to play the entire 2015 season without missing a contest. The NFL since has appealed Berman’s decision, meaning the drama isn’t over, though perhaps it should be based on Ben Goodell’s science project.
Ben reportedly received a top award in the seventh grade science fair for his project, which included an eight-page report — much shorter than Wells’ lengthy report.
Thumbnail photo via Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports Images
