John Harbaugh had plenty of issues with the New England Patriots in the AFC divisional round. But deflated footballs wasn’t one of them.
Amid all the hot air surrounding “DeflateGate,” the Baltimore Ravens head coach went on the record Wednesday to say he had no problem with the footballs used during his team’s 35-31 loss to the Patriots.
“We did not notice anything,” Harbaugh said, via ESPN. “We never had a ball that they used or anything like that on offense, so we don’t know anything about that in our game. We didn’t have a chance to handle any of their offensive footballs.”
Each team uses its own footballs while on offense, but the two teams share the footballs used in the kicking game. A report surfaced late Tuesday night that some Ravens players believed the balls used by kickers and punters were slightly under-inflated.
Harbaugh addressed that report Wednesday and — believe it or not — had a reasonable explanation for his players’ reported comments.
“As far as the kicking balls, it was 20 degrees out, so the balls were softer,” Harbaugh said. “Our guys told us during the game, and I just chalked that up to the fact that it was cold and that both teams were kicking the same kicking balls, so I didn’t think really anything of it during the game. Other than that, it’s not something we’ve really given any thought to at all.”
The weather was cold, so the balls were slightly less inflated. Makes sense.
Thumbnail photo via David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports Images
