FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots’ company line: Our practice balls are worse than the ones used in the AFC Championship Game.
Why that has anything to do with DeflateGate is unclear, but it’s obviously what Patriots head coach Bill Belichick told his players to say during media availability at Gillette Stadium on Thursday.
“I don’t have any knowledge of that,” running back LeGarrette Blount said about DeflateGate. “We practice with crappier balls than we play with. I don’t know anything about what’s going on. We practice with terrible balls. Bill comes and pours water on balls that we practice with.”
Blount had 16 carries in the first half Sunday, before officials reportedly checked the Patriots’ footballs at halftime and re-inflated them.
“I don’t know what the proper inflation feeling is, but it felt like a normal ball,” Blount said.
Patriots running back Jonas Gray said that he’s never noticed if footballs get deflated because of the cold. He has other things on his mind.
“You know, I haven’t paid attention to it,” Gray said. “It’s one of those things, man, especially as a running back, you just want ball security at all times, anyway. You’re really not worried about how the ball feels. You’re just protecting it.”
Would a running back notice if a ball was slightly under-inflated?
“Honestly, I don’t think I would notice at all,” Gray said. “I don’t think it really would cross my mind.”
Wide receiver Brandon LaFell said game balls always feel better than the ones that the Patriots practice with. LaFell called the Patriots’ practice balls “hard” and “probably the worst balls ever invented.”
“We always complain about balls, because Bill always does the worst situation kind of balls,” LaFell said. “Half the time we practice, the balls are soaking wet. They’re pouring water on the balls before every play. We always complain about that, and the more we complain, the worse he makes the ball. Whatever the ball was game day, it was good for me.”
The Patriots say they’re not going to let DeflateGate become a distraction for the Super Bowl. The locker room likely would have been packed regardless on Thursday, but there were very few questions being posed relating to football the sport, rather than the object.
“We’re not gonna let it be a distraction,” Blount said. “We’re going to continue to do what we do to prepare for this game, everything that we need to do to make sure that we’re ready to play.”
The Patriots are relying on Belichick, who spoke to the media Thursday morning, and quarterback Tom Brady, who will speak in the afternoon, to handle the situation.
“Everything in life isn’t fair,” Blount said. “Everything has something going one way or another. I feel like Bill is going to handle it well; I feel like Tom is going to handle it well.”
Thumbnail photo via Charles Krupa/Associated Press
