Why 11/12 balls?

[KiwiHawk]

I was considering why 11 of the 12 balls were under-inflated, considering that the 11 were grossly under-inflated. Why would one lone ball have retained its pressure?

Was it used to fool the testing process? Unlikely - that would require agents of the Patriots playing sleight-of-hand with the referees.

Then I was thinking about the fumble statistics, where the Patriots fumble far less than the average NFL team except on special teams where they are in-line with the rest of the league, with the possible answer being they are handling the opponent's ball being punted to them, so it would not be under-inflated.

Then it dawned on me, and made me a firm believer that the balls were under-inflated intentionally - one ball remained inflated so that the Patriots would have one to punt. An under-inflated ball would not travel as far when punted, which would be a disadvantage to the Patriots. Having a fully-inflated punting ball negates that disadvantage. Punters do not use the K ball - those are only for kicks.

Thar's the smoking gun, as far as I am concerned.

 

[12thManHawkFan]

I think you nailed it.

 

[Rocket]

Your theory fits like a glove.
Not OJ's glove, a real glove.
Pats cheat.

 

[Zebulon Dak]

Do they use the K balls for punts? Or just kickoffs/field goals?

 

[Laloosh]

This is from 2007. Sounds like all special teams plays use the k-balls...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2726072

 

[Zebulon Dak]

Plus how would they keep track of the one ball that wasn't deflated? Mark it? It's not that I don't think they cheated, I do, I just think it's far more likely that they just accidentally or weren't able to get to that one ball than they did it on purpose. Remember, this is just one game out of like 130 or so over the past 8 years. They might have deflated all of them most of the time. Right?

 

[Bryce84]

I believe I heard that all 12 balls were actually deflated from the pre-game inspected PSI levels, but 11 of the 12 were deflated beyond the allowed amount. I could be wrong, pretty sure I heard that though.

 

[Smellyman]

I believe I heard that all 12 balls were actually deflated from the pre-game inspected PSI levels, but 11 of the 12 were deflated beyond the allowed amount. I could be wrong, pretty sure I heard that though.

Heard the same also. The others were a full 2 pounds low and the 12th was just low, but still under the limit.

 

[jkitsune]

Call me crazy, but what if the guy deflating them just ran out of time and/or missed one ball?

IMO, the fact that ALL 12 balls are not deflated is part of the evidence for deliberate human tampering, as opposed to some ridiculous result of a 'systematic method for rubbing the balls.'

 

[pmedic920]

^^^^
I think it does add to the evidence.

If it was the "process" or some atmospheric event, why didn't it effect that one ball?

 

[Bobblehead]

There needs to be away of distinguishing the kicking ball from the rest, cause we already know, that Tom can't tell, so they mark the kicking ball with of all things a "k".

I have yet to hear, if that 12th ball on the knoll had a 'k" marked on it.

 

[StoneCold]

There needs to be away of distinguishing the kicking ball from the rest, cause we already know, that Tom can't tell, so they mark the kicking ball with of all things a "k".

I have yet to hear, if that 12th ball on the knoll had a 'k" marked on it.

The refs are in control of the Kicking balls. They are not part of the 12 team balls. My guess is the kid in the bathroom fumbled the gauge once and ran out of time on the 12th ball.

SC

 

[Seahawkfan80]

The 12th ball was intercepted by Sherman. :stirthepot:

 

[Bobblehead]

There needs to be away of distinguishing the kicking ball from the rest, cause we already know, that Tom can't tell, so they mark the kicking ball with of all things a "k".

I have yet to hear, if that 12th ball on the knoll had a 'k" marked on it.

The refs are in control of the Kicking balls. They are not part of the 12 team balls. My guess is the kid in the bathroom fumbled the gauge once and ran out of time on the 12th ball.

SC

Yes, the refs control the kicking ball, that maybe true, but they still get the balls from the team.

 

[rastahawk]

Yeah it makes a lot of sense. The whole thing wreaks of deliberate design. Its very difficult to talk yourself out of the "cheat" scenario. Any counter arguments are not very plausible, but seem like an attempt to make the facts fuzzy.

 

[Evil_Shenanigans]

There needs to be away of distinguishing the kicking ball from the rest, cause we already know, that Tom can't tell, so they mark the kicking ball with of all things a "k".

I have yet to hear, if that 12th ball on the knoll had a 'k" marked on it.

Agreed, you would have to have a method to quarantine, or at the very least ID the Kicking balls from the Game Balls. Or in this case the "alleged perpetrator" (Patsy) would need to be able to identify the ones Brady was getting during the game and the one exemplar that was to be retained for the Ref's scrutineering. The 12th ball had to be the ringer! No two ways about it!

 

[StoneCold]

There needs to be away of distinguishing the kicking ball from the rest, cause we already know, that Tom can't tell, so they mark the kicking ball with of all things a "k".

I have yet to hear, if that 12th ball on the knoll had a 'k" marked on it.

The refs are in control of the Kicking balls. They are not part of the 12 team balls. My guess is the kid in the bathroom fumbled the gauge once and ran out of time on the 12th ball.

SC

Yes, the refs control the kicking ball, that maybe true, but they still get the balls from the team.

Not according to the rule book.

http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/ball

SC

 

[lukerguy]

K balls are their own set of balls not included in the 12 count.

 

[Uncle Si]

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=12252086&ex_cid=sportscenterFB

thought this was funny as hell

 

[CamanoIslandJQ]

If the cameras caught the guy going into the restroom for 90 seconds, nobody can deflate balls that quickly, IMO, they should look at the same cameras production for a couple of hours before and after the guy went into the restroom. Watch for a guy taking a bag of balls into the restroom, and then leaving without the bag. The old switcherooooo.

90 seconds is plenty of time to switch out ball bags and "change" the balls in that manner. Other Patriot games pregame video camera results should be looked at for the time between refs approval & the team obtaining the balls. The "switch" could have been present in those games as well, in fact I wouldn't doubt it considering the Patriots tendencies to stretch the rules.
:stirthepot: