Report: NFL determines that Patriots footballs were illicitly under-inflated

(Image credit: Elsa/Getty Images)

published 21 January 2015

Eleven out of 12 footballs used by the New England Patriots during Sunday night's AFC championship blowout game against the Colts were under-inflated by 2 pounds of air, NFL sources tell ESPN. The Boston Globe confirmed the report, citing a letter from the NFL.

The NFL's senior vice president of communications would not comment, and earlier on Tuesday, Troy Vincent, senior executive vice president of football operations, said the investigation would be finished in two or three days. One source tells ESPN that the NFL is "disappointed... angry... distraught" over the finding. It is not yet known what penalties, if any, will be imposed against the Patriots, who defeated the Colts 45-7 to advance to their sixth Super Bowl.

Investigators are working to determine how the footballs became under-inflated, ESPN reports. Under league standards, each team's 12 game balls are required to be inflated to between 12.5 and 13.5 pounds per square inch, and have to be inspected and approved 2 hours and 15 minutes before kickoff. Once the balls are returned to the teams, they cannot be altered. Footballs, if under-inflated the right amount, can be easier to throw and catch.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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