# A question about under inflated footballs.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-under-inflated-footballs/710609>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [January 22, 2015, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-under-inflated-footballs/710609 "2015-01-22T19:18:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-under-inflated-footballs/710609/1 "2015-01-22T19:18:52Z")

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Belichick passed this little controversy to his quarterback. John Madden said yesterday this was probably a quarterback thing. Which brings up the question. Wouldn’t this benefit the quarterbacks on both teams? A little less air supposedly makes the ball easier to grip and throw. Something the opposing quarterback would appreciate too.

Also, if everyone is being honest and forthright didn’t the other quarterback have an obligation to alert the referees after his first play He knew what was going on after handling that ball for the first time. The jets center knew too. The jets receivers knew when they caught it.

Only the NFL could get their panties in a wad over such a lop sided loss. Even the colts cornerback says this made no difference.

I’m all for following the rules. But if this made playing the game, in terrible conditions, a little less miserable for both quarterbacks. I find it hard to particularly care. Heck, change the rules on wet cold days. Take a pound of air out. I want to see both teams throwing the ball, advancing, and scoring. I hate boring games where nobody can even complete a down.

> **[Patriots coach Bill Belichick denies any knowledge of DeflateGate; Tom Brady...](https://www.nydailynews.com/2015/01/22/patriots-coach-bill-belichick-denies-any-knowledge-of-deflategate-tom-brady-scheduled-to-talk-later-today/)**
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> FOXBOROUGH – He knew nothing. Patriots coach Bill Belichick distanced himself from any role in the deflation of game balls before or during the AFC Championship Game Thursday, insisting that …

> [@](#):
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> An Indianapolis Colts cornerback weighed in on the debate about whether the New England Patriots’ offense benefited from its reported use of deflated footballs by tweeting, “They could have played with soap for balls and beat us.”
> 
> “Simply the better team,” Dwayne Allen tweeted. “We have to continue to build!”

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**Author:** ![borschevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@borschevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borschevsky)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-under-inflated-footballs/710609/2 "2015-01-22T19:22:32Z")

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I think this is covered in the [other thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=746963). Each offense uses a different set of footballs, so in this game only the Patriots’ balls were under-inflated.

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**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-under-inflated-footballs/710609/3 "2015-01-22T19:26:29Z")

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crap. I didn’t see that other thread. Well this was a massive waste of my time.

carry on. I fumbled the under inflated ball. 😉

I never knew the refs changed the ball for each team. How precious and special. The rule I was aware of is, the ball stays in play unless damaged or too wet. Then they bring out a dry ball.