The NFL has reportedly gathered further Deflategate details pertaining to the New England Patriots team employee alleged to have taken the balls used by the team during their victory over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game to a separate area in the stadium en route to the field prior to kickoff.
A new report from NBC Sports reveals that not only was the separate area to which the employee took the balls, in fact, a bathroom, but said person also took both the balls used to be used by the Patriots and the balls to be used by the Colts with him.
"First, per a league source, the other 'area on way to field' is a bathroom. The bathroom consists of one toilet and one sink and a door that locks from the inside.
"Second, according to the same source, the person carried two bags of balls into the bathroom: the 12 balls to be used by the Patriots and the 12 balls to be used by the Colts."
That's a particularly interesting and potentially damning addition to the investigation. The Baltimore Ravens alleged that the balls they used to kick and punt in their playoff game against the Patriots - prior to the AFC Championship Game - were underinflated.
It had previously been thought that potential Patriots cheating had stopped at the deflation of their own balls.
Now, it sounds as though the employee potentially tampered with the Colts' balls as well.
"Third, from the same source, the evidence comes from a surveillance video that was discovered by the Patriots and given to the NFL early in the investigation.
"Fourth, again from the same source, the video shows the employee in the bathroom for approximately 90 seconds."
It's difficult to envision a person deflating 11 to 12 footballs in 90 seconds, but a separate report from NBC Sports quotes a league source as saying it would be an "easy" thing to do.
"Needle in each ball for a couple of seconds," the source said, according to NBC Sports - especially if the bag carrying the balls had a large zipper opening to allow access to each ball at once.
It does seem to be a positive for the Pats that they were the ones to provide the video to the league, though they may simply be readying to pin the expected findings on the team employee, ala Spygate in 2007.
