Reports and rumors continue to emerge regarding the Deflategate scandal dogging the New England Patriots as they do their best to prepare to face the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday, Feb. 1.
Here, we've aggregated the three latest reports pertaining to the investigation into the use of under-inflated footballs by quarterback Tom Brady and the Pats during the AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts and, possibly, prior.
1. Playing with under-inflated balls isn't an abnormal thing in the NFL and refs often allow such balls to pass their pregame inspection.
"Toucher & Rich," a weekly Boston radio program on 98.5 The Sports Hub, has learned through sources that, despite the league's continued assertion that referees always check and measure the inflation level of footballs prior to gameplay in order to determine if they meet the NFL's mandated minimum of 12.5 psi, this isn't always the case.
"As a matter of fact, from what I've been told, many times the refs don't test the pressure of each ball with a gauge at all. Sometimes the refs hold the ball, squeeze it, briefly inspect it, then sign off on it. Next ball. It's never been a problem before. This is apparently a well known fact in the NFL."
If true, this would seriously affect the NFL's case. It would make the entire investigation moot and instead of pointing the finger of accusation at the Pats would point to a larger issue at play with the league.
2. Pats owner Robert Kraft's strong comments about the Deflategate scandal create increased pressure on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to punish New England severely or face continued questions about the close relationship between the two men.
Mike Florio of NBC Sports believes that Patriots owner Robert Kraft's recent, strongly worded comments about the investigation and the nature of the Pats alleged illegal activity puts pressure squarely on league commissioner Roger Goodell.
Goodell has said in the past that he believes the league should "reconsider the standard of proof" in rules violation cases because too often "competitive violations" without conclusive evidence go unpunished.
"If, as the NFL already has concluded, the proper inflation of footballs represents a game-integrity issue and if, as the NFL already has concluded, the footballs used in the first half of the AFC title game were underinflated, the question becomes whether Goodell will authorize significant sanctions against the Patriots without a smoking gun - even if it means that his friendship with Robert Kraft will go up in smoke," Florio said.
In light of Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman's recent assertion, possibly shared by others around the league, that Goodell and Kraft share a relationship that is too close, Goodell may be forced to throw the book at Kraft or seem a mite too sympathetic to their cause.
3. Did the league use a "sting operation" to catch the Pats?
In the days after the AFC Championship Game, various reports have emerged outlining a loose timeline of events.
They all point to the league having already had some level of knowledge of the deflation scandal prior to the game, meaning that the NFL - which waited until halftime to see if the Pats balls were underinflated, found that they were and refilled them to league standard levels - knowingly allowed New England to play a portion of the game with an advantage.
"If so then the NFL was willing to let New England use a deflated football to its advantage for the first half of a game with the Super Bowl on the line, rather than stop the contest immediately and check, or even just warn the Patriots of their concerns prior to kickoff to make sure everything was fair and square for all 60 minutes," writes Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports.
As Ed Werder of ESPN notes, it seems somehow wrong that the league attempted to catch the Patriots in the act instead of ensuring they were following the rules before the game.
