Okay, I admit it. I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to laughing at the unintended double entendres in Tom Brady’s press conference yesterday.

But amidst all the chuckling, there’s a serious allegation here, some pretty compelling evidence, and a completely implausible explanation.

The occasional grumpy Patriots fan will ask, “What evidence?” Today’s league statement makes clear that the footballs used in the first half by the Patriots offense were indeed under-inflated, outside of the range permitted by league rules.

While the evidence thus far supports the conclusion that footballs that were under-inflated were used by the Patriots in the first half, the footballs were properly inflated for the second half and confirmed at the conclusion of the game to have remained properly inflated. The goals of the investigation will be to determine the explanation for why footballs used in the game were not in compliance with the playing rules and specifically whether any noncompliance was the result of deliberate action. We have not made any judgments on these points and will not do so until we have concluded our investigation and considered all of the relevant evidence.

A lot of fans are still asking, “Don’t both teams use the same footballs?” and the answer is no; each team brings twelve footballs for their offense to use. All footballs for both teams were checked before the game and all of them were then within the acceptable range (12.5 and 13.5 pounds per square inch). Sometime between the beginning of the game and halftime, 11 of the 12 footballs were inflated “2 pounds per square inch below what’s required by NFL regulations”, according to ESPN.

Some folks are insisting that the deflation must have been a result of the cold weather, but that explanation doesn’t account for why the footballs used by the Indianapolis Colts weren’t similarly affected.

Finally, a lot of folks are pointing out that the Patriots routed the Colts in both the first and second halves, so that the ball deflation couldn’t have been decisive in the Patriots’ victory. That statement implies that a certain amount of cheating is acceptable, as long as it does not decide the outcome of the game.

As for the implausible explanation, if New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady really had nothing to do with deflating the balls outside the range permitted by the league, as they claimed Thursday . . . are we really to believe some equipment manager or ballboy or other team staffer decided, on his own, to meddle with the footballs without checking with the team’s star quarterback? What if Brady had had a terrible game? Wouldn’t he be furious that somebody had messed with his footballs?

“I would never do anything outside of the rules of play,” Brady said.
But his own words told a different tale, and as soon as he was done talking, a 17-year veteran of the quarterback position, Mark Brunell, said on ESPN that he was among those who didn’t believe Brady. Earlier Thursday, even before Bill Belichick seemed to be throwing his franchise player under a triple-decker bus in his own news conference, Hall of Famer Troy Aikman said on a Dallas radio station the following:
“It’s obvious that Tom Brady had something to do with this.” . . .
Focus on the loosest brick in Brady’s version of events — or non-version of events — that took down the whole house. The quarterback said more than once that a ball at 12.5 psi felt like magic in his hands, and it made sense. Any elite craftsman or artist or athlete could tell you that the tools of his or her trade are not interchangeable parts. Right before a performance, Jimi Hendrix would’ve known if he’d been handed something other than his most reliable guitar.
But Brady claimed that the NFL game moves so fast, he doesn’t have time to worry about the weight or feel of the ball once the bodies start flying. “I get the snap,” he said, “I drop back, I throw the ball.”

You know who’s really hurt by this mess? Every player on the New England Patriots who doesn’t handle the ball on most plays. The offensive linemen, the defense, the special teams – all of those guys went out and played their hearts out and did their jobs, and now their victory appears tainted. They didn’t have any advantage from a deflated, easier-to-grip-and-catch ball.

The Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy:

. . . the most important thing — the Patriot legacy — is lost. The Patriots and their fans will never win the “best ever” argument. Everything is tainted. Footballs (reportedly) have been doctored, headlines have been written, and opinions have been formed.
Locally, the Patriots are revered. Nationally, they are loathed and branded as cheaters, and once again they have handed the hammer to their legion of enemies.
At this hour, even if the Patriots are cleared of wrongdoing, they are the modern-day sports equivalent of Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of Labor, Ray Donovan, who asked, “Where do I go to get my reputation back?’’ after he was declared not guilty in a corruption case.
Granted, it didn’t matter in Sunday’s game. But what about all the other games? If the Patriots are cheating, are they not cheating systematically?
Like Spygate, it’s not a one-game anecdote.
Did deflating footballs ever give the Patriots an illegal advantage in any of their close games? Did it help them win the division 11 times in 12 years? We know they don’t like to play on the road. In the playoffs. Ever. This great Patriot dynasty has not won a road playoff game in seven years.