The last week has been filled with the whole story about the New England Patriots reportedly deflating footballs for the AFC Championship Game. However, the Patriots won’t be able to get their hands on the footballs for Super Bowl XLIX until the game begins. It is custom for the NFL to have a modified set of procedures and this year, it will be Chicago Bears equipment manager Tony Medlin who will be in charge of getting the footballs ready for the game.
This is a process that the NFL should be examining for all their games and not just the Super Bowl to ensure something like this doesn’t happen. There have been plenty of stories this week about quarterbacks having different preferences on how the ball feels in their hand. However, there should be a uniform standard for the footballs before a game.
It would appear that the process of under-inflating or over-inflating the football happens a lot but the Patriots got caught. It’s like the pack of cars speeding on the interstate and it is just one car that gets pulled over. The Patriots are that one car here and it is going to lead to major changes probably in how the footballs are handled before games from now on.
