FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (
MyFoxBoston.com) -- "In my entire coaching career, i have never talked to any player, staff member, about football air pressure," New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said Thursday.
Belichick may not have known much about football air pressure before Deflate Gate, but that doesn't mean it's not an important part of the game.
Two hours and 15 minutes before every football game, the referees check the air pressure for 36 balls, 24 of them provided by the home team. On Sunday, that home team was the New England Patriots.
Fox Sports' Mike Pereira was once an NFL vice president of officiating.
"The referee has the pump and the needle and with the help of the kicking ball coordinator, he checks them. If they are between 12.5 and 13.5 per square inch, he marks them. They are good to go," Pereira said. "They leave the locker room before the game, they go into the hands of the ball boys. The extra balls are put at the replay monitor where this is a guard standing by that monitor."
So who had access to the footballs after they were tested?
According to the Patriots media guide, the team has eight offensive coaches, a head equipment manager and three assistant equipment managers, plus ball boys.
But no one is supposed to touch the balls once the refs test them.
Where does that leave all of us trying to figure this out?
"How did the ref not know it?" said Reynald Lazre of Everett. "The ref must have had something to do with it, if they are getting away with it like that."
Everyone has their theories. But how did it happen? Was it intentional, or an accident? After press conferences with Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady, we still don't know.
Official game balls for NFL football's Super Bowl XLIX. (AP Photo/Rick Osentoski)
