It was reported a few days ago that players on the Patriots were “visibly upset” the footballs for last weekend’s game against the Chiefs weren’t properly inflated.
“They were all sitting around at 11 PSI. The threshold is usually 13.5,” a source told MassLive. “(The Patriots) told the refs they were a little underinflated or they felt that way. At halftime, they confirmed and obviously put air in them.”
Speaking to the media Friday, Belichick acknowledged the kicking footballs used in the first half of last Sunday’s game were underinflated. However, he’s not sure why that happened.
“We don’t have anything to do with it. Were we aware of it? Yeah, definitely,” Belichick said. “As I understand it, they were all the same. I don’t know what the explanation is. It was the same for both teams.
“You’d have to talk to the league about what happened on that. That part of it, they control all that.”
News story: Bill Belichick says kicking footballs in 1st half vs. Chiefs were underinflated (confirming @ByMarkDaniels report)…NFL declines comment…KC’s Harrison Butker says FG miss a result of technique but notes difference w/ footballs in 2nd half. https://t.co/Z5m1rMUVmW
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) December 22, 2023
Of course, this incident has many people believing we’re heading towards another Deflategate. It doesn’t seem like that’s the case this time around though.
The Chiefs-Patriots game was officiated by Shawn Hochuli’s crew. The NFL usually has strict protocols regarding the PSI for footballs.