The New England Patriots are once again part of a story about under-inflated footballs.
According to MassLive’s Mark Daniels, Patriots players were “visibly upset” after Sunday’s loss to the Kansas Chiefs because they felt the footballs weren’t properly inflated. Following their in-game complaints, officials measured the balls intended for the kicking units.
They weighed 2.5 pounds below the typical inflation level.
“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 under inflated or they felt that way. At halftime, they confirmed and obviously put air in them.”
Call it Deflategate, Part II.
According to multiple sources, NFL officials didn’t properly inflate the kicking balls at Gillette Stadium before Patriots matchup vs. the Chiefs.
Read more here: https://t.co/JcaNs4CodT
— Mark Daniels (@ByMarkDaniels) December 20, 2023
Per Daniels, New England immediately felt something was amiss when Harrison Butker’s opening kickoff went to the 3-yard line. A resounding 87.1 percent of his kickoffs have gone for touchbacks this season.
Butker, who had converted every kick this season before Week 15’s game, missed a 39-yard field goal on Kansas City’s opening drive. It was just his second missed field goal from within 40 yards since the start of 2020.
On the ensuing possession, New England rookie Chad Ryland failed to convert a 41-yard try.
Since teams can’t work with the game balls during pre-game warmups, neither side realized anything was off until the matchup started. Officials inflated the balls to 13.5 pounds at halftime
“I don’t know at what point it was missed,” a source told Daniels. “I don’t think they were leaking. It was a situation and it got mitigated in the second half.”
Butker made both of his field goals, including a 54-yarder, during the third quarter. The average punt distance from both teams also increased from 45.3 yards in the first half to 51.8 yards in the second half.
Sunday’s situation isn’t quite a scandal on par with Deflategate, which led Tom Brady to serve a four-game suspension in 2016. But it’s one the league should want to avoid moving forward.