Quote:
Originally Posted by pgellis
Steve,
The argument isn't who was the better team. What balls were used in the 2nd half. The pointy is that the balls were checked pre-game and deemed compliant. So, between that measurement that happens 2 hours and 15 minutes prior to kickoff and half-time, somebody deflated those balls. That is cheating.
The argument has nothing to do with the 2nd half at all.
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Belicheck implied that the Patriots start off with 12.5 balls (extreme low end), and that they deflated for some reason unknown to him, but that in the future he would start them at 13.3 (I believe that was the number) to account for a margin of error. If the Pats start off at the low end (12.5), it's obvious they know that Brady likes them under-inflated. And with Belichek's attention to detail, I find it hard to believe he wasn't aware of a required range and that he didn't approve the 12.5 number. Given that, he had to know how the process for handling the balls, although he denied any knowledge of that process.
If he lied in today's press conference, he's screwed - someone (former player, equipment manager, etc) will remember some detail from the past that will burn him.