It appears the Colts were onto something when they believed some of the balls used during Sunday's AFC Championship game were not fully inflated.
ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported late Tuesday night that 11 of the football the Patriots used were two pounds underweight in their 45-7 rout of the Colts at Gillette Stadium. Pro Football Talk dug into the rulebook and said all NFL footballs must have 12.5-13.5 pounds of air.
The officials inspect 12 footballs from each squad a few hours before the game, PFT says, and they likely would have noticed if they were two pounds below the standard. Logic would lead you to believe New England doctored the footballs after the referees inspected them.
Indianapolis likely never would have realized it was even an issue had linebacker D’Qwell Jackson not picked off quarterback Tom Brady in the second quarter. Bob Glauber of Newsday says that's what led to the league's investigation.
Coach Bill Belichick did not flatly deny the allegations but said Monday he had not heard anything about it until that morning. The players also acted as if it was the craziest thing they had ever heard. Quarterback Tom Brady said the allegations were "ridiculous."