In January 2015, Deflategate exploded from a quiet league investigation into a nationwide story thanks to an erroneous ESPN report claiming 11 of the 12 footballs the Patriots used in the AFC Championship Game were underinflated by at least two pounds.
The report was later debunked, but it nonetheless sparked an immediate wildfire of controversy that enveloped the Patriots and later the league. The NFL levied unprecedented punishments against the team and Tom Brady for allegedly deflating game footballs, despite the fact that, following the Ideal Gas Law, the air pressure inside the balls would naturally decrease during games played in cold weather.
According to a released excerpt of an upcoming book, “Playmakers: How the NFL Really Works (And Doesn’t),” NFL executive V.P. of football operations Troy Vincent leaked that initial misinformation to ESPN.
The book, written by NBC Sports’ Mike Florio, doesn’t state whether Vincent knowingly lied to ESPN. It does, however, provide more evidence that league sought to punish the Patriots instead of conducting an honest and scientific investigation.
Because the following season, the NFL started conducting air-pressure checks at the halftime of various games. None of the data collected was ever made public. According to Florio, that was intentional.
From his reporting: “Per a source with knowledge of the situation, and as reported in Playmakers, the NFL expunged the numbers. It happened at the direct order, per the source, of NFL general counsel Jeff Pash.
“Why would the league delete the numbers? It’s simple. For cold days, the numbers were too close to the actual numbers generated by the New England footballs at halftime of the playoff game against the Colts. Which means that the numbers generated at halftime of the January 2015 AFC Championship were not evidence of cheating, but of the normal operation of air pressure inside a rubber bladder when the temperature drops. Just as it was expected.”
Florio later writes he emailed the league offering an opportunity to respond to his reporting. The NFL allegedly did not reply.
