See post 154.
Also I’m not so sure that the kicking balls are in the ref’s hands after the game starts. Yes, they are new balls, but are you sure the home team ball attendants aren’t in charge of them once the game begins? I think they may be.
For that, I’d have to review more to see who is holding those balls. There is an attempt to keep them segregated though, but every so often it’ll be noted the wrong ball got in the wrong pile.
But head coach John Harbaugh said his team didn’t notice anything wrong with the pigskin in his team’s AFC divisional round loss to the Patriots on Jan. 10, adding that he believes the softness in the kicking balls was related to the weather that day.
“We did not notice anything,” Harbaugh told ESPN on Wednesday. “We never had a ball that they used or anything like that on offense, so we don’t know anything about that in our game. We didn’t have a chance to handle any of their offensive footballs.
“As far as the kicking balls, it was 20 degrees out, so the balls were softer,” Harbaugh said. “Our guys told us during the game, and I just chalked that up to the fact that it was cold and that both teams were kicking the same kicking balls, so I didn’t think really anything of it during the game. Other than that, it’s not something we’ve really given any thought to at all.”