If these balls are significantly deflated, can’t the officials tell when they handle the ball between plays?
Can a D-back not tell when he picks one off?
That’s how they found out the balls were not fully aired, interceptions, the balls didn’t feel right. Happened in the Colts/Patriots game in November, happened again in this last game.
The balls are essentially the same to the manner used, above 10 PSI....hard. Additional pressure only really is discernible by most people if they are doing things a QB wouldn’t be doing, like kicking the ball. If you can barely squeeze the bladder through the leather case at 10, you aren’t going to be missing much at 11,12,13, or 50. It’s close to being like squeezing marble vs granite, even though there’s a big difference in hardness, you can’t tell with your hand.
Remember, a well inflated Regulation Basketball is only 8 PSI.
Apparently there are several instances of ball changes, which Brady didn’t appear to notice:
http://www.businessinsider.com/dqwell-jackson-patriots-used-colts-balls-2015-1
Indianapolis Colts linebacker D’Qwell Jackson told NFL.com’s Jeff Darlington that he noticed the New England Patriots using Colts game balls at one point during the first half of the AFC Championship Game, a 45-7 Patriots victory.
...and the Colt who intercepted the ball couldn’t tell:
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000462315/article/dqwell-jackson-footballs-didnt-change-outcome
When Colts linebacker D’Qwell Jackson intercepted a pass in the first half of Sunday’s game, he had plenty of reasons to keep that football. After all, it happened during the AFC Championship Game. Tom Brady threw it. And it was his first postseason pick of a nine-year career.
One reason he didn’t keep it? Air pressure.
“I wanted that ball as a souvenir!” Jackson told NFL Media during a phone conversation Thursday.
Eventually, Jackson hopes he will indeed get the football back. But for now, it remains in the possession of the NFL, which is investigating whether the Patriots deliberately deflated the ball to gain an advantage.
Until Jackson gets it back, though, he at least wants to make something very clear: He did not intend to prompt the investigation. Jackson says he actually did not even know the ball was taken or that the controversy existed until he was being driven home from the team’s charter plane after the Colts had arrived in Indianapolis.
“I wouldn’t know how that could even be an advantage or a disadvantage,” Jackson said. “I definitely wouldn’t be able to tell if one ball had less pressure than another.”
D'Quell Jackson states he had no idea the ball he intercepted was deflated in anyway. This is the very ball that supposedly set the whole controversy in motion.