The Patriots have a reputation for either cheating or at least bending the rules. And based on his behavior I have no doubt that Brady knew all about the balls being deflated. Perhaps more important than Brady being able to throw the balls well in the conditions was the effect on Andrew Luck. He was not throwing very well at all and he is better than that. Perhaps Luck has massive hands and needs a more heavily inflated ball.
But going beyond all of this, they need to take a second look at the rules. It is silly for the home team to supply the footballs. The footballs need to be either supplied by the NFL (and monitored by NFL officials) or else each team should supply the balls they use on offense.
Most quarterbacks in pro football probably have large hands. But some have massive hands. I saw a retired pro football quarterback on TV saying he liked the balls inflated to at least 16 pounds pressure. And how much the footballs need to be inflated also depends on weather conditions. Even more important the footballs need to be roughed up a little because when they are brand new they are too sleek.
I think the solution is to let both teams have their own footballs for when they are on offense or kicking off or punting. The inflation should be within acceptable limits but quarterbacks HAVE DIFFERENT SIZE HANDS and the weather conditions also need to be taken into consideration. The officials would need to have somebody check the inflations from time to time but the teams would not mess around with their own footballs when they are on offense.
But going beyond all of this, they need to take a second look at the rules. It is silly for the home team to supply the footballs. The footballs need to be either supplied by the NFL (and monitored by NFL officials) or else each team should supply the balls they use on offense.
Most quarterbacks in pro football probably have large hands. But some have massive hands. I saw a retired pro football quarterback on TV saying he liked the balls inflated to at least 16 pounds pressure. And how much the footballs need to be inflated also depends on weather conditions. Even more important the footballs need to be roughed up a little because when they are brand new they are too sleek.
I think the solution is to let both teams have their own footballs for when they are on offense or kicking off or punting. The inflation should be within acceptable limits but quarterbacks HAVE DIFFERENT SIZE HANDS and the weather conditions also need to be taken into consideration. The officials would need to have somebody check the inflations from time to time but the teams would not mess around with their own footballs when they are on offense.