Deflategate

Lore & Background

The controversy resulted in Brady being suspended for the first four games of the 2016 NFL season, while the Patriots were fined and forfeited two draft selections in 2016. Brady's suspension was originally to be implemented during the 2015 regular season, but he successfully appealed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, allowing him to play the entirety of 2015. After the season, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reinstated the four-game suspension, effective for the 2016 regular season. Brady accepted the suspension and missed the first four games. He was reinstated on October 9, 2016, versus the Cleveland Browns. The season concluded with the Patriots winning Super Bowl LI and Brady being named MVP. In February 2022, sportswriter Mike Florio revealed that the NFL deleted data from 2015 regular season football air-pressure spot-checks that showed similar deflation at halftime in similar weather conditions, on orders from NFL general counsel Jeff Pash.

In Their Own Story

The locker room was quiet, save for the hum of the air conditioning and the distant murmur of reporters waiting outside. Tom Brady sat on his stool, lacing up his cleats with practiced precision. The weight of the headlines felt heavier than the pads strapped to his shoulders. He looked at the footballs lined up against the bench, each one a potential target for scrutiny. Yet, as he stood to join his teammates in the tunnel, the focus shifted back to the gridiron ahead.

Reader's Guide

The official rules require footballs to be inflated to a gauge pressure of between 12.5 and 13.5 psi when measured by game officials, with no specified temperature. The pressure-temperature law means a ball inflated to 12.5 psi at room temperature can drop below minimum in colder conditions. Before 2006, the home team provided all game footballs; after 2006, each team uses its own on offense. Brady and Peyton Manning argued for this change to let quarterbacks use footballs that suited them. Removing air makes a football easier to grip, throw, and catch. During the AFC Championship Game, Colts linebacker D'Qwell Jackson intercepted a pass and handed the ball to the Colts equipment manager; Jackson said he did not notice anything wrong. At halftime, NFL officials inspected the footballs. Former referee Gerry Austin initially stated 11 of 12 Patriots balls were two psi below minimum, but later reports said only one ball was that low, with others slightly under. In referee Clete Blakeman's measurement, five of eleven footballs measured below 11.0 psi. Referee Walt Anderson gauged the balls; the Patriots' balls were re-inflated at halftime. No issues were raised in the second half. The Colts' balls were measured at halftime; four were within regulation on one gauge but not on the other. The investigation found that a Patriots locker room attendant was seen on surveillance video taking the 24 game footballs into a restroom for about 90 seconds.

Did You Know?

• The Patriots won Super Bowl LI, not XLIX, after the Deflategate suspension and reinstatement.
• In February 2022, it was revealed that the NFL deleted data from 2015 regular season air-pressure spot-checks that showed similar deflation in similar weather conditions.
• Colts linebacker D'Qwell Jackson said he did not notice anything wrong with the ball he intercepted and did not know about the controversy until after the game.