Getting To The Bottom Of "Deflate-Gate"
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- When the Indianapolis Colts intercepted a pair of Tom Brady passes in Sunday's playoff game, they thought the footballs were too soft.
Now, the NFL has found that 11 of the 12 balls used by the Patriots were under-inflated by two pounds.
Florida International University equipment manager Christian Telazo inflated a pair of footballs for CBS4's Jim Berry. One was inflated to NFL regulations while another was two pounds less.
Telazo couldn't tell the difference in catching them but he said players can.
"As a receiver and as a quarterback you get a better feel of the ball and you know, it's like I said, it becomes a mental game," said Telazo.
A few years ago Patriots quarterback Tom Brady jokingly admitted that he preferred a deflated ball.
"When Gronk scores his like eighth touchdown year, he spikes the ball, he deflates the ball which I love that cause I like you know the deflated ball," said Brady.
"Would you like to take it down?" Berry asked if he would deflate the balls.
"No, not all because like I said the referees check it and if it comes down to the middle of the game that the referee sees cause you know they're always handling the football, comes down to one time when they want to check the football, that's on me," said Telazo.
NFL refs check the balls two hours before kickoff to make sure they are okay.To Telazo, this means that someone intentionally took the air out of the New England footballs.
"You know there's cheating and then there's gamesmanship. Where does this fall," Berry asked Telazo.
"I think it's definitely to the line of cheating because you're tampering with something that's supposed to be regulated," said Telazo.
The Patriots won the game in a rout and even some players on the losing Colts team said that the air pressure in the balls didn't make a difference.
But New England has a history. Eight years ago, they were caught videotaping the practices of the New York Jets.
Their spy-gate penalty cost them $750,000 in fines and a lost draft pick.
What about "deflate-gate?"
"If this is proven to be true, the New England Patriots should be fined one million dollars. They should lose their first round draft pick in 2015 and Bill Belichek needs to be suspended for one year," said NFL analyst Shannon Sharpe.
