The League Knew They Wanted To Check Ball Pressure Earlier In The Week And Kept It Quiet So They Could "Catch" Belichick

(CSNNE) — The NFL also needs to answer whether or not they ran a ball pressure “sting” operation in a Conference Championship game. Wednesday night, FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer reported that the league planned during the week to check the ball pressure of the Patriots footballs at halftime of the win over the Colts. The league, according to Glazer, had been tipped off to the Patriots using under-inflated balls. That raises two questions. First, why didn’t the league reach out to the Patriots and let them know there were concerns and they needed to be aware they were being monitored? Second, if the league suspected the Patriots were using underinflated footballs and thought that would impact the game, why would even allow a chance that the game would be compromised? If the answer is that the NFL wanted to “catch” the Patriots – Belichick in particular – red-handed, then they risked the Patriots gaining a first-half advantage over Indianapolis in the AFC Championship to do so. Which, to me, would show just how deep the enmity for Belichick and the Patriots run at the league level. They would rather set him up than ensure the game isn’t compromised. To say nothing of the fact the league itself would have known this circus of controversy and accusation would have been the result of the “sting” they ran Belichick is never going to be a sympathetic figure, but he was very clearly shaken as he made his remarks Thursday. He truly appears to have been blindsided.

Spot on analysis from our boy Tom E. Curran. The only reason this is a controversy is because it’s the Patriots. That’s officially a fact. If media darling Rex Ryan was suspected of deflating balls then the league would’ve called him during the week and said, “Hey, we’re checking at halftime and will continue monitoring it. Make sure the balls are pumped up.” But because Belichick is a dick and doesn’t jump through the media’s hoops to give a positive image of The Shield they wanted to “bust” him. The league wanted to make a scene.

Well, honestly, that’s a more egregious crime than deflating footballs. This whole situation has come down to “the integrity of the game,” right? That’s the buzz phrase everyone has been throwing around since Monday. “The integrity of the game.” Well the higher-ups at the NFL decided to sacrifice the first half of an AFC Conference Championship game solely to “get” Belichick. That DESTROYS the integrity of the game. Blows it right up. The league said we’re going to allow the Patriots to break the rules for 50% of an extremely important game just so we can bust them. If the NFL really thought it was a competitive advantage then the Colts were led like a lamb to slaughter for the first 30 minutes of a conference championship. And now Goodell wants to cite integrity of the game? HA!