Bill Belichick has acknowledged that the footballs used for placekicking in the Patriots-Chiefs game last weekend were indeed underinflated.
During his weekly press conference, Belichick stated, “We don’t have anything to do with it. Were we aware of it? Yeah, definitely. As I understand it, they were all the same. I don’t know what the explanation is. It was the same for both teams. You’d have to talk to the league about what happened on that. That part of it, they control all that.” The news, initially reported by MassLive, dismissed any parallels to the infamous Deflate-gate scandal, emphasizing that the issue affected both teams.
Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, who missed his first field goal of the season in the first half against the Patriots, revealed that he was informed of the deflation at halftime. Butker commented, “[They told me] the balls were a little deflated [and] they just let me know they pumped [them] up.” However, he didn’t attribute his miss to the state of the ball, stating, “I think it was technique, one of those misfires that you wish you had back.” Butker added that a kicker can discern differences between balls with varying levels of inflation, noting, “I didn’t notice anything on that opening kickoff, and then second half, once you make that [field goal], you have the kickoff and you can feel the ball. And it was noticeably more pumped up.”
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Despite Butker describing the process as “routine” and explaining that fluctuations in ball inflation can occur due to factors like cold weather, the incident has evoked memories of the Deflate-gate controversy. In that case, the Belichick-led Patriots faced fines, lost draft picks, and had quarterback Tom Brady suspended for four games after intentionally underinflating balls in the 2015 AFC Championship Game for a perceived competitive advantage.
