A Physicist's Explanation for 'Deflategate"

Fact is, nobody knows who did what to their balls prior to game time.

All we have is multiple unsubstantiated claims by both teams, none of which is actually verifiable.

If deflating the football a couple of psi could guarantee a win, I'm sure it would be very carefully checked after every play....besides an under inflated ball would not help when kicking the ball, a situation that may determine the win or loss of a game...Making a ball easier to catch would make it easier to intercept as well....no I don't see this as an advantage or disadvantage any more than any other variable condition that exists in the game.....that chiefly being who's having a 'good day'...

True. But they might have specially marked balls so that balls for kicking field goals could be slightly over-inflated. What's bizarre to me, as someone else pointed out, is that each team gets an allotment of footballs in the first place!

The balls used for kickoffs, punts, field goals and extra point tries are controlled by the refs, and are not counted among the balls each team brings to the game.

Digest of Rules Main

Ball

1. The home club shall have 36 balls for outdoor games and 24 for indoor games available for testing with a pressure gauge by the referee two hours prior to the starting time of the game to meet with League requirements. Twelve (12) new footballs, sealed in a special box and shipped by the manufacturer, will be opened in the officials' locker room two hours prior to the starting time of the game. These balls are to be specially marked with the letter "k" and used exclusively for the kicking game.

The rules are the rules, besides, I already pointed out the difference between gauge pressure and absolute in our earlier thread on this worn out subject.

Ain't nobody gonna be marking my stinking balls!

The Pats. scored 17 points in the first half, with soft balls and 28 in the second half with regulation balls.

Does the guy explain how systematically all but one of the Patriot balls experienced this but none of the Colts balls? I didn't think so.

I do question the game value of this particular breaking of the rules. None the less it is a breaking of the rules and the NFL appears to not be doing anything about it. It should not matter how the rules were broken. It should only matter that the rules were broken.

I suspect that Marshawn Lynch will be fined faster for his shoes or hat than the Patriots will be penalized for breaking this rule of the game.

The Colts don't rub their balls as hard before games.

I agree completely. In fact, I think they should have disqualified the Pats and let Indy play in the Super Bowl. OK, so maybe it's because I've been a Pats hater since the infamous "tuck rule" incident, but evidently I'm not alone--I've heard more than once that the Pats are the most hated team in the NFL.

If the rules said that disqualification was a possible penalty for ball tampering then the game should have officially ended at half time (maybe the teams kept playing and/or the press were notified only of the disqualification) but to just re-inflate a preponderance of only one teams balls to approved levels makes a mockery of the NFL rule system. Alas no mockery need to be made for this "rule" of the game has no proscribed penalty for an infraction.

IMHO this is the crux of Roger Goodell's problem with both this game rule and off-field player misconduct. A rule without a proscribed penalty infraction is nothing more than a guideline. Penalizing a team or player for breaking a guideline during or after the game or season will look simultaneously vindictive and insufficient. Had there been in the rule book any established penalty for demonstrated ball tampering then imposing that penalty "on the spot" would be just following the rules. In baseball a pitcher found altering the baseball is ejected from the game. That is what the rules of baseball says. Unlike a baseball pitcher, a football quarterback does not handle the active game ball for most of the game but the penalty for a plausible infraction is vacant from football.

So is chess. In tournament play one must move the piece you touch first. If a player refuses to move a first touched piece after the tournament director (referee) points out the infraction the game is over. If the player not violating this rule has insufficient material to mate the violator then the game ends in a draw, otherwise the violator forfeits the game. This is the rule and penalty established prior to the tournament starting.

Chess is a game of honuor. Even chess has some relief. "j'adoube".

Football is a $port that is called a game. (Yes, I called it a game)

Even golfers are more honest than most who compete for money.

Fishermen are the worst no matter what you call it. Game of honor, sport, game, match, set, round, or anything else they are still the biggest dishonest liars exaggerators.

Good Luck, Old Salt

Yes and no!. My brother is a leisure fisherman.

He told me he won all six prizes in a fishing competition: Heaviest single fish. Total number. Total weight. Longest. Smallest and lightest.

No mean feat and the first angler in the history of the club to win all six.

A bit of exaggeration, as Old Salt # 25 might think.

But completely true, because had there been a 7th prize for the only fish caught, he would have won that as well.

Ooooh, the heresy.

Actually, I have become severely disillusioned with virtually all the "professional" sports and college ball for slightly different but similar reasons. I watch no games anymore except in a social setting where the social gathering is the reason, not the game. I used to enjoy following the Red Sox, Patriots, Bruins, and Celtics when I was kid. Those were the glory days of folks like Carl Yastrzemski, John Havlicek, Bobby Orr, Luis Tiant, Steve Grogan, and many others. Professional sports have been perverted so severely by the almighty buck that I spit at the ground in disgust. I know my measly boycott of the industry means nothing to them, but I won't support it in any way, except . . . .

I've taken my family to minor league games where they at least create the illusion that money isn't their first love. Fun still seems to be the atmosphere in the farm leagues.

I watched football until the rich players struck in the 70's and there was no football.

After that, I don't watch any more.

I agree about sports. I played basketball in high school in the 60's. Even college ball isn't the same. And professional basketball bears no resemblance to the game I played.

I'm pretty much just a motor head.

Here Here!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for saying what was on my mind!

Of course you must consider the source of this..._{and it is on the internet}!

$196,378 is not even half of the $500,000 Bill Belichick was fined for Spygate. Let's throw some other poorly defined numbers to the wall and see if it sticks.

I think that was just this year...like I said consider the sources...

What was the final score? Something like 45-7. Of course the Pats balls have lower PSI. Their balls were crunched, tackled, spiked several times, thrown, caught, ran and smashed. I would expect them to lose some air.

On the other hand the colts balls landed on the ground a few times and rolled around on the turf once or twice, it was probably punted four or five times but they use special balls for kicking plays.

Now how are they going to realistically replicate the actual conditions each teams balls went thru?

The truth is this: a referee handles every ball before every play. If it was good enough for the game official at the time, it was good enough for the game.

I speak as an outsider. I am not a football fan at all.

But if pressure matters, and I guess it does, otherwise why have rules for checking pressure, then it must be the same for both teams at the start of the game.

If one team practiced relentlessly with a 'hard' ball and then played a team who practiced relentlessly with a 'soft' ball, then each would have an advantage over the other depending on the actual pressure of the match ball.

If the pressure mattered then I imagine the disadvantaged team would protest at the outset.

If the OP is pointing out a little known fact that could have a controllable effect on the final score, then the managers and players have missed a trick.

OK but why did these phenomenon only affect the balls assigned to the Patriots?

Very nicely explained and a new business opportunity for an enterprising engineering student.

An NFL automated ball inflator and conditioner!

1. The machine pressurizes the ball to the max pressure 13.5 PSI
2. The machine deflates the ball to under 5 PSI
3. Repeat 5 times
4. Inflate to 13.0 PSI and remove the inflator tip (Automated)
5. This machine is located near the player benches at the current outside temperature
6. The balls have a Bar-code that is scanned into the machine and logs the data
7. Pretty darn simple
8. Please send my royalties to my e-mail