Especially if the facts I've been given are correct.
My husband and I discussed several scenarios over breakfast and all of them have logical breakdowns.
Is it true that all 11 balls were deflated to the same pressure? If so, wouldn't that level of consistency be pretty hard to accomplish, especially without being spotted doing it in the two hours between ref inspection and game time?
Refs, especially at that level, know what a properly inflated ball feels like. Why didn't they detect a problem earlier in the game? I'm a rather low level (level 8) soccer referee and absolutely can tell when a ball is either over or under inflated the second I pick it up. I would expect a higher degree of experience for an NFL ref handling a football.
Frankly I don't understand why the two teams don't supply 12 balls each and then they get mixed together for the ref to pull out one at random when needed. Seems like a pretty darned easy way to maintain ball integrity.
ETA: No one need accuse me of being a Pats apologist. My football is played with a proper round ball. 
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