Another 'DeflateGate' theory. Weather/temperature?

[Faryn Balyncd]

25. Seems a reasonable possibilty:

Last edited Sat Jan 24, 2015, 12:46 AM - Edit history (1)

"If we use an indoor temperature of 80º, we would get a final pressure of 11.0 (10.99) psi. Using a 90º indoor temperature, we get a final pressure of 10.5 psi.

"So, according to NFL reports, either the indoor temperature when the footballs were inflated was around 90ºF, or something else happened after the footballs were inspected."

We are told that quarterbacks are allowed to "condition" and "warm-up" the game balls in many ways, including sanding, scuffing, soaking in water, and that the 12 balls supplied by each team for their use on offense, and the 12 reserve balls supplied by the home team for use by either side, are inspected by the referees 2 hours before kick-off, and held by them until kick-off.

And that 1 of the 11 under-inflated balls was at 10.5# PSI with the other 10 at ??? amount under-inflated.

And that before the end of the first half the Patriots were using the Colt's (or reserve?) balls because the Patriot's balls were not usable.

And that the Patriots were statistical outliers with far fewer fumbles/play than any other team.

And that Brady not only fought to change the rule to allow visiting teams to play with their own balls, but is on record as preferring under-inflated balls, and to extensive interaction with the ball boys, whom he states he congratulates before every game, and who know how he likes his balls.





So, it seems within the realm of possibility that, if a ball conditioning procedure had been adopted by the Patriots which included literally warming up their balls before being presented for inspection 2 hours before kickoff, perhaps to 90-98 degrees (skin temperature and not noticeably hot) (and perhaps even heating for a prolonged period to a higher temperature so as to thoroughly warm the internal air, followed by cooling the surface to skin temperature 98 degrees before inspection 2 hours prior to kickoff) that such a procedure could have resulted in passing inspection at 2 hours before kickoff at 12.5 PSI, and a slightly lower pressure during most games without resorting to needle decompression.

And that perhaps by miscalculation on a cool game day, or some other irregularity in the procedure, on this particular game day in the 50's, there existed the required 40 degree drop in temperature to account for at least 1 ball dropping to 10.5 PSI, even as the Colts balls, not being "conditioned" and literally warmed up in the same fashion, would not have had the same drop in pressure.





Since a procedure such as this would not involve "tampering" with the ball after inspection, one could imaging that Patriot personnel could rationalize such a "conditioning"/warm-up procedure as a legal conditioning/warm-up procedure not violating the "tampering" rule, which apparently is written to specify tampering after inspection, and might claim no knowledge of Gay-Lussac's law, and deny any knowledge of an effect on pressure of such a protocol.

This certainly may not be what happened, but it does offer a possible scenario that fits with many of the known facts, including Brady's preference for lower pressure balls and Belichick's long history of pushing rules to the margins.






The results of the investigation might be interesting.