Barely a week before they will play in the Super Bowl, the Patriots quizzically setup a previously unscheduled press conference on Saturday afternoon, where Bill Belichick emphatically denied any wrongdoing on the part of the team in the so-called Deflate-Gate scandal. He also noted that after doing a complete simulation of what the Patriots do on game day with the footballs, that the pounds per square-inch measurement of the ball changed.
Noting that the footballs that New England tested fell approximately 1.5 PSI, Belichick asserted that he thinks the science of their investigation support the fact that no one in the New England organization, as the Patriots have emphatically declared, tampered with the football. (More press conference video is available below).
“We all know that the air pressure is a function of the atmospheric conditions,” Belichick noted, in the most scientifically academic line perhaps ever uttered at an NFL press conference. He even referenced Mona Lisa Vito.
The news of the impromptu press conference triggered massive anticipation, since (especially in the modern era of instantaneous news) it’s normally known what the basic subject of the announcement will be. Yet, as many reporters were quick to note, they were just as in the dark as the public while the Patriots delayed the start of the presser by more than 30 minutes.
New England, notably immersed in the scandal since the AFC Championship game, have been dealing with the single thing that Belichick hates the most: A major distraction. This coming on the eve of the Super Bowl means that the timing couldn’t be any worse. Still, Brady and Belichick (along with the rest of the Patriots) have so far handled the entire media firestorm with customary style, downplaying it at all costs. Belichick’s press conference was an attempt to preemptively deal with the inevitable questions that the Patriots would get for an entire week heading into the Super Bowl.
The Patriots will face the Seahawks (the other one-seed in the playoffs) on Sunday, February 1st, with kickoff coming at 6:30 p.m.
Here’s more from the press conference:
And here’s a third part:
