Bill Belichick didn’t just deliver an emphatic defense of his team during his impromptu 22-minute press conference Saturday about Deflate-Gate. He delivered the rallying cry that Patriots fans have been clamoring for all week.

After saying Thursday he had no explanation for how 11 of the Patriots’ footballs were illegally under-inflated in the first half of the AFC Championship Game against the Colts, Belichick came armed with answers Saturday.

He explained in excruciating detail a study the Patriots had conducted over the last week in which they simulated game day football preparations. Belichick said Tom Brady prepares the ball for texture before handing it to the officials, who are then expected to inflate the ball to the league mandated 12.5 pounds per square inch. Footballs are allowed to be between 12.5 and 13.5 PSI.

Belichick says the Patriots concluded that weather conditions can bring a ball down one and a half PSI before it gains half of a pound when it reaches equilibrium. This would explain why the footballs the officials tested at halftime were below the legal weight.

“Now, we all know that air pressure is a function of the atmospheric conditions,” Belichick said. “So, if there’s activity in the ball relative to the rubbing process, I think that explains why when we gave them to the officials and the officials put it at 12.5 [PSI] if that’s in fact what they did, that once the ball reached its equilibrium state, it probably was closer to 11.5 [PSI]. It’s similar to the concept of when you get into your car and the light comes on and it says low tire pressure because the car has been sitting in the driveway outside overnight and you start it up and you start driving it and the light goes off.”

Belichick stepped in front of the podium Saturday with the intention of putting the onus of the Deflate-Gate investigation back on the NFL, which said it was still looking into the matter in a press release Friday. Mission accomplished.

He has the answers, and at this point the NFL doesn’t. Belichick said he’s “embarrassed” at the amount of time he’s dedicated to this issue over the last several days when he should be preparing for the Super Bowl. Because in case you forgot, the Patriots are really good. In a rare, but calculated moment of self-congratulation, Belichick reminded everybody of that.

“This team was the best team in the AFC in the regular season and we won two games in the playoffs against two good football teams, the best team in the postseason,” Belichick said. “And that’s what this team is. And I know that because I’ve been with them every day and I’m proud of this team.”

Belichick is open with the press when it benefits him to be. Every time a reporter asks Belichick about Deflate-Gate next week in Arizona, he will almost undoubtedly refer them to the transcript of Saturday’s press conference.

The media won’t be able to bring up the Patriots’ old habit of illegally taping opposing teams’ defensive signals, either. For the first time since 2007, Belichick addressed Spygate head on when he was asked about it.

“A guy is giving signals in front of 80,000 people, OK?” Belichick said. “So we filmed them taking signals in front of 80,000 people like there were a lot of other teams doing at that time too. Forget about that. If we were wrong, we’ve been disciplined for that.”

Until the NFL or the Colts contradict what Belichick said, the only questions surrounding the Patriots that remain have to do with their Super Bowl match-up against the Seahawks.

Don’t think you’re getting any answers out of Belichick about that, though. It doesn’t behoove him to share.

But man, it sure did Saturday.

Saturday's press conference was a smackdown of epic proportions.
You can read more stories on Boston startups, technology and innovation at https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/inno