As far as sequels go, Deflategate II was a huge disappointment. There was no drama, no suspense, no story arc.
Fox Sports' Jay Glazer reported Sunday that the Giants had complained to the league office that the Steelers were using underinflated footballs in their Week 13 matchup. A protracted investigation seemed like the next logical step, at least to Patriots fans who endured some 18 months of silliness that ended in Tom Brady missing the first four games of the 2016 season for his role in allegedly deflating footballs.
But there will be no investigation, protracted or otherwise, because following Glazer's report, the league promptly issued this statement:
"The officiating game ball procedures were followed and there were no chain of command issues. All footballs were in compliance and no formal complaint was filed by the Giants with our office."
At the league meetings Wednesday, commissioner Roger Goodell was asked about the latest development in underinflated footballs.
"What you do is you test the balls before the game, and the officials always maintain control of those footballs from that point on," Goodell said, via USAToday.com's Tom Pelissero. "We went back. We checked with the officials to make sure they checked the proper inflation. They did that. The balls were retained in their control throughout the game from that point on. So the protocols were followed all the way."
So were the footballs tested further after the Giants noticed during the game that they were not inflated to the minimum standard?
"But that's why you don't rely on somebody else testing them," Goodell continued. "They're using a different device. Somebody else is testing them. They have to be tested by the officials who use the same device to make sure there's accuracy in that."
Ah yes, a different device. That was at the crux of the original investigation, the one that resulted in Brady's inane suspension. Pellisero points to WellsReportInContext.com, the website the Patriots used to point out flaws in the league's case against the team and its star quarterback.
Despite Mr. Anderson's 'best recollection' that he used the Logo gauge pregame, the NFL's lawyers rejected it. To determine PSI changes from pregame to halftime, one would have to use the same gauge at halftime that was used by Referee Anderson pregame, since gauges vary from each other in accuracy. The Logo gauge, at halftime, did not show as much PSI loss as did the Non-Logo gauge, so knowing which gauge was actually used before the game is critical.
Meanwhile, both the Steelers and Giants, like the NFL, sound like they're ready to put the matter behind them.
Giants president and CEO John Mara called it "much ado about nothing."
And Steelers president Art Rooney II said, "I don't think people seem to understand that we don't have custody of the balls anymore, so they don't have much of an opportunity to deflate them. So I don't know what happened, I don't know if something happened, and if it happened, I don't know what happened. So there's not much I can say about it."
