I keep hearing Patriots fans saying that based on how lopsided the score was, the use of under-inflated balls really didn't make a difference. This reminds me a lot of 2004 when the Patriots came into Heinz Field with a 21-week win streak and left that day with a 34-20 loss. When the Steelers played the Patriots a few months later in the AFC Championship game, the Patriots won HUGE with a 41-27 score. Where the Patriots Offense couldn't move the ball against the Steelers defense in the regular season, they were able to run circles around them in the playoffs.
After the game, Hines Ward commented that it seemed like Tom Brady knew what the Steelers defense was doing before the defense did, and of course he was ridiculed for that comment. It was all "sour grapes" and the Steelers just didn't want to admit that the genius coach Belichek, and the ever magnificent Brady, had just done a better job of playing the game.
It wasn't until three years later that we found out Ward had been right. Brady did know what the Steelers defense was doing before the defense did because the Patriots had illegally videotaped the defense's signals during the regular season game, were reading them during the playoff game, and telling Brady through his helmet radio what the defense was going to do. He knew before he broke the huddle what the defensive alignment was going to be, who was going to blitz and who was dropping into coverage, and he knew before he snapped the ball who would be open and who wouldn't, all of which enabled him to stay one step ahead and run up a 41-point score.
Would the Patriots have achieved such a lop-sided score or even beat the Steelers had they not been cheating? Not likely. Do I think Brady would have moved the ball as effectively in the first half without rigged balls? Yes, the Patriots did defeat the Colts during the regular season, but that was in a domed stadium, not an outdoor stadium in a pouring rain, which is an environment no team scores a lot of points in; and apparently they were using rigged balls during the regular season game as well, so I suspect they wouldn't have done as well in either game without cheating.
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Do I correctly assume that there will be other investigations?
Aaron Rodgers Likes To Tamper With Footballs, Too
The writer of that post left off a significant part of what Rodgers said. He also said that he's had an extra .5 PSI of air added to some of his balls to see if they can get them past the referee check. Slight difference between adding extra air before a check and hoping the refs won't notice, and properly inflating the balls for the check and then letting out air afterwards.
