Bill Belichick Confirms Footballs Were Underinflated in First Half of Chiefs-Patriots
New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick confirmed Friday that kicking footballs were indeed underinflated during the first half of his team’s 27–17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
“Yeah, we were aware of it in the first quarter,” Belichick told reporters Friday. “How it happened? Well, the officials handled that, and they were underinflated by two, two-and-a-half pounds. I think you could see that by the kicks.”
MassLive.com first reported Wednesday that the balls used for kicking in the first half weighed in at 11 PSI, well short of the league’s 13.5 PSI legal limit. Officials fixed the issue at halftime.
Patriots kicker Chad Ryland and Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker both missed field goal attempts in the first half—Butker from 39 yards out and Ryland from 41.
Butker’s miss was his first of the season. He was a perfect 23 for 23 on field goals and 31 for 31 on extra points entering Week 15.
“They took six balls—it was both sets of balls, it was all six of them,” Belichick said. “So I don’t know, you’d have to talk to the league on what happened on that, because we don’t have anything to do with that part of it. They control all of that.”
Belichick and the Patriots, of course, will be forever tied to the original Deflategate scandal in which footballs used in the 2014 AFC championship game were allegedly deflated by order of quarterback Tom Brady.
Brady served a four-game suspension for Deflategate in 2016, and the Patriots forfeited two selections in the ‘16 draft.
This time around, however, the NFL declined to comment on the officiating crew’s blunder.
