Colts Flashback: D’Qwell Jackson Wanted 'DeflateGate' Souvenir
(Colts Flashback is a weekly series that highlights interviews in recent years.)
INDIANAPOLIS — If it were any other football, D’Qwell Jackson would have it on his mantle as an NFL career keepsake.
But five years removed from the infamous “DeflateGate” AFC Championship Game at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., the controversial ball in question is property of the league.
Jackson intercepted New England quarterback Tom Brady and tossed the football to an equipment manager. The Colts found it to be under-inflated.
That sparked a year-long investigation. Brady was eventually suspended four games based on “substantial and credible evidence” that he knowingly had footballs under-inflated for what was deemed an unfair advantage.
Bitter Patriots fans saw Jackson’s plea as sour grapes, considering the Colts were humiliated 45-7.
“I just want my souvenir. That’s about it,” Jackson said during the next season in 2015. “Something to tell the kids, the future grandkids whenever I have ‘em, whenever I have kids or grandkids when I get older, it would be an interesting story to tell. That obviously would be the proof of it.”
Jackson played two more seasons for the Colts before retiring after 2016.
“I want the actual ball,” he said.
As recently as last year, he was still asking.
