Sources: Kicking balls weren’t inflated properly for Patriots vs. Chiefs

[Barry McCockinner]

https://www.masslive.com/patriots/2023/12/sources-kicking-balls-werent-inflated-properly-for-patriots-vs-chiefs.html

 

 

By 

• Mark Daniels | mdaniels@masslive.com

FOXBOROUGH – Call it Deflategate, Part II.

 

Following their loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Patriots special teamers were visibly upset in the locker room on Sunday due to an error by the officiating staff. According to multiple sources, the footballs that are meant for each team’s kicking units were underinflated by two pounds.

 

After team complaints, officials took the ‘K-Balls’ into the locker room at halftime where they were discovered to weigh 11 pounds per square inch instead of the legal limit of 13.5, per sources.

 

 

The underinflated footballs didn’t travel as well in the Foxborough weather on Sunday and sources indicated that’s why Patriots kicker Chad Ryland and Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker missed field goals in the first half. Sources noted that the footballs traveled farther in the second half once inflated to the proper 13.5 PSI.

 

 

“They were all sitting around at 11 PSI. The threshold is usually 13.5,” a source told MassLive. “(The Patriots) told the refs they were a little under inflated or they felt that way. At halftime, they confirmed and obviously put air in them.”

The Patriots sideline noticed something was amiss when Harrison Butker’s opening kickoff landed at the 3-yard line, allowing for a Jalen Reagor return on a mild December day in Foxborough. This season, Butker has hit 87.1% of his kickoffs for touchbacks. As the half went on, the team noticed that the trajectory and hang time of kickoffs and punts were lower than usual. Another source noted that the kicking balls were unusually soft to the touch.

 

 

With each kick, punt, and kickoff attempt, it felt like something was off and it appeared to impact each team.

 

 

For Butker, the officiating error may have led to the Chiefs kicker missing his first field goal of the season. The veteran came into Sunday’s game hitting 23-of-23 field goals but then missed a 39-yard attempt, wide right, at 9:56 of the first quarter. On the next series, Ryland missed a 41-yard attempt, wide left, at 3:40 of the first quarter. A source said the Patriots rookie’s mechanics were good on the attempt, but the flight of the ball was off.

 

 

The Patriots and Chiefs didn’t notice there was a problem until kickoff because teams are not allowed to work with the kicking balls during their pregame warmups in accordance with NFL rules.

 

 

According to the NFL rulebook, each team is supplied 12 primary and 12 backup balls available for testing no later than two hours and 15 minutes before the start of the game. The legal limit remains between 12.5 and 13.5 pounds per square inch.

 

 

For all games, six new footballs are sealed in a box and opened in the officials’ locker room two hours and 45 minutes before the game and those balls are marked by the manufacturer and used exclusively for the kicking game. Officials are supposed to weigh the balls before the opening kickoffs.

 

 

“I don’t know at what point it was missed,” one source said. “I don’t think they were leaking. It was a situation and it got mitigated in the second half.”

 

 

In the second half, after the footballs were inflated to 13.5 pounds, Butker made two field goals from 29 yards and 54 yards out.

 

 

It also seemed to make a difference with kickoffs and punts for the Patriots and Chiefs.

 

 

In the first half, Ryland and Butker hit a combined five kickoffs for an average of 64.4 yards. In the second half, the two kickers hit five kickoffs for a combined average of 66.6 yards. In the first half, Chiefs Pro Bowler Tommy Townsend and Patriots punter Bryce Baringer hit a combined three punts for an average of 45.3 yards. In the second half, the pair kicked six punts for a combined average of 51.8 yards.

 

 

In the end, Patriots special teamers were upset with the conditions of the kicking balls. In a season that’s been tough in Foxborough, the last thing anyone wanted was to feel like they couldn’t properly do their job because of someone else’s mistake.

 

 

Considering the history at Gillette Stadium with Deflategate, Patriots were astonished something like this could still happen. During the 2014 AFC Championship game, officials discovered footballs were underinflated during the first half of the Patriots’ win over the Colts. That led to a lengthy NFL investigation which resulted in Tom Brady being suspended, the team fined $1 million and the Patriots losing two draft picks.

 

 

MassLive reached out to an NFL spokesperson for comment, but have yet to hear back.

[jetstream23]

[PS17]

Suspend Brady

[Adoni Beast]

This guy really just can't help himself...

[mrcoops]

It's just the ideal gas law, or something.

[BigRy56]

I’m not sure how yet. But this is very likely Aaron Rodgers fault 

[Integrity28]

In related news, Bill Belichik is a scum bag.

[jamesr]

"No gas"   

[JetPotato]

All jokes aside, is there anything that NFL officiating crews don't screw up on a weekly basis? Yet players and coaches are fined for criticism of them.