NEW: Belichick Discusses Patriots Internal Investigation Into Deflategate
Saturday, January 24, 2015
The New England Patriots held an unscheduled press conference to address Deflategate and the recent NFL investigation. The press conference was held by Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and went into details about an internal investigation that the Patriots conducted on Deflate Gate.
Belichick went into great detail about footballs, inflation and the process of preparing footballs in pregame preparations. Despite having four decades of experience in the NFL, Belichick stated “It's clear I don't know very much about this area. Over the past few days, I've learned a lot more than I ever knew.”
Belichick did want to make one thing abundantly clear to reporters, “I believe now 100% that I have personally and we as an organized have followed every rule to the letter”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBelichick stated that he had handled dozens of football during the team’s internal investigation and discovered that, "The texture is very easy to identify, the pressure is a whole different story.”
Belichick told reporters that the team simulated a pregame situation for ball preparation and found that the team’s process for preparing the balls raises the PSI of the game balls approximately one pound per square inch. He also stated that the Patriots asked the officials to inflate the game balls to 12.5 PSI before the game.
After having footballs inflated to 12.5 PSI, the Patriots investigation revealed that when the footballs were on the field for an extended period of time, they had deflated about 1.5 PSI. Belichick compared this to the concept of a person’s tire pressure light turning on in their car following a night outside.
Belichick also addressed the rumors that the Patriots inflated their footballs in a heated room or a sauna. “At no time, were our footballs prepared any other place than our locker room,” he said.
“I’m embarrassed to talk about the amount of time I've put in this relative to the other important challenge put in front of us,” Belichick continued. “At not time was there any intent whatsoever to try and compromise the integrity of the game.”
This is the final time that Belichick is expected to address the media before arriving in Arizona for Super Bowl XLIX, and he did his best to help move the Patriots past Deflategate and on to the Seattle Seahawks.
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