New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick addressed the Deflategate situation the other day, and really didn’t have a whole lot to say. On Saturday, he held another press conference that was somewhat conclusive, but more so bizarre as he discussed science, “balls,” and even referenced the movie My Cousin Vinny .
Belichick stated that the Patriots “followed every rule” in preparing the footballs for last Sunday’s AFC Championship Game with the Indianapolis Colts. Once the game was over and the skepticism arose, it was revealed that 11 of 12 footballs were under-inflated from the Pats’ side of the field.
ESPN reported that Belichick focused primarily on the amount of time, effort, and research put into the situation this past week. He stated that he and other members of the team and staff did everything they could to provide information to the league.
“At no time was there any intent whatsoever to try to compromise the integrity of the game or to gain an advantage.”
Belichick went on at length about the research that was used, which included the pounds per square inch in footballs, the atmospheric pressure, the air pressure, and a lot more scientific sounding things. That is, when he was letting the room know that he is “not a scientist. I’m not an expert in football measurements.”
At one point, Belichick even name-dropped a character from My Cousin Vinny when he said he was “no Mona Lisa Vito.” He used that to reference the scene where Marisa Tomei’s character shows her expertise in car knowledge.
As Pro Football Talk stated, the New England Patriots’ press conference about Deflategate was lengthy and drawn out, but no one is really any closer to knowing what actually went down.
Coach Bill Belichick said that this was going to be the last time he would talk about Deflategate. According to him, the Patriots have cooperated fully with the NFL, and he’s actually not proud of how much focus was put on it this past week.
“I’m embarrassed to talk about the amount of time I’ve put into this, relative to the challenge in front of us.”
The NFLPA player’s union has now urged players to reserve any comment on the Deflategate situation. Considering it is an ongoing investigation, they are not really in a position to speak about it.
With Super Bowl XLIX a week away, the New England Patriots now hope to focus on preparing for the game and not Deflategate. Maybe in any spare time they have, the players and Bill Belichick can watch the rest of My Cousin Vinny to relax.
[Image via espngrantland.files]