Just when you thought you’ve heard the last of Deflategate, ESPN pulls you right back in. Outside the Lines reports that a New England Patriots locker room attendant tried to give an official an unapproved special teams ball at the AFC Championship Game. As previously reported, this was the same Pats employee who also took the game balls into the bathroom with him.
A locker room attendant for the New England Patriots tried to introduce an unapproved special teams football into last month’s AFC Championship Game, the same game at the center of the “Deflategate” allegations, four sources familiar with the investigation told “Outside the Lines.”
In an attempt to make the NFL look better, this was a timely leak from an NFL investigation. Shocking.
The alternate official, Greg Yette, became suspicious when he noticed that the football McNally handed him did not have the proper markings on it, three sources said. One of those sources added that Yette found it surprising that the officials’ locker room attendant was on the field, trying to hand him a ball, because officials’ locker room attendants don’t typically have ball-handling responsibilities during NFL games. Once McNally tried to introduce the unapproved football into the game, the source said, Yette notified the NFL’s vice president of game operations, Mike Kensil, who was at the game in the press box.
Why is the locker room attendant on the sidelines handing official game balls? How did a special teams ball that wasn’t approved almost make it into the game? Sure, Delfategate is overblown, and a lot of this is complete nonsense, but those are actually fair questions. Questions Ted Wells likely addresses in his report when this investigation wraps up in a few weeks.
