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I read an article, at the web address below, about deflating footballs as far back as 2006.
NFL Media’s Judy Battista — formerly of the New York Times — had this to say about deflating footballs, after talking to NFL quarterback David Carr, who instructed equipment managers to let some air out of game balls.
“Carr, like several other quarterbacks, said Denver was one of the toughest places to play,” she wrote in 2006. “He said he thought the ball expanded slightly at the altitude and felt slick because of the lower humidity. Before Houston’s preseason game at Denver, Carr instructed the ball boys to let a little air out of the Texans’ footballs.”
The entire article, which was written about the rule change that Peyton Manning and Tom Brady lobbied for that allows teams to prepare their own balls, is suddenly very relevant. It includes quotes from several quarterbacks that demonstrate how particular they are about the way game balls are broken in.Bolding my emphasis.
Did they do it for both teams or just one team to get an edge on the other team? Supposedly they are “breaking in” their own footballs, but just how do you “break in” a football? Why do you need to “break in” a football? Is it just a ruse, to get an advantage over the other team? If the altitude, in Denver, was the excuse, why shouldn't both teams “break in” their footballs the same way, so one team does not have a competitive edge?
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