Bill Belichick Lays Heat for Deflategate on Brady

Bill Belichick, head coach of the New England Patriots, held a press conference this morning to discuss his team’s scandal over underinflated footballs during this past Sunday’s AFC Championship game. News that the footballs provided for the game by the Patriots were underinflated broke Monday. This was the first Belichick publicly acknowledged deflategate and the NFL’s investigation.

Belichick denied any knowledge of the incident and even went so far as to say he doesn’t know about the procedures involved with submitting game balls to officials.

“I had no knowledge whatsoever of this situation until Monday morning.I’d say I’ve learned a lot more about this process in the last three days than I’ve talked about it in the last 40 years that I’ve coached in this league. I had no knowledge of the various steps involved in the game balls and the process of between when they were prepared and went to the officials and went to the game. In my entire coaching career, I have never talked to any player or staff member about the football air pressure. That is not a subject that I have ever brought up. To me, the footballs are approved by the league and game officials pregame, and we play with what’s out there. That’s the only way that I have ever thought about that.”

Belichick then went on to say that quarterbacks and kickers have more of a preference when it comes to the balls and that people should ask Brady. “Tom’s personal preferences with his footballs are something he can talk about in much better detail and information than I could possibly provide.” Brady is scheduled to speak later this afternoon but has already called the allegations “ridiculous.”

Belichick contradicted his own statements regarding his lack of knowledge about the way footballs are prepared and handled lated in the press conference when he said, “My personal coaching philosophy and my mentality has always been to make things as difficult as possible for players in practice. So with regard to footballs, I’m sure that any current or past player of mine will tell you that the balls we practice with are as bad as they can be — wet, sticky, cold, slippery. However bad we can make them, I make them.”

Belichick also said he is disappointed that the scandal is overshadowing his team’s run toward the Super Bowl.