Several of the Patriots' 'Deflategate' footballs were way below the allowed PSI level
The NFL has issued its findings on the New England Patriots deflated football scandal concluding it's "more probable than not" that two employees worked together to intentionally deflate footballs and that Tom Brady was "at least generally aware."
One of the biggest mysteries that surrounded the "Deflategate" investigation was just how deflated the footballs used by the Patriots during the AFC Championship game were when measured at halftime.
An initial report from Chris Mortensen of ESPN said 11 of the 12 game balls "were inflated significantly below the NFL's requirements." He added that the "footballs were inflated 2 pounds per square inch below what's required by NFL regulations." Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network later contradicted that report saying, "One was about two pounds under. Several were about a pound under, and several more were just a tick below 12.5 PSI."
Now we know the real answer.
According to the NFL's report, during the pre-game inspection, most of the Patriots' footballs were found to be at 12.5 PSI, the minimum allowed by the NFL. Two tested below 12.5 and were raised by game officials up to the 12.5 level. All of the 11 game balls were remeasured twice at halftime by separate officials.
Of the 11 footballs, seven were found to be between 1.0 and 2.0 PSI below the 12.5 minimum on both measurements. Two other footballs were found to be more than 1.0 PSI below the minimum on one measurement and between 0.5 and 1.0 PSI below on the second measurement. The two remaining footballs had PSI levels less than 1.0 below on both measurements.
Only one football (No. 7) measured above 12.0 PSI and that was on just one of the measurements.
