NFL reportedly checks Patriots' footballs at home for first time this season

Marc Lancaster

•
NFL reportedly checks Patriots' footballs at home for first time this season image

Heading into the 2016 season, the NFL vowed to pay closer attention to the air pressure in its footballs. Sunday afternoon, the league finally got around to doing so at the scene of the initial (alleged) crime.

An NFL Network producer reported the league would inspect the balls used by the Patriots and Titans before the game, at halftime, and after the game — the first time this season the league's random air-pressure checks have occurred at Gillette Stadium.

MORE: The complete Deflategate timeline | Know your -Gate controversies

A follow-up from the Boston Globe after the Patriots' 33-16 win apparently confirmed the initial report.

If the NFL did indeed wait until Week 15 to do in-game inspections in New England, the Patriots won't be able to argue that they were subject to unfair scrutiny in the wake of the Deflategate scandal.

Marc Lancaster

Marc Lancaster Photo

Marc Lancaster joined The Sporting News in 2022 after working closely with TSN for five years as an editor for the company now known as Stats Perform. He previously worked as an editor at The Washington Times, AOL’s FanHouse.com and the old CNNSportsIllustrated.com, and as a beat writer covering the Tampa Bay Rays, Cincinnati Reds, and University of Georgia football and women’s basketball. A Georgia graduate, he has been a Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2013.