Friday, January 23, 2015

Just one more note on the Pats alleged ball tampering

For now at least, until the league's investigation has been concluded. 

See a lot of people have pointed to the deflated balls issue and said that it would help in the passing game, but not in the run game where the Pats did so well against the Colts. That's not strictly true though. A deflated football, especially one deflated by over 2 psi compared to normal, would be easier to hold for the ball carrier and more difficult to punch out for defenders. This would suggest that a team using deflated balls would see its fumble rate drop.

In the 2013 regular season the Pats were tied for the fifth most fumbles in the league with 10. This year? Tied for 1st with the Giants with just the one fumble. Now, correlation and causation are not the same thing. But it's just another thing to store away in the back of your mind until the results of the NFL's investigation come out.

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