Did the Patriots purposely deflate footballs during their AFC Championship Game against the Colts on Sunday night in order to make it easier for them to throw and catch? It's still up for debate. A lot of NFL fans have already moved on from the controversy—New England did win the game 45-7 after all and was clearly the better team—but thanks to a new wrinkle in the story it's getting a second wind.
According to Newsday, the NFL started looking into #DeflateGate after D'Qwell Jackson intercepted a Tom Brady pass in the second quarter of the AFC title game and someone on the Colts' sideline noticed that the ball Jackson picked off seemed under-inflated. That reportedly led to the Colts asking the league to look into the rest of the footballs being used for the game. And Brady's interception may end up being the reason the Pats get into trouble after the NFL finishes its investigation.
In the meantime, though, Rob Gronkowski doesn't seem to be taking #DeflateGate all that seriously. Because last night, Gronk took to Twitter to offer up his own explanation for why the footballs that were used during the AFC title game were allegedly deflated. And he blamed—what else?—"Gronking":
At this point, that's probably as good an explanation as any of the others we've heard. But we don't imagine Bill Belichick is going to be too pleased to see Gronk offering up his own theories on #DeflateGate on social media.
[via Sporting News]
Send all complaints, compliments, and tips to sportstips@complex.com.
