On the key question of which gauge was used by referee Walt Anderson to test the PSI levels of the footballs used in the AFC Championship Game, Deflategate investigator Ted Wells punted.
Instead, on a conference call today, Wells turned that question over to his partner, Lorin Reisner. And Reisner then claimed that it doesn’t matter.
“The question of which gauge was used by Walt Anderson before the game -- it just doesn’t effect any of the ultimate conclusions,” Reisner said. “The difference in the pressure drops between the two teams was found to be statistically significant regardless of the gauge used.”
But why, when Anderson says his best recollection is that he used a gauge with a Wilson logo on it, does the Deflategate report conclude that Anderson actually used a different gauge?
“It really doesn’t matter because regardless of which gauges were used, the scientific consultants addressed all the permutations in the analysis,” Reisner said.
That’s an odd answer. The two gauges that were used to measure the PSI levels of the footballs on that Sunday in January came up with different measurements, and it’s necessary to know the precise PSI levels of the footballs to know whether there was a rules violation at all. Determining which pressure gauge Anderson used seems important, and that’s a determination the investigators weren’t able to make.
