Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

John Harbaugh on deflated kicking balls in New England: I chalk it up to being cold

Ravens Patriots Football

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, left, and Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh after an NFL divisional playoff football game Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015, in Foxborough, Mass. The Patriots won 35-31 to advance to the AFC Championship game. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

AP

One of the reports to emerge after the league opened up their investigation into the Patriots using under-inflated balls during the AFC Championship game alleged that the Ravens also believed their kicking balls were under-inflated during their playoff game in New England the previous week.

The report didn’t mention that kicking balls are not handled by the home team nor why the Ravens didn’t raise an objection at the time, but Ravens coach John Harbaugh took care of that on Wednesday when he was asked for his thoughts on the kicking balls having less air than they should.

“I chalk it up to being cold,” Harbaugh said, via Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com.

It was 20 degrees at kickoff for the Ravens-Patriots matchup, about 30 degrees cooler than it was last Sunday, and cold air would lead to less pressure inside the ball. Given that and the fact that under-inflated kicking balls would have come from the officials, Harbaugh’s comment should probably be the last word on this angle of the deflated ball story that’s hanging over the league right now.