The latest twist in deflate-gate might give you a hint that the rest of the NFL isn't too fond of the New England Patriots.
According to Jay Glazer of Fox Sports, the Indianapolis Colts were tipped off by the Baltimore Ravens before the AFC championship game about the Patriots possibly altering the air pressure in their footballs. The Ravens lost to the Patriots in a divisional playoff game the week before.
Two things stand out about that report: If true, the Ravens were obviously pretty angry to tip off the Patriots' next opponent, and this would mean it's more than a one-game situation in New England. Unless it's a crazy coincidence that the Ravens assumed the Patriots' game balls were under-inflated when they weren't, told the Colts their hunch, and the championship game happened to be the game in which 11 of the 12 Patriots' game balls were flatter than usual. Of the Patriots' 12 game balls, 11 each had two pounds per square inch less than NFL rules stipulate, as ESPN reported Tuesday.
Glazer's story said the officials were planning to inspect the balls at halftime, based on the Ravens' tip. It was reported by other outlets that the Colts noticed the issue when linebacker D'Qwell Jackson caught an interception in the second quarter. It could be both.
There was another story, from ESPN's Adam Schefter, that the Colts thought the Patriots had also under-inflated footballs during a regular-season meeting on Nov. 16. According to Schefter, Colts safety Mike Adams had two interceptions, and gave both balls to the Colts' equipment manager to save. Both times, sources told Schefter, there were concerns the balls were under-inflated.
All three things could be independently true. The Colts could have noticed the issue on Nov. 16. The Ravens could have noticed it during their playoff loss and told the Colts. And Jackson could have noticed it too on Sunday, even before the officials got a chance to inspect the balls at halftime (that part of the story makes it even stranger that the officials didn't do anything in the first half, constantly handling the footballs that were reportedly 16 percent or so flatter than league rules allow).
And if all the reports are accurate, and the Ravens noticed it, and the Colts noticed it in two separate games, who else in the NFL noticed it during the season?
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdowncorner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
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