While most of the air seems to have gone out of DeflateGate after the New England Patriots’ 28-24 win over the Seattle Seahawks, reports surfaced Tuesday night that locker-room attendant Jim McNally, who has reportedly worked Patriot games for at least a decade, intentionally tried to pass an unapproved “K” ball to an official during the AFC Championship Game.
The NFL will not comment on the ongoing investigation, but ESPN’s Outside the Lines claims to have four sources backing the story. Bill Belichick blamed the deflated balls on “Atmospheric conditions,” but what we didn’t know then was that’s just his affectionate pet nickname for the 48-year-old locker room guy.
McNally has been in charge of the officials locker room at Gillette Stadium since 2008. According to the report from ESPN, McNally handed the unapproved football to alternate referee Greg Yette in the first half, who noticed that it didn’t have the appropriate pre-game markings on it. Yette was also suspicious since a locker-room attendant had no business handing him a game ball in the first place.
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During their pre-game football inspections, the officials put a special stamp on each game ball approved for use on offense as well as the “K” ball for kickers. For the AFC title game, head referee Walt Anderson personally inspected the game balls for both teams.
McNally is an employee of The Kraft Group, specifically the company owned by Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who you might remember demanded an apology if the Pats were cleared of any wrongdoing. Hopefully he’s prepared to wait a good long while.
ESPN also confirms that 11 of the 12 balls tested at halftime were one-to-two-pounds light, instead of the “few ticks” as has been reported.
McNally was contacted by ESPN but wouldn’t speak to them. None of the officials or the NFL’s President of Game Operations Mike Kensil, who was at the game and was personnally called down from the press box after McNally tried to pass the unapproved football, also would not comment on the report.
An investigation led by attorney Ted Wells is ongoing and we do know that McNally has been interviewed as part of it.
What isn’t presently known, but we can all take a wild guess, is if McNally is the same locker-room attendant that is reportedly on security footage who took the game balls into a bathroom after they were checked by the officials pregame.
