Super Bowl XLIX Betting Odds - Will Deflate Gate affect Super Bowl XLIX

A morning after The New England Patriots annihilated The Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship game, Tom Brady did his weekly radio spot in which he was asked about the footballs in which they used during the game. According to Brady it was the first time he had heard about the balls being deflated during his teams win the previous night. He laughed off the notion and moved on to the next question. A few days later he was forced to hold a press conference in which he denied any involvement in the situation and his laughing tone had certainly dissipated. The footballs were allegedly 2 pounds per square inch short of the league rules for inflation (which is something most people reading this are only kidding themselves if they claim to understand) While to date their is still doubt as to who or what caused the balls to deflate we do know that all 12 of the Patriots game balls were inspected and approved by the officials two and a half hours before the game. They were then tested again at halftime and 11 out of the 12 footballs were found to be under inflated. The Patriots played a dominant second half with the 12 "backup" footballs that were not used in the first half.

The first person to blame would obviously be head coach Bill Belichick. He was found to have illegally filmed an opponents practice in a situation which became known as Spygate so he is known to have a history of cheating. He held a press conference in which he came across very honest as he completely denied ever speaking to any player or employee regarding the air pressure in the footballs. Brady came across less believable than Belichick but that is all in ones interpretation. The NFL asked to speak to over 40 Patriots players, and staff during their investigation but somehow left without speaking to Brady! In what is becoming a trend, the NFL dropped the ball on this investigation and was unable to get the story away from the mainstream media during the week before the Superbowl. Now the majority of media sessions will be dominated by Deflate gate questions and nobody will enjoy that.

The question posed is will it effect the betting odds and that answer is a resounding NO. Brady led touchdown drives on his first four possessions with the properly inflated footballs. The officials handled the under inflated balls for the entire first half and did not notice so it is safe to say that there wasn't a noticeable difference. While there is zero doubt that having the ball slightly under inflated would be an advantage it clearly had little to do with last weeks win and will have even less to do with the winner of the Superbowl. You can bet that the NFL will be on the lookout to make sure the pressure of the footballs are at the appropriate levels and the best team will win the game.

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