Patriots' soft balls draw hard criticism: Opinionline

Jackie MacMullan, ESPN Boston : "We don't know for certain yet whether (coach) Bill Belichick had anything to do with the deflation of 11 of the 12 footballs the New England Patriots used in their trouncing of the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game. (But he) has been declared guilty in the court of public opinion. ... A man who has made football his life's work, whose reverence for the game and its history is well-documented, has forever forfeited the benefit of the doubt when it comes to his own integrity."

Dan Wetzel, Yahoo Sports : "Precisely two hours, 15 minutes prior to kickoff, all the footballs are checked in the referee locker room by the head ref. (If) the refs did their job before the game, then somehow New England managed to deflate 11 of the 12 balls during the heat of the game. (It's) bizarre the refs didn't notice, or care. Two or three refs handle a football on each play. During Colts possessions the ball is inflated to one level and during New England possessions it's inflated to a different one? Wouldn't this seem obvious?"

Gregg Doyel, The Indianapolis Star : "It's the Patriots. And they've cheated before. This is the NFL franchise that was busted for spying on opposing teams. It is run by the same man, Bill Belichick. Either you are, or you are not, willing to cheat. And Belichick is. ... Any idea how easy it is to deflate a football? It requires one little needle. That's it. Hold the ball, jab the needle, listen for the hiss. Take the needle out."

Eric Wilbur, Boston.com : "The (Patriots) didn't even have the luxury of being able to celebrate their latest trip to the Super Bowl for a few hours before some semblance of controversy naturally rammed its head into the achievement. ... Any Patriots fan ... knows the agenda here. The Patriots haven't won the Super Bowl since they got busted for taping the opposition. Ah, yes, because the scope of Spygate wasn't overwhelmingly stupid enough, please welcome the latest sidebar to derail (the Patriots)."

Mike Downey,CNN: "It is difficult not to laugh at the thought of (Belichick) masterminding some kind of sinister Dr. Evil plot to deflate a certain number of those footballs, then ... sneak the soft balls into the game when New England was on offense, then the harder balls into the game when Indy had it. 'Ha ha ha!' ... Belichick would laugh to himself. 'I outsmarted them again!' Except what are the odds of (that) actually happening?"

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