Everyone wanted to give the New England Patriots the benefit of the doubt. Even though they had been caught red-handed cheating in the past, there was still the hope that the Pats wouldn’t stoop to new lows.

That hope didn’t last very long. Per reports, the league found 11 of New England’s 12 game balls for last week’s AFC Championship game to be under-inflated. The balls were inflated far less than the league requires, coming in at two pounds per square inch less than what they were supposed to be.

Cheaters?

The Patriots technically “cheated” here, but whether or not what they did actually is cheating or more of a personal preference is open for debate. The league will likely see it as cheating (which could cost the Patriots future draft picks) and it may cheapen a potential Super Bowl win, but the reality is that New England only altered their own balls to suit the needs of Tom Brady and the rest of the offense.

Suiting their own needs played into allowing Brady to get a better grip on the ball, as well as giving his wide receivers a softer, grippier ball to catch. If anything, that would also potentially give Indianapolis Colts defenders a more catchable ball, as well.

Of course, if the Colts didn’t alter their footballs (and they’re not supposed to), one could argue that their offense (which was dreadful) played at a severe disadvantage as far as gripping, throwing and catching the football.

Does it Matter?

Then again, throwing and catching the football didn’t play a huge hand in New England’s big win in the AFC title game. This game, which was a 45-7 blowout win for the Pats, was more about New England’s physical running game and aggressive defense.

Under-inflated balls or not, the Pats didn’t win because of how much air was in a football, or 11 footballs. They won because they secured home field advantage and had the crowd backing them as they ran all over a suspect Indy run defense and also rattled Andrew Luck early and often.

Brad Johnson Opens the Floodgates

The Pats still look pretty weak with this news, but they’re surely not the only ones. There’s already been admission, too, as Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers admitted he actually prefers his footballs to be over-inflated.

Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Brad Johnson took it one step further, however, admitting he once paid $7,500 to NFL staffers to scuff up all 100 of the footballs in his team’s Super Bowl matchup with the Oakland Raiders.

That news is troubling for two reasons. One, it came in the biggest game of the year and may have impacted the opposing team negatively (a normally efficient Rich Gannon threw five interceptions) and it showcases NFL employees being bribed.

Naturally, all of this opens the door to bigger, darker possibilities. Fans conducting NFL betting probably don’t like hearing about anything that remotely could impact the outcome of a game. But hearing anything also gives way to the possibility that far worse bribing and cheating is going on. That’s far from music to the ears of even the most casual NFL fan or bettor.