Former NFL quarterback A.J. Feeley alleges Tom Brady and the New England Patriots have been doctoring footballs for over a decade.
Feeley said on 97.5 The Fanatic that when he was playing for the Dolphins in 2004, he saw Patriots quarterback Tom Brady using old, broken-in balls at a time when NFL rules said that teams had to use new balls provided by the league.
“Prior to Tommy and Peyton Manning going to the league and saying, ‘Let us doctor our balls’ we used to all play with the same balls,” Feeley said. “Somehow this beat-up ball from the ball boy was getting thrown in on offense for New England, yet when we were on offense this orange brand new ball was getting thrown in.”
Feeley says Brady was getting an advantage, and Feeley had a problem with it.
“He’s getting his own balls thrown in on offense,” Feeley said. “That was an issue to me at the time. . . . We saw it then.”
Habitual. Line. Steppers. End of story.
Ignore for a minute, the nagging question of why Feeley and the Dolphins never bothered to bring this up until now. If it was such a big deal, you’d think they’d have mentioned it.
But there I go again, trying to inject some common sense into the smoldering cauldron of nonsense that is Deflategate.
[H/T: Pro Football Talk]