When documents from Tom Brady's appeal hearing went public on Tuesday, one email sent from Colts equipment manager Sean Sullivan to general manager Ryan Grigson highlighted a conversation that Colts coach Chuck Pagano had with a member of the Ravens, suggesting that the Patriots may have tampered with footballs in the Divisional Round playoff game at Gillette Stadium.
In the email, Sullivan cited the Ravens concern just before mentioning his own -- that it was "well known around the league" that Patriots ball boys tampered with game footballs after the footballs had been approved by officials.
"Two concerns came up as of yesterday on footballs at New England," Sullivan wrote. "First off the special teams coordinator from the Baltimore Ravens called Coach Pagano and said that they had issues last week at the game that when they were kicking (Baltimore that is) they were given new footballs instead of the ones that were prepared correctly.
"As far as the gameballs are concerned it is well known around the league that after the Patriots gameballs are checked by the officials and brought out for game usage the ballboys for the patriots will let out some air with a ball needle because their quarterback likes a smaller football so he can grip it better, it would be great if someone would be able to check the air in the game balls as the game goes on so that they don’t get an illegal advantage."
Since the it was reported in the hours following the AFC title game that the Patriots had been implicated in a ball deflation controversy, many looked to the Ravens and their relationship with Pagano (former Baltimore defensive coordinator) as the spark that ignited the Deflategate blaze.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh has long been adamant that his team had nothing to do with the investigation. At the NFL Scouting Combine he said, "We were never involved with it to begin with. We'll just leave that for the people that are involved with it."
He added: "There's not one shred of any kind of fact that would in any way lead any reason to believe that's true. It's been a long time since that report's been put out. There was nothing there. Didn't happen."
New England Patriots
In an interview before the Super Bowl with Bob Costas of NBC Sports, Harbaugh was asked about his team's involvement in tipping off the Colts before the AFC title game.
"I heard all that, I couldn’t believe it when I heard it," Harbaugh said. "It’s ridiculous, it never happened, I’ve been, I never made any call, nobody in our organization made any call. As a matter of fact, just to make sure I had all the facts, I called up Chuck Pagano and asked him, ‘Did anybody else in our organization tip you off about deflated footballs?’ and he said, ‘No way.' "
On Wednesday morning, the Ravens, Harbaugh, and special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg released statements in response to the release of Sullivan's email, continuing to deny their involvement and shedding more light on Pagano's interaction with the Ravens before the AFC title game.
FROM THE RAVENS
“Prior to the AFC Championship game, no one from the Ravens talked to the Colts about deflated footballs. We knew nothing of deflated footballs. John Harbaugh has been consistent in his answers to reporters about this since he was first asked on NBC-TV at the Super Bowl.”
FROM SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR/ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH JERRY ROSBURG
"On or about January 12, 2015, Chuck Pagano called me to ask about a punt-field goal substitution play that New England used against the Ravens in the Divisional game (Jan. 10). At the 10:55 mark of the second quarter at the 34-yard line, New England sent its place kicker (Stephen Gostkowski) onto the field with the field goal unit. This caused us to defend the punt with our field goal block team. The play was blown dead by the officials because the Patriots were penalized for delay of game. Coach Pagano wanted to know about New England’s substitution because the coaching video does not show that part. There was no conversation regarding footballs."
FROM JOHN HARBAUGH
"I’ve been consistent from the beginning when asked about whether the Ravens tipped off the Colts about deflated footballs. I’ll say it again – we didn’t. We knew nothing about deflated footballs.
"As a former special teams coach, I know that members of the kicking group from teams talk to their counterparts all the time about conditions, including field, weather and footballs. I learned this morning that our kicking consultant (Randy Brown) sent a text to Coach Pagano on Jan. 16 suggesting to the Colts that they pay attention to how the officials rotate the kicking balls into the game. Coach Brown’s text did not mention the Patriots and did not complain about anything the Patriots did. The Colts never responded to Randy’s text, and he had no further communications with the Colts on this matter."
HERE’S THE TEXT FROM RANDY BROWN TO COACH PAGANO (sent Jan. 16, 2015)
"Make sure the refs rotate the kicking balls cause last week they wouldn’t let our ball in the game. Their ball was done so poorly that it was nearly impossible to kick off deep…It was hard and not worked in well at all…Let Tom (McMahon, Colts special teams coordinator) know he can call me at any time."
The Ravens qualified certain points made in Sullivan's email to Grigson: It was Brown (not Rosburg) who texted (not called) Pagano about footballs used in New England. (Rosburg says he called Pagano, but about a Patriots formation, not footballs.)
Deflation, Baltimore emphasized, was never mentioned in any of the correspondence between the Colts and Ravens. Harbaugh's insistence that nothing was said about deflated footballs appears legitimate based on Sullivan's email. Brown's text to Pagano shows that his concern had to do with "hard" kicking footballs.
Could Harbaugh been more forthcoming about his team's concerns with kicking balls used at Gillette Stadium back when people were asking in January and February? Perhaps, but as Harbaugh says in his statement, Brown's concern was with the officials, not the Patriots. Based on what was released Tuesday, the Ravens defense of its own actions seems legitimate.
But Sullivan's interpretation of the Ravens concerns, something that can't be fully deduced based on the email alone, remain interesting. If the Ravens had never contacted Indianapolis with its kicking-ball concerns, would there be an email from Sullivan to Grigson just before the AFC title game citing Patriots deflation? Would the investigation have been sparked in the first place?
It's impossible to say. But based on Sullivan's email, it appears as though it was the Ravens complaints that got the football chatter rolling. Whether they intended to or not.