The New England Patriots special teams unit went to game officials at halftime of their 27-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday to report that their kicking footballs felt underinflated, Mark Daniels of MassLive reported on Wednesday night.
While the footballs are supposed to weigh in between 12.5 and 13.5 pounds per square inch (PSI), New England's locker room staff reportedly discovered that their balls were only weighing in at 11 PSI.
The underinflated balls affected both the Patriots and the Chiefs. With a lighter ball, both Chad Ryland of the Patriots and Harrison Butker of the Chiefs missed field goals in the first half. While the Patriots' rookie has missed his fair share of kicks this season, converting on just 13 of his 20 attempts, Butker has been virtually automatic.
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Butker entered Sunday's game in New England converting on all 23 of his attempts this season. Early in the first quarter, the seven-year veteran went wide right on a 39-yard attempt.
With 87.1 percent of Butker's kickoffs resulting in a touchback this season, the Patriots' coaching staff was caught off guard when Butker's kickoffs fell short, allowing Jalen Reagor to rack up 84 yards on three returns.
Punters Tommy Townsend and Bryce Baringer also noticed the lightness of the balls, too, averaging six fewer yards per punt from the first half to the second half after the balls had been inflated to the correct PSI.
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"I don’t know at what point it was missed," a source told Daniels. "I don’t think they were leaking. It was a situation and it got mitigated in the second half."
Due to NFL rules, teams are not allowed to use the kicking balls in pregame warmups. Going unchecked by both teams, no issue was noticed until play had started. The Patriots raised their concern to the referees at halftime, and after the balls were confirmed to be light, they were inflated to the correct PSI before the start of the second half.
There is no word out on how the balls became underinflated, or if they were properly checked before kickoff, but fortunately it wasn't just a one-sided issue.