The great tragedy of the aftermath of the NFL's conference championship games is that while there's only one football game remaining in the entire season, the elongated schedule gives everyone in the sports world two full weeks with nothing else to talk about. In short: It's the perfect environment for a full-blown rules scandal to eat the sports world from the inside out.
Fortunately, we've seen enough Super Bowl bye weeks and general sports controversies to know how this will play out. So far, it's gone exactly according to plan.
The Accusations:
Has the air been taken out of the #Patriots’ blockbuster brand? http://t.co/6yvYWMTZfk pic.twitter.com/iOybWyOpqP
— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) January 22, 2015
Within hours of the New England Patriots' 45-7 win over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday night, stories began to surface that the NFL was looking into irregularities with the footballs that were used during the game. Indy-based reporter Bob Kravitz reported that game officials were looking at the possibility that the balls were partially deflated, in clear violation of league rules. Since each offense supplies their own balls, in theory, any deflation would have given them an advantage in the passing game.