The following text came from Bill Belichick’s news conference about the NFL’s investigation into under-inflated balls used by the Patriots.
“I have learned a lot more of this process over the last three days than I knew or had talked about it in this last 40 years I have coached in this league.
“I had no knowledge of the various steps involved in the game balls and the process that went through – that happened between when they were prepared and went to the officials and went to the game. I have learned a lot about that.
“I obviously understand that each team has the opportunity to prepare the balls the way they want, give them to the officials and the game officials either approve or disapprove the balls. That really was the end of it for me until I learned a little about this the last couple of days.
“My personal coaching philosophy, my mentality, has always been to make things as difficult as possible for players in practice with regard to footballs. I’m sure that any current or past player of mine will tell you that the balls we practice with are as bad as they can be; wet, sticky, cold, slippery, however bad we can make them – I make them.
“Anytime that players complain about the quality of the balls, footballs, I make them worse and that stops the complaining.
“We never use the condition of the footballs as an excuse. We play with whatever or kick with whatever we have to use. That’s the way it is. That has never been a priority for me. I want the players to deal with a harder situation in practice than they’ll ever have to deal with in the game. Maybe that’s part of our whole ball security philosophy.
“I’m trying to coach the team and that’s what I want to do.
“I think we all know quarterbacks, kickers, specialists all have certain preferences on footballs. They know a lot more about it than I do. They’re more sensitive to it than I am and I hear them comment on it from time to time, but I can tell you and they will tell you that there is never any sympathy whatsoever from me on that subject — zero.
“Tom’s personal preferences on his footballs are something that he can talk about in much better detail and information than I could possibly provide.
“In my entire coaching career, I have never talked to any player, staff member about football air pressure. That is not a subject I have ever brought up.
“To me, the footballs are approved by the league and game officials pregame and we play with what’s out there. That is the only way I have ever thought about that.
“I have learned about the inflation range situation, obviously with our footballs being inflated to the 12.5lb range any deflation would then take us under that specification limit.
“Knowing that now, in the future we will certainly inflate the footballs above that low level to account for any possible change during the game.
“As an example, if a ball deflated from the 13.2 to 12.9 it wouldn’t matter. But if it deflated from the 12.5 to 12.3 it would, as an example. So we will take steps in the future to make sure we don’t put ourselves in that type of potential situation again.
“The National Football League is investigation the situation. We have cooperated fully, quickly and completely with every request they have made. [We] continue to be cooperative in any way that we can.
“I have no explanation for what happened and that’s what they’re looking into, so I can’t comment on what they’re doing. That’s something that you should talk to them about.
“Again, my overall knowledge of football specifications – the overall process that happens on game day with the footballs is very limited.
“Let’s say that during the course of the game I’ve honestly never, probably happened on an incomplete pass or something, never touched a game ball. That’s not something I have any familiarity with.
“I was completely and totally unaware of any of this we were talking about the last couple of days until Monday morning.
“Based on what I knew Sunday night, thinking back on this, which I’ve done several times, I can’t think of anything I would have done differently based on what I knew then and what I know now. I told you the one change I would make in the initial start level of the football pressure, but that is really about it.
“It’s unfortunate this is a story coming off two great playoff victories about our football team and our players
“We have been cooperative with NFL investigation and will continue to do so and we will turn all our attention on to the Seattle Seahawks, a very well coached, talented, tough, competitive football team.
“We’ve spent that last three days with our preparation for the trip and those are coming to a conclusion, wrapping that up, and we’re starting our preparations today with the Seahawks and practicing through the weekend so we’ll have a good opportunity to get ourselves ready to go before we head down there.
“I have no further comment on the NFL investigation and I’ve told you all I know about the subject my perspective.”