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This morning, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick stood his ground, claiming that the Patriots have "followed every rule to the letter," when it came to the issue of deflating footballs in the AFC Championship Game last weekend against the Indianapolis Colts.
Long story short, Belichick and Brady have both stood in front of the cameras saying they did nothing wrong. The NFL won't resolve this issue or hand out any penalties until after the season is over. This has literally zero impact on Super Bowl XLIX between the Seahawks and Patriots. So let's all just drop it and focus on the game ahead.
In the two weeks leading up to a Super Bowl, if you were to go on Twitter at any moment, you would probably see stories previewing the upcoming matchup. But this year, thanks to #DeflateGate, you might not even know the Super Bowl was going to be played in just over a week. Now, maybe I just don't follow enough people on Twitter to see otherwise, but from my perspective, I can safely say that 95 percent of football content I've seen on Twitter is about the Patriots, their deflated footballs and someone cracking a joke about handling balls.
Sure, the New England media has a job to do. Personally, I feel sorry that they have to consume all their efforts into stories on air pressure and who is lying versus who is telling the truth rather than the Patriots preparing to try and win their first Super Bowl in a decade. We'd all be a little better off if we could, just for the week ahead, drop a story that has absolutely nothing to do with the Super Bowl itself.
From a preparation standpoint, this is a massive advantage for the Seahawks. All week, they've gotten to slip under the radar and stay completely out of the spotlight. Does Belichick have better things to do eight days before the Super Bowl than hold a press conference and go all "Bill Nye the Science Guy" on us? Of course.
— Rob Perez (@World_Wide_Wob) January 24, 2015
They say the game isn't won or lost on the field, but rather in the preparation leading up to the game. If that is the case, I'd put heavy money on the Seahawks to win Super Bowl XLIX next Sunday. Now of course, the Patriots are still hard at work to prepare for the Super Bowl, but they've also had to deal with the distractions of #DeflateGate. The Seahawks meanwhile, are probably strolling around VMAC like this:
On a side note, the Pete Carroll GIF above is truly the gift that keeps on giving.
Half the battle leading up to the Super Bowl is limiting distractions as much as possible. Score one for the Seahawks. Hardly anyone has talked about how the shoulder of Earl Thomas is coming along, or if Richard Sherman's elbow will impact him during the Super Bowl. Nope, instead we've been talking about deflated footballs and PSI and how the Patriots are quickly becoming, if they haven't already, the least likable team in America. It adds a level of stress the Seahawks simply don't have to deal with this week, and I'm sure if you asked Pete Carroll or any of the Seahawks players, they'd say they are just fine with nobody talking about them leading up to the big game.
Bill Belichick gave press conference on how balls can deflate. Maybe @pennjillette can give one on how Deflategate made Seahawks invisible.
— Tom Bergeron (@Tom_Bergeron) January 24, 2015
I have a hunch that as both teams arrive in Arizona and Super Bowl week officially kicks off, we'll finally start to talk less about deflated footballs and more about what promises to be one of the most entertaining Super Bowl matchups in recent years. Because I'm not sure if I can handle one more "Heh, he said balls," joke this week.