Bill Belichick Confuses World with Science, Claims Patriots Followed Rules

For a half-hour on Saturday, it was hard to tell whether NFL Network was airing an impromptu Bill Belichick press conference or a rerun of Bill Nye the Science Guy.

If you have not been following the latest developments of the Deflategate controversy, the New England Patriots called for a 2:30 p.m. ET press conference—which actually got underway about a half-hour later—so Belichick could pass along the information he had gathered over the last six days.

Before we get started, watch the theme song for Bill Nye the Science Guy (courtesy of YouTube) and overlay the intro graphic with the one shown below:

When Belichick took the podium, he started by explaining the process—how little he knew at the start of the week, and how much more he knows now—in how game balls are approved for play. “I have personally, and we as an organization, have followed every rule to the letter,” he said, per NFL Network's Albert Breer.

That was simply a prelude to the science lesson that was about to ensue. Belichick revealed the results of the Patriots’ internal study of the process, explaining how it raised the PSI approximately one pound, and then he dove into topics such as a “controlled environment,” “atmospheric conditions” and reaching “equilibrium state.”

Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman summed up Belichick’s approach in one tweet:

The underlying message of the press conference was clear: Belichick shared the information he knew in an attempt to move past the controversy and shift the focus to Super Bowl preparation, as noted in his comments, per Breer.

Belichick’s first point was that the game balls are delivered to the officials’ locker room—the controlled environment—at 12.5 PSI, but the on-field and game conditions (“whether it’s hot and humid, whether it’s cold and damp, whether it’s cold and dry,” he explained) could result in those measurements being different than what they were in that controlled environment.

Confused yet? Professor Belichick explained, as Michael Whitmer of The Boston Globe summarized:

Furthermore, Belichick called air pressure “a function of the atmospheric conditions,” using the low-tire-pressure light in a car as an analogy, as pointed out by The Big Lead's Jason McIntyre: “It says low tire pressure because the car’s been sitting in the driveway, outside, overnight, and you start it up, and you start driving it, and the light goes off.”

After delving into his scientific explanation, the Patriots head coach made clear his intention to stop addressing the situation as he has over the past week, per NFL Network’s Albert Breer:

Of course, this is not the last we will hear about this story, since nothing changed as a result of the press conference. Belichick claimed innocence, which he and the Patriots have maintained all along, as B/R's Mike Freeman discussed:

So no, Belichick isn’t a scientist, but after his teaching lesson Saturday, he could probably moonlight as one in his spare time.

Given the buzz this investigation has created—and as a result, shifted storylines away from the biggest game of the year—no one can blame him for wanting to move on.