Patriots Attendant Reportedly Attempted to Put Unapproved Ball in AFC Title Game

According to a report by ESPN's Outside the Lines, a Patriots locker room attendant attempted to put an unapproved kicking ball into play during the AFC Championship Game against the Colts on Jan. 18. 

Continue for updates. 

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Details Emerge About Locker Room Attendant Controversy 

Wednesday, Feb. 18

Ben Volin of The Boston Globe provided more details on the attendant in question:

Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post had more information on why the official was terminated:

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ESPN: Unnamed NFL official sold one of the Deflategate balls and has been fired. Wow.

— Bart Hubbuch (@BartHubbuch) February 18, 2015"

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Patriots Attendant Reportedly Attempted to Sneak Unapproved Ball into AFC Championship

Tuesday, Feb. 17

The New England Patriots finished the 2014 NFL season with a Super Bowl triumph over the Seattle Seahawks, but there are still plenty of questions about the Deflategate saga that began with the Pats' victory in the AFC Championship Game.

SportsCenter provided an update to the controversy on Tuesday:

ESPN's Kelly Naqi provided information on the attendant and what his job entails: 

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One source said that the attendant assigned to the officials' locker room, identified as 48-year-old Jim McNally, has been interviewed by investigators for Ted Wells, the attorney the NFL hired last month to lead an investigation into allegations the Patriots intentionally used underinflated footballs on offensive plays in the first half of that game against the Indianapolis Colts, which New England won 45-7.

Three sources said that McNally has worked Patriots games for a decade, and has been in charge of the officials' locker room at Gillette Stadium since at least 2008. In the first half of the AFC Championship Game, McNally tried to give the unapproved football to an alternate official who was in charge of the special-teams footballs. Those footballs are known as "kicking balls" or "K balls."

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ESPN also released a full report on the new findings, which were discovered as part of Ted Wells' investigation into the AFC Championship Game incident.

Chris Mortensen of ESPN originally reported that 11 of the 12 footballs the Patriots used in the AFC title game against the Indianapolis Colts were deflated two pounds below NFL standards. The thought was the deflated footballs would've given New England quarterback Tom Brady an edge over his counterpart Andrew Luck in the wet conditions.

However, an unapproved kicking ball, per Tuesday's report from ESPN, would have no effect on Brady's performance.

In the Super Bowl, Brady shredded the Seahawks' "Legion of Boom" secondary in an epic fourth-quarter rally and won the game's MVP award. Nothing appeared amiss about those footballs.

Due to the lopsided score in the AFC title clash, it's hard to make a case that the game would've gone much differently, no matter how the footballs were inflated for both sides.

If a locker room attendant trotting out an unapproved kicking ball is the biggest revelation from the Deflategate investigation, perhaps the Patriots can enjoy their Lombardi Trophy in peace.