Ravens Deny Allegedly Tipping off Colts in Deflategate Scandal

The Baltimore Ravens released a statement Wednesday denying they provided the Indianapolis Colts with any information about the possible deflation of footballs by the New England Patriots ahead of the AFC Championship Game last season.

Baltimore lost to New England in the divisional round and became linked to the Deflategate scandal after prior speculation that it tipped off the Colts. The Ravens posted several responses on their official site, all stating that that never occurred.

"Prior to the AFC Championship Game, no one from the Ravens talked to the Colts about deflated footballs," the team's statement reads. "We knew nothing of deflated footballs. John Harbaugh has been consistent in his answers to reporters about this since he was first asked on NBC-TV at the Super Bowl."

Stephen Holder of the Indianapolis Star noted the debate reignited after documents surrounding the appeal of Tom Brady's four-game suspension were released Tuesday. One email from Colts equipment manager Sean Sullivan to Colts general manager Ryan Grigson (dated one day before the Patriots-Colts game) mentioned "that Ravens assistant Jerry Rosburg called [coach Chuck] Pagano prior to the game to share concerns the Ravens had about their kicking balls during their divisional round loss to the Patriots one week earlier."

Per Holder:

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Sullivan did not cite Rosburg in the rest of his email, but he went on to add that the Patriots were known to manipulate the air pressure in balls before games – something that attorney Ted Wells' report earlier this year seemed to support.

"It is well known around the league that after the Patriots gameballs are checked by the officials and brought out for game usage the ballboys for the Patriots will let out some air with a ball needle because their quarterback (Brady) likes a smaller football so he can grip it better," Sullivan's email continued.

"It would be great if someone would be able to check the air in the game balls as the game goes on so they don't get an illegal advantage."

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The Ravens assistant denies that exchange happened. He said his only conversation with Pagano during the time in question surrounded a play on special teams.

"Coach Pagano wanted to know about New England's substitution because the coaching video does not show that part," Rosburg said. "There was no conversation regarding footballs."

The Ravens state the only discussion about footballs came between its kicking consultant, Randy Brown, and Pagano about making sure the officials allowed them to use their own.

"Make sure the refs rotate the kicking balls cause last week they wouldn't let our ball in the game," Brown's text message read. "Their ball was done so poorly that it was nearly impossible to kick off deep…It was hard and not worked in well at all…Let Tom (McMahon, Colts special teams coordinator) know he can call me at any time."

Harbaugh made it clear they had no knowledge about balls with a lack of pressure to share with the Colts: "I've been consistent from the beginning when asked about whether the Ravens tipped off the Colts about deflated footballs. I'll say it again—we didn't. We knew nothing about deflated footballs."

This is just the latest twist in a situation that's become a complete debacle.

The court appeal surrounding Brady's suspension will move forward, keeping the story in the spotlight. The Ravens are smart to separate themselves from the incident as much as possible. It's clearly going to serve as a major distraction leading up to the regular season, and Harbaugh's trying to prevent his team from getting caught up in the drama.