Belichick: 'I Had No Knowledge Of Deflated Balls'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick addressed the media about "Deflategate" on Thursday morning for the first time.
"All right I'll start off by addressing the football issue here," Belichick said. "When I came in Monday morning I was shocked to learn of the news reports of the footballs. I had no knowledge whatsoever of the situation until Monday morning. I've learned a lot more about this process in the past three days than I've talked about it in the last four years of this league.
"I had no knowledge of the various steps involved in the game balls and the process that they went through that happened between what they went through between being prepared and [used for the game].
"I can tell you that in my entire coaching career, I have never talked to any player, staff member, about football air pressure.
"Let me just say that my personal coaching philosophy, my mentality has always been to make things as difficult as possible for players in practice," Belichick explained. "So 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 'em, I make 'em. And any time that players complain about the quality of the footballs, I make 'em worse, and that stops the complaining.
"We play with whatever or kick whatever we have to use, and that's the way it is. That has never been a priority to me. … I think we all know that quarterbacks, kickers, specialists have certain preferences on footballs. They know a lot more than I do, they're a lot more sensitive about than I am. And I hear them comment on it from time to time. But I can tell you that they will tell you that there has never been any sympathy on that from me."
When taking questions, Belichick deflected saying, "I told them everything I know" or "I don't have an explanation for that."