This is the league’s first indication the Super Bowl-bound Patriots may have used footballs that do not to conform to rules about air pressure.
“While the evidence thus far supports the conclusion that footballs that were under-inflated were used by the Patriots in the first half, the footballs were properly inflated for the second half and confirmed at the conclusion of the game to have remained properly inflated,” the statement said.
The statement said the NFL wants to know “specifically whether any noncompliance was the result of deliberate action. We have not made any judgments on these points and will not do so until we have concluded our investigation and considered all of the relevant evidence.”
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The Patriots will face the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX on February 1 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Opinion: Throw the Patriots out of the Super Bowl
CNN’s Jillian Martin contributed to this report.
