The referees assigned to Patriots-Chiefs forgot the kicking balls, pressure gauges at their hotel
About a year after Deflategate, the NFL had another mishap with footballs in New England. This time, it was all on the referees.
The officiating crew that was assigned to the Patriots-Chiefs game last week apparently left the kicking balls and air-pressure gauges at their hotel. The balls and gauges eventually made it to the stadium by way of a police escort. They arrived an hour before the game started.
Mike Reiss of ESPN Boston received details of the incident:
"At approximately 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Massachusetts State police at Logan airport were notified by the Hyatt Hotel on airport property that the officials at Gillette Stadium for that afternoon's Patriots' playoff game had left official, specially designated footballs and pressure gauges behind at the hotel," Massachusetts State Police spokesman David Procopio said. "The hotel had been contacted by the NFL after it realized the equipment had been left behind.
"State Police contacted an NFL security official at Gillette Stadium. NFL security requested State Police assistance in bringing the footballs and gauges to the stadium. The footballs in question are referred to as K-balls, short for kicking balls. They are the official footballs provided by the league for use in kicking plays.
"A hotel employee retrieved the equipment. State Police Detective Lieutenant Thomas Coffey, who was on duty at Troop F that afternoon, along with the hotel employee, drove the K-balls and gauges to Gillette Stadium, arriving at approximately 3:30 p.m., and turned them over to the NFL."
Nice one, NFL.
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