Pittsburgh Steelers: NFL investigated deflated footballs in preseason opener

What’s the preseason without a little drama? The NFL investigated whether the Pittsburgh Steelers used deflated footballs in the third quarter of Thursday night’s preseason opener in Philadelphia.

Pro Football Talk reported Friday morning that the NFL is investigating the Steelers for deflated footballs in the third quarter of Thursday’s preseason opener. Howard Eskin of WIP, who was working on the Eagles’ broadcast, said the football was “like a marshmallow.”

Rookie Mason Rudolph was in the game at quarterback in the third quarter, when the Steelers were allegedly using deflated footballs.

Former Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch took to twitter to share his disdain for the report, calling it “Fake News.”

This is not the first time the Steelers have been accused of using deflated footballs in a game. The New York Giants told the NFL that the Steelers used deflated footballs in a December 2016 matchup, which the Steelers won 24-14. No formal complaint was made by the Giants, and the Steelers were not found guilty of using footballs out of league standards.

Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweeted the following just hours after the report came out:

The fans of the NFL will have to wait for “Deflategate II.” The Steelers are now 2-for-2 in deflation allegations.

Either way, it’s a really good thing the Steelers side-stepped this potential land mine. The league does have more pressing issues, like the National Anthem policy, but this could have really damaged the Steelers reputation. No one needs to be reminded of how the Patriots and Tom Brady will be forever under the umbrella of Deflategate or Spygate.

Even if this was just a preseason game, no team can afford to be found guilty of cheating to maintain a good reputation in the league. If anything, it could have made the Steelers look really bad if they were caught cheating in a game that doesn’t matter.

It probably won’t be long until the next click-bait headline is put out there to talk about, but it won’t be about the Steelers and deflated footballs. Charlie Batch was nothing but net on this one.