Patriots plan to cooperate with investigation into deflated balls

Gary Mihoces | USA TODAY Sports

Show Caption Hide Caption Did the Patriots deflate game balls? USA TODAY Sports' Lorenzo Reyes takes a look at the investigation into New England's alleged indiscretion

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots are bound for the franchise's eighth Super Bowl appearance. Amid that comes another question about whether they used a tactic against NFL rules — and whether their accomplishments merit a new asterisk.

Latest issue: Did the Patriots use footballs deflated below league requirements to get better grip in the rain during their 45-7 romp Sunday night over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game?

The NFL is investigating the matter.

"We'll cooperate fully with whatever questions they ask us and whatever they want us to do," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said in a conference call Monday.

"I didn't know anything about it until this morning."

His players seemed equally mystified.

"I never heard nothing like that. ... I don't touch footballs. I tackle," defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said in the locker room Monday.

Wide receiver Julian Edelman does touch the footballs. He caught nine passes Sunday from quarterback Tom Brady, who was not available in the locker room Monday.

"I don't know anything about it. It's funny they come up with stuff like that, but it is what it is," said Edelman.

After the Baltimore Ravens beat the Patriots in the AFC title game following the 2012 season, Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs said, "That's funny, ever since Spygate they haven't been able to win (the Super Bowl)."

The Patriots have won three titles under Belichick, but none since 2004.

Spygate erupted in 2007 after the league found the Patriots had illegally videotaped the New York Jets' sideline defensive signals. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell fined Belichick $500,000 and fined the Patriots organization $250,000. Goodell also stripped the Patriots of their first-round draft pick in 2008.

Belichick said he considered the taping legal, unless he used the information gained during the game in which the taping occurred. He said he never did that.

In 2008, a former Patriots video assistant sent the league tapes he'd made of opponents' signals. The games included the 2002 AFC Championship Game in which New England beat the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Goodell said the tapes didn't shed new light on the case and that the information was "consistent with what we disciplined the Patriots for."

At that time, former Steelers linebacker Joey Porter told ESPN: "They cheated. There should be an asterisk. They cheated, and they got caught."

This season, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said the Patriots used "deception" with substitutions of ineligible receivers during a third quarter series of the Patriots' divisional round playoff defeat of Baltimore. The NFL said those Patriot substitutions were legal.

Do suggestions that the Patriots exploit or subvert the rules irk the players?

"All I can say is we try to do things the right way," said special teams ace Matthew Slater.

"By no means are any of us perfect. We're all humans. But we try to do things the right way. We work hard at our jobs, in our profession, to be successful. And it's unfortunate that things like this come up.

"But, hey, that's life. That's the world we live in. It is what it is."

Are the Patriots targets because of their past success and transgressions?

"It's tough to say," said Slater. "But no matter what you do in this life ... not everybody is going to like you.

"That's just the reality. So we just have to deal with it and focus on preparing for Seattle."

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