AP

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said on Monday that talk of the team purposely deflating footballs is “ridiculous.” But today Brady felt the matter was serious enough to address it in a team meeting.

NBC News reports that Brady addressed his teammates behind closed doors today, telling his fellow Patriots that he prefers the football “a certain way.” Brady also urged everyone to stay focused on the Super Bowl.

If the “certain way” Brady likes his footballs is to be inflated to less than 12.5 psi, and if Brady either deflated footballs to less than 12.5 psi or asked someone else to deflate footballs to less than 12.5 psi, then he was breaking NFL rules.

But while Brady or the Patriots could find themselves in hot water with the league office, the reality is that he has a game to prepare for, and his admonition to his teammates to stay focused on the Super Bowl was wise. In that respect, this could turn out to be similar to the Spygate scandal, which broke after Week One of the 2007 season. Although that resulted in both the Patriots and Bill Belichick getting fined, and the Patriots losing a first-round draft pick, it didn’t affect the Patriots’ preparation: They blew out a good Chargers team the following Sunday. If the Patriots rally the same way over the next week and a half, that’s bad news for the Seahawks.