Former NFL quarterbacks talk Deflategate

Jim Corbett | USA TODAY Sports

How much of a difference does a deflated football make for an NFL quarterback?

Former Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann wanted to know. So he conducted his own "CSI: Football psi" detective work Wednesday morning when he drove from his Northern Virginia home to the Redskins' Ashburn, Va., complex.

Theismann had the team's equipment manager pump up two footballs in his bid to get to the bottom of Deflategate.

ESPN reported Tuesday night the New England Patriots had 11 of their 12 allotted game balls underinflated by 2 pounds per square inch for Sunday's AFC Championship Game rout of the Indianapolis Colts.

NFL rules stipulate a game ball must be inflated to 12 ½ to 13 ½ pounds per square inch.

"I asked our equipment guy to pump one football up to 13 pounds per square inch and another to 11 psi," Theismann told USA TODAY Sports. "I wanted to physically handle the footballs and see if I could tell a difference in them. And I couldn't.

"If you just pick a football up that is 13 psi and another that's 11 psi, no one would know the difference. Because you don't grip a football tight anyway to throw it."

Theismann explained that a quarterback's throwing grip is akin to the light grip required for a touring pro's golf swing.

"Dan Marino made a great point -- that the last thing you're thinking about as a quarterback when you get to the line of scrimmage is, 'I wonder if this football is to 2 psi lighter?'" Theismann said.

Hall-of-Fame quarterback Steve Young, who played most of his career with the San Francisco 49ers, didn't see the edge, either.

"I would say throwing a deflated football is of no advantage. Personally, I wouldn't want to throw a deflated football," said Young, now an analyst for ESPN. "But there's no advantage for me. If you look at a quarterback's performance, I struggle to see how underinflated footballs are changing the way you play."

For Young, it isn't so much a competitive-edge question as it is one of competitive integrity.

"The issue fundamentally is that there's a rule – officials check the footballs," Young said. "And somebody had to go in after the league did their checks and nefariously take some air out of those footballs.

"It begs the question, 'Why would you? And who would go in afterwards and do it? And with the Patriots Spygate history, they needed to be perfect."

Former Chicago Bears starting quarterback Jim Miller served as Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's backup in 2004. The current SIRIUS NFL Radio analyst sees Deflategate as "much ado about nothing" because quarterbacks are allowed to "doctor" footballs to their liking.

"Every team doctors the football, every quarterback around the league is scuffing the balls up to make sure they're broken in," Miller said. "… I would hate a deflated football or an overinflated football. It's like the three bears from Goldilocks and the porridge. As a quarterback, you want your football inflated just right.

"This is more about 'Oh, here goes Bill Belichick and the Patriots again.' It is about conspiracy theories. People perceive Belichick is just thumbing his nose at the league again."

Theismann is confident the league's investigation will get to the bottom of the issue before the weekend so the conversation next week is focused on the Super Bowl matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and Patriots Feb. 1.

"The way the NFL is going after this, I think is proper because you want to get this thing settled before the real Super Bowl festivities begin," Theismann said.

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Follow Jim Corbett on Twitter @ByJimCorbett