FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- In Peter King's widely read "Monday Morning Quarterback" column on TheMMQB.com, he includes a section with John Elway, the Denver Broncos' executive vice president of football operations.
The topic: Inflation levels of footballs.
King relays how Elway never concerned himself with the inflation level when he played, but he was curious after everything unfolded this offseason, so he had Denver's equipment staff inflate footballs to 13 psi, 12 psi and 11 psi to test them, according to King.
"I mean, it’s not that big a difference,” Elway tells King. “It’s hard to tell the difference. Not a big enough difference to have the attention on this that it’s gotten. What I come down to is, does it really matter? Some guys like the ball a little softer. And if a guy likes a harder ball, that’s fine too. We want the quarterbacks to be as successful as they can be, and we want them to give the fans the best entertainment they can. Who cares if a quarterback likes it at 10 and a half? If that makes him play better, fine.”
Elway adds this about Tom Brady, "The last thing you want to do is poke the bear. The bear got poked, and this is what happened.”
Brady is 139-of-197 for 1,699 yards, with 14 touchdowns and one interception in leading the Patriots to a 5-0 start.