Report: Kicking balls in Patriots-Chiefs were underinflated

FOXBORO -- Know what this Patriots' season was missing? A controversy surrounding underinflated footballs.

But here we are again, with another iteration of "Deflategate" from last Sunday's 27-17 Patriots' loss to the Chiefs at Gillette Stadium. According to a report by MassLive.com's Mark Daniels, "the footballs that are meant for each team's kicking units were underinflated by two pounds."

But that underinflation was not because of some nefarious acts inside Gillette Stadium. This underinflation was due to an error by the officiating staff, and was fixed after the Patriots raised concerns at halftime. 

"After team complaints, officials took the 'K-Balls' into the locker room at halftime where they were discovered to weigh 11 pounds instead of the legal limit of 13.5," Daniels reported.

"The Patriots and Chiefs didn't notice there was a problem until kickoff because teams are not allowed to work with the kicking balls during their pregame warmups in accordance with NFL rules," Daniels added.

Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker and Patriots kicker Chad Ryland both missed field goals in the first half. Ryland missed wide left on his 41-yard attempt, which was nothing unusual since it was the rookie's seventh missed field goal on the season. But Butker hadn't missed all season, so it was notable when the veteran missed wide right on his 39-yard attempt.

The Patriots felt something was off from the opening kick, when Butker's kickoff landed at the 3-yard line. The underinflated balls weren't traveling very far in the first half, but "sources noted that the footballs traveled farther in the second half once inflated to the proper 13.5 PSI," according to Daniels. 

The inflation levels were corrected at halftime and everything seemingly returned to normal for both team's kickers and punters. Butker connected on both of his second-half field goal attempts, while Ryland did not have another attempt for New England. But their kickoffs went farther in the second half, as did the punts by the two teams.

The Patriots were "astonished" that something like this could happen at Gillette Stadium, via Daniels, considering it's where the 2015 Deflategate drama played out. That, of course, led to a drawn-out investigation over deflated footballs in the 2014 AFC Championship Game between the Patriots and the Colts, which ultimately ended with Tom Brady being suspended for four games and the Patriots getting hit with a $1 million fine and being docked a pair of draft picks.

We'll see if the NFL launches another giant investigation into their officials to get to the bottom of why Sunday's footballs were underinflated.