Former Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants quarterback Fran Tarkenton tells
Newsmax TV that while the National Football League is investigating whether or not the New England Patriots supplied deflated balls during the AFC Championship Game, a deflated ball would not give a team an advantage.
"I played 18 years in the National Football League, four years in college, and four years in high school football. I probably have thrown more passes and practices in games than any human being that ever lived," Tarkenton told J.D. Hayworth and Miranda Khan on "America's Forum" Monday.
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"A deflated football doesn't help you," he said.
The former quarterback explained that "when they bring the footballs in they're going to use in the game day, they're very slick, they're very hard, and they're allowed to use some kind of resin to brush off the slickness and make the balls more grip-able for the quarterbacks, and they do that," he explained.
However, he contends that "if you deflated it a tiny bit, I've never known that to be of any advantage at all."
In fact, he says that "if you deflate it too much, you wouldn't have the velocity on the ball or the spin on the ball."
Tarkenton believes that the allegations are "a lot to do about nothing."
He argues that these charges are "about [New England Patriots head coach Bill] Belichick — they're always trying to pick on Belichick."
"He's done some things that were wrong before," he admitted. "He's always bending the rule book, and that's what coaches do."
"But it's a lot about nothing because if they'd have had the balls totally flat or what, New England was going to win this game because they just played a whole lot better than Indianapolis did," he added.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy says the NFL is investigating whether the Patriots deflated footballs used in their AFC championship game victory over the Colts.
McCarthy said Monday morning he cannot provide any other information now.
The inquiry was first reported by the website for WTHR-TV in Indiana, citing an unnamed source.
The NFL rule book says "it is the responsibility of the home team to furnish playable balls at all times."
The game operations manual notes that people who alter footballs or allow an unapproved football to be used in a game can be disciplined with fines or other punishments.
The Patriots beat the Colts 45-7 to reach the Super Bowl. New England will play the Seattle Seahawks for the NFL title on Feb. 1.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.