Bell Tolls: How do other NFL quarterbacks like their footballs?

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz — If Tom Brady can suddenly become widely suspected of having a role in deflating the football for some type of competitive advantage, it makes me wonder about any given quarterback.

After all, with some of the inconsistent quarterbacking out there, some guys could use a break.

And you know what they say: Quarterbacks are the first to get credit ... and first to be blamed.

How do you like your footballs?

"To be honest with you, I don't ever pick 'em out before games," Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford told USA TODAY Sports following a Pro Bowl practice session. "I don't ever talk about 'em. I just go out there, and honestly, they pump 'em up and I go play.

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Maybe Stafford has never given a second thought about the actual football.

But he was about as convincing as Brady was Thursday, when the New England Patriots star tried to disassociate himself from the Deflategate scandal that has fueled controversy for Super Bowl XLIX.

These are professional throwers, typically the most meticulous players on the team, playing the most demanding position in sports. They are expected to be the smart guys, not playing dumb.

"Every team does their own thing," New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees told USA TODAY Sports.

And you?

"Definitely broken in at practice," Brees said. "That's my main preference. Having a ball that you've practiced with."

There used to be a time when teams couldn't even do that, and years ago the home team provided all 24 footballs. As we've learned over the past week with the mess that revealed the Patriots rolled with 11 of 12 footballs weighing at least two pounds per square inch lighter (10.5 pounds) than the 12.5 psi required, each team brings a dozen.

It's just that the Patriots, accused of cooking the footballs to their specifications, provided a new meaning to the term "baker's dozen."

This deflation issue seems like a football version of baseball pitchers using spitballs or grease balls.

"I never knew about deflating the football," Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts, chuckling, told USA TODAY Sports during a phone interview. "I could have used that information."

Fouts, whose heyday was in the late 1970s and 1980s with the San Diego Chargers astriggerman for the "Air Coryell" offense – no, silly, the nickname wasn't linked to the air pressure of the footballs -- provides some context on how this has evolved.

In his day, the Chargers kept a box of infield dirt in the locker room, and Fouts says they dumped footballs in the box and rubbed them up to reduce the slippery gloss on new footballs they used in practice.

The big change in NFL policy came in 1999 when the league was lobbied to allow the visiting teams to have their own balls. In 2006 the competition committee re-affirmed the practice, lobbied by such marquee names as Brady and Peyton Manning.

"Nobody wants to throw them out of the box," Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan told USA TODAY Sports, referring to new footballs. "Until they scrub 'em down, you're not going to throw them. That's the only thing I care about. Everybody does that."

Ryan said the footballs that the Falcons use fall under the domain of Jimmy Hay, the assistant equipment manager. The process begins with Hay, and presumably others, using a hand brush to scrub off the sheen. Ryan said that he used to see the footballs before games but doesn't anymore because he's had so many years working with the equipment staff.

He said that going to his first season in 2008, Hay got a sense during OTAs and training camp about the type of footballs that felt right for him.

"He'd know how to break 'em in, and he's been doing it since," Ryan said. "Me, personally, I don't pick 'em out during the week. Jimmy does it, and they're good to go."

By contrast, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who just finished his 11th NFL season, indicated that he still has a hands-on role in the process before the referee inspects the footballs about two hours before kickoff.

"We give 'em up two hours before the game, and then you don't see 'em until five minutes before," Romo told USA TODAY Sports. "And that's you and the ball boy."

Ryan figures the Falcons practice with game balls for two to three weeks before Hay puts them away and saves them for game day use, then cycles in a new batch.

Ryan said he notices that in September they will practice with footballs that have special pink emblems stamped on for use in October during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In November, the league uses special footballs to salute military service.

"By the time you get to October, you're practicing with the military balls for November," he said.

Quarterbacks suddenly have another layer of scrutiny by association. Fouts, though, believes wide receivers should be put under just as much of a microscope, because a softer football is easier to catch.

Still, I wonder: Can you tell a difference between a football at 12.5 pounds psi vs. 10.5 pounds?

"I have no idea," Stafford said. "It's whatever the league allows. I don't know. I'm not picky about balls."

Brees said: "I don't know if one pound is going to make a difference, but I'm sure two pounds would, when you're feeling it. But you'd have to put two in front of me right now."

Regardless, with another NFL investigation underway, Brees says it's about the integrity of the game.

"Bottom line, there are rules in place, right?" Brees said. "If there are rules broken, there are consequences."

Or so there may be ... if funny business is admitted or proven.

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