As the controversy about under-inflated footballs in the AFC championship game continues, it would be great if the Patriots defend themselves by showing the Seinfeld "shrinkage" scene to explain what happened.

Remember the weather played an impact on game day. It was cold. It was rainy.

"Like when a football gets wet ... Afterwards ..."

All joking aside, a report by AccuWeather says cold and wet conditions can affect the ball:

"Just like vehicle tires, air pressure within a ball can drop when temperatures drop. Pressure in a football drops on a smaller scale, but it is similarly impacted by cold conditions."

"When inflated inside warm, climate-controlled conditions, the ball pressure can be impacted by the transition to lower outdoor temperatures and brisk, rainy conditions."

Another scenario? Someone went rogue. The ball boy did this on "his own" because he thought it would help the team. He serves as the scapegoat. In reality, he was told to do this, but being a loyal Patriot, he will conceal the truth: Bill Belichick was the mastermind behind this.

USC was caught doing this a few years ago, and guess who took full blame -- the student manager! The Pac-12 fined USC $25,000 for deflating balls in a game against Oregon in 2012, and the manager was fired.

But as we've learned, this sort of thing probably happens more often than anyone suspected.

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