The Sports Xchange

The Baltimore Ravens continue to deny tipping off the Indianapolis Colts about deflated footballs before the AFC Championship against the New England Patriots.

The NFL Players Association released the transcript of Tom Brady’s testimony in his June arbitration hearing regarding his alleged role in the Deflategate controversy. The players union released the 457-page transcript in a filing in New York federal court on Tuesday.

“Prior to the AFC Championship game, no one from the Ravens talked to the Colts about deflated footballs,” the Ravens said in a statement Wednesday. “We knew nothing of deflated footballs. John Harbaugh has been consistent in his answers to reporters about this since he was first asked on NBC-TV at the Super Bowl.”

Team officials denied on previous occasions that they tipped off the Colts about the air pressure of game balls, but documents released Tuesday suggested otherwise.

“I’ve been consistent from the beginning when asked about whether the Ravens tipped off the Colts about deflated footballs,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said in the same statement released by the team. “I’ll say it again — we didn’t. We knew nothing about deflated footballs.

“As a former special teams coach, I know that members of the kicking group from teams talk to their counterparts all the time about conditions, including field, weather and footballs. I learned this morning that our kicking consultant (Randy Brown) sent a text to Coach Pagano on Jan. 16 suggesting to the Colts that they pay attention to how the officials rotate the kicking balls into the game. Coach Brown’s text did not mention the Patriots and did not complain about anything the Patriots did. The Colts never responded to Randy’s text, and he had no further communications with the Colts on this matter.”

Harbaugh told NBC before the Patriots’ Super Bowl victory over the Seattle Seahawks in February: “It’s ridiculous. It never happened. I never made any call. Nobody in our organization made any call. Just to make sure I had all the facts, I called Chuck Pagano this week and asked him, ‘Did anybody else in our organization tip you off about any deflated footballs?’ And he said, ‘No way.'”

An email from Colts equipment manager Sean Sullivan to the team’s general manager, Ryan Grigson, alleges that Ravens special teams coordinator/associate head coach Jerry Rosburg called Colts head coach Chuck Pagano, a former Ravens assistant, before the AFC championship game to warn him about the condition of the designated “kicking” footballs at Gillette Stadium.

“On or about January 12, 2015, Chuck Pagano called me to ask about a punt-field goal substitution play that New England used against the Ravens in the Divisional game (Jan. 10),” Rosburg said in the release. “At the 10:55 mark of the second quarter at the 34-yard line, New England sent its placekicker (Stephen Gostkowski) onto the field with the field goal unit. This caused us to defend the punt with our field goal block team. The play was blown dead by the officials because the Patriots were penalized for delay of game. Coach Pagano wanted to know about New England’s substitution, because the coaching video does not show that part. There was no conversation regarding footballs.”

The Ravens released the text that kicking consultant coach Randy Brown sent to Pagano on Jan. 16:

“Make sure the refs rotate the kicking balls cause last week they wouldn’t let our ball in the game. Their ball was done so poorly that it was nearly impossible to kick off deep…It was hard and not worked in well at all…Let Tom (McMahon, Colts special teams coordinator) know he can call me at any time.”

In the transcript of his hearing, Brady denies tampering with footballs in that game and denies telling anyone else to do so.

Despite Brady’s claims, the four-game suspension was upheld by commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL. The NFLPA then appealed that ruling to federal court. Federal Judge Richard Berman has ordered Brady and Goodell to appear before him next week after urging them to settle.