National Football League

AJ Feeley: Tom Brady used illegal ball in 2004

Published May. 13, 2015 2:43 p.m. ET

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By Steve DelVecchio

Former NFL quarterback A.J. Feeley claims the New England Patriots have been tampering with game balls for years.

During an appearance on 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Feely recalled an incident from when he was with the Miami Dolphins in 2004. He claims he witnessed Brady using a broken-in football during a game at a time when teams were supposed to use new balls that had been provided by the league.

“Prior to Tommy and Peyton Manning going to the league and saying, ‘Let us doctor our balls’ we used to all play with the same balls,” Feeley said, per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. “Somehow this beat-up ball from the ball boy was getting thrown in on offense for New England, yet when we were on offense this orange brand new ball was getting thrown in.”

Did Feeley have an issue with it?

“He’s getting his own balls thrown in on offense,” he said. “That was an issue to me at the time. … We saw it then.”

There could be a number of reasons we are just now hearing about this 10 years later. Assuming Feeley is telling the truth, the most likely scenario is that no one cared. There were probably very few people who felt that using a broken-in ball resulted in a significant competitive advantage, so it was not addressed. Or, it’s possible that no one wanted to be the whistleblower.

In 2006, Brady and Peyton Manning lobbied for a rule change that allowed teams to bring their own 12 game balls each game. Those balls were supposed to be inspected by officials prior to each game to ensure they met the league’s standards for condition and air pressure.

And now? Well, here we are. Decade-old stories from former NFL quarterbacks mean very little at the moment.

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