New England Patriots' Belichick on Under-Inflated Footballs: 'We Did Everything as Right as We Could Do It

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (TheBlaze/AP) — New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick is defending the way his team preps its game balls and said his team earned its spot in the Super Bowl fairly.

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Belichick gave an unscheduled talk to the media covering the team on Saturday. He described how the footballs are prepped and said he's learned a lot more about the science of air pressure than he knew from a lifetime around the game.

The NFL is investigating why 11 of 12 footballs the New England Patriots used were under-inflated in the AFC championship game against Indianapolis. Belichick could not provide answers, but he explained how other things such as temperature could have an effect.

"At no time was there any intent to compromise the integrity of the game whatsoever," Belichick said during a Saturday afternoon press conference, adding that at no time were any footballs prepared in a heated room either.

Belichick explained that the team does quite a bit before games to alter the footballs' texture to the quarterback's liking, but "once officials have them, we don't touch them until we play with them in the game."

With the Super Bowl coming up next Sunday against the NFC Champion Seattle Seahawks, Belichick said he is "embarrassed" over the amount of time he's put into researching ball inflation factors.

"I'm not the Mona Lisa Vito of the football world," he quipped, referencing the hilarious car-repair expert portrayed by Marisa Tomei in "My Cousin Vinny." Tomei won an Oscar for it.

"We err on the side of caution," the coach said. "It's been that way for many years...We did everything as right as we could do it."

This story has been updated.

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