The NFL set the standard when they let teams have there own balls. this gives teams the right to make their balls as they see fit. If the pats cheated they should get punished if they gamed the game there is nothing wrong with that. The game balls should be controlled by the NFL. Basketball plays with one ball, hockey one puck, soccer one ball, baseball uses its own balls per league. why does the nfl let each team have its own ball? Every single team makes those balls be as they want them to be. Its kind of silly to say you can make them how you want, just in specs, and leave 2 +1/2 hours for them to sit and/or be played with. On top of that their controls are nothing more than a pressure gauge and a scale. By rule that opens up a world of possibilities on how to doctor the ball. just my 2 cents.