Oops! NFL refs forget balls at hotel before Patriots game

State Police confirm they helped the NFL deliver footballs and pressure gauges to Gillette Stadium on Saturday after an official forgot them at their hotel.

A Hyatt employee recovered the footballs and gauges, and a worker and State Police Detective Lieutenant Thomas Coffey drove the items to Gillette, where they arrived about an hour before the 4:35 p.m. kickoff, Procopio said.

State police said the balls and gauges remained in an official box the entire time and they did not have any direct contact with the equipment.

Now the Patriots will see if they can get past the Broncos and the NFC representative in the Super Bowl without air-pressure gauges and game balls becoming a topic of conversation again. The bag arrived at the field at around 3:30 p.m. ET, about an hour before kickoff. This year, as part of gaining a better understanding of PSI levels in footballs and the impact of science on air pressure, the NFL has been randomly testing footballs at games. Troopers actually had to drive the balls to Gillette Stadium so they were there for the game.

We know what you’re thinking, and no, this wasn’t a measure to prevent Brady or anyone on the Patriots from making the balls ideal.

ESPN’s Mike Reiss obtained a statement from the Mass State Police detailing what happened.

The kicking balls, called K-balls, are provided by the league and used for kicking plays.

Having the officials make such a glaring misstep prior to the January 16 playoff game (just two days before the anniversary of the January 18, 2015 Deflategate game itself) is a bad look for the National Football League, especially when the forgotten equipment is specifically related to preventing the exact sort of scandal that came up at Gillette Stadium one year ago. The balls were the ones used in the kicking game.

The Patriots beat the Chiefs 27-20.

A hotel employee retrieved the equipment.