The past week has been a rocky ride for the NFL. The past 20 years have featured plenty of bumps, too. One of the biggest came in 2015, which began with the allegation that the Patriots had used deflated footballs during the first half of the AFC Championship.
Playmakers, my new book (buy early, buy often) containing more than 100 essays regarding various events and issues and controversies in the NFL from 2001 through 2020, devotes a chapter to the saga known as Deflategate.