Patriots Owner Hijacks Bill Belichick Press Conference, Demands Apology From NFL If His Team Is Found Innocent
NFL Network New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft made an unexpected appearance at Bill Belichick's first Super Bowl press conference.
In a forceful statement, Kraft said his team did nothing wrong in the deflated-footballs scandal.
"I want to make it clear unconditionally that the New England Patriots have done nothing inappropriate," he said.
He also demanded an apology from the NFL if the league can't find evidence that his team intentionally deflated the footballs in the AFC title game.
"If the Wells investigation is not able to definitively determine if our organization tampered with the air pressure in the footballs, I would expect and hope that the league apologize to our entire team, and in particular Bill Belichick and Tom Brady for what they had to endure this week," he said.
He criticized the league, saying, " I'm disappointed in the way this entire matter has handled and reported upon."
Here's a Vine of him demanding an apology:
Kraft left the podium without taking questions.
When Belichick finally spoke, he politely declined to answer any ball-related questions.
It was the first time a member of the Patriots organization spoke publicly since Fox Sports' Jay Glazer reported that the NFL has video of a "person of interest" taking the game balls into a room moments before the kickoff of the AFC title game. Neither Kraft nor Belichick addressed the report.
On Saturday, Belichick explained that he believes the balls deflated naturally because of the weather and the "rubbing process" that the balls undergo before the game.
It's a full denial from everyone in the organization. They're daring the league to prove they did something wrong.
Check out our live notes from the press conference below.
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