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Nerf Footballs: The Solution to Playing with Deflated Balls

Deflated balls have been the hot topic since Sunday when the Indianapolis Colts got destroyed by the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game.

While it has been discovered that the Patriots were using footballs that were under-inflated, the blatant fact stands that the Colts were flat out over-matched on Sunday.

Colts defensive end Erik Walden conceded to this fact after the game.

What a brilliant idea. Why not play football with Nerf balls? Their foam rubber surface can’t deflate, and their weight won’t fluctuate with changing weather conditions (unless they get wet, remember that?)

As a matter of fact, a former NFL kicker actually invented the original Nerf football. Taking his invention to Parker Brothers, Minnesota Vikings kicker Fred Cox  was the mind behind the legendary invention. At the time, Cox’s teammates had no idea that he was the inventor of such a sporting goods wonder.

Cox admitted had this to say about the invention following his retirement (via Fox Sports).

In 1977, very few people I played with, even on the Vikings, knew I invented the ball. Now they tell me they wish they’d invented it.

See – there are no problems with deflating going on here as you can see from this video. No accusations, no scandals… just plain fun.

Since then, generations of NFL players have played with Nerf footballs. Both Jon and Jay Gruden played Nerf growing up as did Peyton Manning and Jay Cutler.

It’s not too late to save the NFL’s and the New England Patriots’ reputation.

The Nerf football could be the NFL’s solution to shrinking, deflated balls. We’ve got a week and a half until the Super Bowl, so perhaps someone should get ordering so Tom Brady can have time to get used to the feeling of handling the new balls.

Photo: Fox Sports

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