Colts General Manager Ryan Grigson Alerted the NFL about Patriots' Underinflated Footballs

There have been a number of conflicting reports that have emerged regarding delfategate, but it appears that one thing we do know is how it got started.

That piece of information is thanks to NFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Troy Vincent, who in an interview with Showtime's "60 Minutes Sports" show that will air Tuesday night, revealed that it was indeed Colts general manager Ryan Grigson who alerted the NFL to the possibility of the Patriots' playing with underinflated footballs.  Vincent said the league received the message from Grigson in the second quarter of the AFC Championship game.

This would seem to corroborate the report from Newsday's Bob Glauber a few weeks ago that the Colts became aware of the possible tampering with the footballs on linebacker D'Qwell Jackson's second quarter interception of Tom Brady.  According to Glauber, Jackson handed the football to a member of the equipment staff, who noticed that something was different about the football.  Head coach Chuck Pagano was then notified, and subsequently Grigson was made aware, and he then told the league.  This report would also fit in line with Jackson's comments about not noticing the weight of the football, since Glauber's report never said it was him that noticed.

This does seem to be the most likely option as to what happened, given that Troy Vincent confirmed that it was Grigson who alerted the league.  Of course, this wasn't a bad or a dirty move by the Colts, and it's most definitely not them blaming the deflated footballs for their loss.  Rather, it was just them alerting the league of a potential issue and then moving on.

In the interview that will air tonight on Showtime, Vincent also revealed that he has not read the Mueller Report surrounding the Ray Rice incident.  Per a Showtime release, Vincent, when asked if he read the report, said, "To answer your question, no."  That's not a good look for the league or for it's EVP of Football Operations.  The story that relates to the Colts, however, is that of Ryan Grigson alerting the league about deflategate.