Ravens deny they tipped off the Colts about Pats’ deflated footballs

Didn’t Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti tell everyone that training camp is here and we should be talking football and not deflate-gate?

Yes. Yes he did. But here come the Ravens storming in from the locker room out of the blue like an old WWE match, to give new story lines and material to the never-ending saga.

Among the items released Tuesday, as part of Tom Brady’s appeal transcript as he fought his four-game suspension, was an email from the Indianapolis Colts that seemingly said Ravens special teams coach Jerry Rosburg called Colts coach Chuck Pagano to alert him to the condition of the “kicking” footballs in New England. That was reported by the Baltimore Sun, among other outlets. That was interpreted as the Ravens tipping off the Colts about deflated footballs, and away we go with deflate-gate.

[Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football: Sign up and join a league today!]

The Ravens have denied they ever tipped off the Colts, and went all out to reiterate that on Wednesday. They released a team statement, a statement from the head coach, a statement from the special teams coordinator and a text message designed to prove they never tattled on the Patriots. Apparently NFL teams don’t like being viewed as snitches either.

Here are all of the statements from the Ravens, which were published on the team’s website:

FROM THE RAVENS

“Prior to the AFC Championship game, no one from the Ravens talked to the Colts about deflated footballs. We knew nothing of deflated footballs. John Harbaugh has been consistent in his answers to reporters about this since he was first asked on NBC-TV at the Super Bowl.”

FROM SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR/ASSOCIATE HEAD COACH JERRY ROSBURG

“On or about January 12, 2015, Chuck Pagano called me to ask about a punt-field goal substitution play that New England used against the Ravens in the Divisional game (Jan. 10). At the 10:55 mark of the second quarter at the 34-yard line, New England sent its place kicker (Stephen Gostkowski) onto the field with the field goal unit. This caused us to defend the punt with our field goal block team. The play was blown dead by the officials because the Patriots were penalized for delay of game. Coach Pagano wanted to know about New England’s substitution because the coaching video does not show that part. There was no conversation regarding footballs.”

FROM JOHN HARBAUGH

“I’ve been consistent from the beginning when asked about whether the Ravens tipped off the Colts about deflated footballs. I’ll say it again – we didn’t. We knew nothing about deflated footballs.

“As a former special teams coach, I know that members of the kicking group from teams talk to their counterparts all the time about conditions, including field, weather and footballs. I learned this morning that our kicking consultant (Randy Brown) sent a text to Coach Pagano on Jan. 16 suggesting to the Colts that they pay attention to how the officials rotate the kicking balls into the game. Coach Brown’s text did not mention the Patriots and did not complain about anything the Patriots did. The Colts never responded to Randy’s text, and he had no further communications with the Colts on this matter.”

HERE’S THE TEXT FROM RANDY BROWN TO COACH PAGANO (sent Jan. 16, 2015)

“Make sure the refs rotate the kicking balls cause last week they wouldn’t let our ball in the game. Their ball was done so poorly that it was nearly impossible to kick off deep…It was hard and not worked in well at all…Let Tom (McMahon, Colts special teams coordinator) know he can call me at any time.”

Well then. The Colts already had concerns, according to Ted Wells’ report, dating back to a regular-season game in which safety Mike Adams picked off two passes and the Colts’ staff thought they felt soft. So maybe the Ravens had nothing to do with the fiasco, but since the start they’ve been dragged in as the third team in this mess.

Either way, the story we thought might be dying soon seems like it will never end.