NFL Reportedly Investigated Deflated Football Used By Steelers, Rudolph in Preseason Game

Mason Rudolph is all of one preseason game into his NFL career, but he’s already somehow managed to find himself inadvertently entangled in a faux Deflategate 2.0.

According to Howard Eskin, a popular sports radio voice out of Philadelphia who was working sideline duty Thursday, the NFL is investigating what is believed to be a deflated football used in Thursday night’s Steelers-Eagles game. The ball, according to Eskin, was discovered in the third quarter when Rudolph was under center and looked like a “marshmallow.”

During #Eagles #steelers pre season game their was at least one Pittsburgh football found that was VERY deflated . The #NFL has the Football and is investigating. I saw the FB after incompletion and it was like a marshmallow. @SportsRadioWIP

— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) August 10, 2018

Deflategate was (and still is!) a hot topic that originated in the 2015 AFC Championship game when the NFL determined the New England Patriots were deflating balls to gain an advantage. Tom Brady was slapped with a four-game suspension for the incident, and the Pats were forced to give up two draft picks along with a hefty fine.

Thursday night’s game was just a preseason game, though, and according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, an investigation has determined that all footballs were in compliance sans for the defective marshmallow Eskin detected.

From NFL on PIT-PHL game: “All footballs were in compliance with NFL rules following the pregame inspection process and all proper procedures were followed. In 3rd quarter, a football that was found to be defective, removed from play and will be sent back to Wilson for review."

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) August 10, 2018

We’ll keep this post updated, but this may be little more than a deflated Eagles sideline reporter trying to make news of a non-story after Philly’s 31-14 loss to open up the preseason.