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PHOENIX - NFL officiating chief Dean Blandino says the inspection of the footballs by referee Walt Anderson before the AFC championship game was handled properly. Eric Bailly Jersey .Blandino also said Thursday the process of checking the footballs and security surrounding the inspections will be enhanced for Sundays Super Bowl.As the leagues investigation into the Patriots use of under-inflated footballs moves along, Blandino made it clear the officiating crew for New Englands win over Indianapolis did its job.My major concern is did we follow proper protocol? Blandino said. Everything was properly tested and marked before the game. Walt gauged the footballs himself; it is something he has done throughout his career.Officiating is not part of the investigation.Super Bowl referee Bill Vinovich and his staff will be looking over a lot more footballs this week.Normally, 12 balls per team are brought to the officials locker room before a game, where they are tested and marked by the referee. This week, each team gets 54 footballs — many are given to charity after brief game usage — and all of them will be taken into custody by the NFL on Friday after the Seahawks and Patriots have prepared them.The footballs will be inspected by Vinovich three hours before kickoff, and Blandino said there will be added security because of the environment we are in for this game.It will not quite be like (protecting) the Stanley Cup, but there will be added security, he said.Bears head equipment manager Tony Medlin will be charged with guarding the footballs from Friday until he brings them to the stadium for Vinovich to inspect.Just before kickoff, the footballs will be given to ball boys working the game. The host team for the Super Bowl, in this case the Cardinals, supplies the ball boys, along with one from each of the participating teams.Blandino also promised the league will look into any changes of the specifications for the balls and how they are handled for games. The air pressure is not logged after inspection; the balls simply are marked as having passed, and ones that dont are put aside.Its not unusual for a ball to be removed from circulation, he said.Rules concerning how much air pressure should be in the footballs date back to the 1930s. The league will consult with the manufacturer, Wilson, about the range of air pressure during the off-season.Many of the current procedures were put in place years ago because the league found footballs were being manipulated for the kicking game. Thus, the K-balls that are used only for special teams were introduced to avoid over inflation that helped with the lift on kicks.Blandino understands the furor that has surrounded the deflation issue.Its something thats a good story, he admitted. The NFL is being scrutinized and were at the pinnacle of our game, the Super Bowl, and everything will be magnified.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL ;Luke Shaw Jersey . Millsap will miss Wednesday nights game against the Chicago Bulls. The Hawks say Millsap also will be held out on Thursday at Boston. Anthony Martial Jersey . Phoenix got injured centre Emeka Okafor and a top-12-protected first-round draft pick in 2014 -- giving the rebuilding Suns potentially four choices in the opening round. The Suns also sent guards Kendall Marshall, Shannon Brown and Malcolm Lee to Washington so the deal will work financially.BATHURST, N.B. - Nicholas Blanchard scored the go-ahead goal at 9:58 of the third period and the Acadie-Bathurst Titan held on for a 4-3 win over the Charlottetown Islanders in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action on Sunday.Raphael Corriveau and Mark Simpson had a goal and an assist apiece for the Titan (5-9-0), who outshot their opponent 44-27. Anthony Gingras also scored and Guillaume Brisebois chipped in with two assists.Kameron Kielly, Alexandre Goulet and Mitchell Balmas replied for the Islanders (6-6-2).Jacob Brennan started in net for Acadie-Bathurst, stopping 12 of 15 shots through 40 minutes. Alexandre Lagace was perfect on 12 shots in the third period.Charlottetowns Daryl MacCallum made 40 saves in the losing effort.The Titan were 1 for 2 on the power play while the Islanders scored once on three chances with the man advantage.---REMPARTS 7 SAGUENEENS 2QUEBEC CITY — Adam Erne scored three goals and assisted on another to power the Remparts past the Sagueneens.Nikolas Brouillard and Dmytro Timashov had a goal and two assists apiece for Quebec (8-5-0), and Zachery Moody also scored.Laurent Dauphin and Charles Guevremont replied for Chicoutimi (5-8-1).---PHOENIX 2 VOLTIGEURS 0SHERBROOKE, Que. — Evan Fitzpatrick made 26 saves as the Phoenix blanked the Voltigeurs.Raphael Lafontaine scored a power-play goal and tacked on an assist for West Division-leading Sherbrooke (10-4-0). Kay Schweri also scored.Joe Fleschler kicked aside 31 shots for the Voltiguers (5-5-2).---SCREAMING EAGLES 4 MOOSEHEADS 1SYDNEY, N.S. — Darcy Cameron scored into an empty net at 18:47 of the third period, and picked up two assists to lead Cape Breton over Halifax.Jason Bell, Kyle Farrell and Evgeny Svechnikov also struck for the Screaming Eagles (7-7-1), who scored all four of their goals in the final period. Maxim Lazarev contributed with two helpers.Philippe Gadoury scored the lone goal for the Mooseheads (4-7-2) at 2:40 of the second period. Juan Mata Jersey. ---ARMADA 3 OLYMPIQUES 2BOISBRIAND, Que. — Nikita Jevpalovs scored the eventual winner at 17:12 of the second period to push the Armada past the Olympiques.Danick Martel had a goal and an assist and Yvan Mongo rounded out the offence for Blainville-Boisbriand (6-6-2), which attacked with three straight goals through the first and second periods.Alex Dostie scored the first goal of the game on the power play for Gatineau (7-5-3). Alexis Pepin added another power-play goal at 18:35 of the second period.---DRAKKAR 3 OCEANIC 2 (SO)RIMOUSKI, Que. — Maxime St-Cyr scored the only goal of the shootout to lead the Drakkar over the Oceanic in a battle of the top two East Division teams.Dzmitry Ambrozheichik scored a power-play goal in the second period for Baie-Comeau (9-4-1), and Matthiew Desaultels found the back of the net at 11:59 of the third period to tie the game.Michael Joly and Samuel Laberge scored for the division-leading Oceanic (10-4-1).---TIGRES 4 CATARACTES 3SHAWINIGAN, Que. — Angelo Micelis power-play goal at 6:53 of the second period held up as the winner as the Tigres went on the defeat the Cataractes.Yan Pavel Laplante had a goal and an assist for Victoriaville (7-4-2), and Nikita Li and Antoine Marcoux also scored.Zachary Taylor, Alex Pawelcyz and Anthony Beauvillier responded for Shawinigan (6-7-2). James Phelan and Kris Hodge had two assists apiece.---HUSKIES 5 FOREURS 3VAL-dOR, Que. — Mathieu Lemay scored twice in the third period, including an empty-net goal with 28 seconds to go to cap a Huskies comeback win over the Foreurs.Jeremy Lauzon, Mathieu Boucher, and Francis Perron also struck for Rouyn-Noranda (9-5-0), which trailed 3-2 midway through the final period.Julien Gauthier had a power-play goal for the Foreurs (5-8-1), and Anthony Richard and Stephen Anderson also scored.--- Cheap Jerseys Wholesale Cheap Jerseys Online Stitched Jerseys Wholesale Throwback Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Camo Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Outlet ' ' '
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