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 Until the New England Patriots' blowout victory in the AFC
championship, game-day balls were seldom given a second thought but
are now the subject of an NFL investigation.
Everything from who has access to the balls, to the process for
selecting them and the inflation figures have been debated.
"Maybe everyone would think you should have seen it before but I
never checked on how the whole process of how our footballs were
handled until this week," Carroll told reporters.
"This one has not been looked at as maybe intently as it is now. I
know every step of it now. ... So my awareness is up. It will never
be the same because of what just happened."
Each year, 700,000 footballs are produced for official NFL use,
including 72 that will be used in Sunday's Super Bowl in Glendale,
Arizona, between New England and Seattle.
 Given the current scandal, those 72 balls are likely to come under
intense scrutiny.
As is custom, the NFL's procedure for selecting Super Bowl balls,
which must be inflated to between 12.5 and 13.5 pounds per square
inch, will differ from other games during the season.
Both teams' quarterbacks will still be allowed to select the balls
they want to use but, after that, independent equipment managers and
ball attendants will handle the footballs.
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"Like many aspects of our policies and procedures, there are
modifications for the Super Bowl," NFL spokesman Michael Signora
said in a statement.
"At the Super Bowl, the equipment manager of another team (Bears,
Tony Medlin) is in charge of the game balls and arranging for the
ball attendant crews, which are hired before the Super Bowl teams
are determined.
"The officials will maintain strict control of the game balls for
the Super Bowl."
Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson only concerns when it comes to
footballs is that he has one to throw.
"In terms of the football pregame, I just want to have a football
out there to throw. That’s all I look forward to," said Wilson.
(Editing by Frank Pingue)
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