QB's upset with slickness of new NFL footballs?

[Karak567]

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"Several NFL quarterbacks have been complaining about the slickness of the Wilson Sporting Goods-manufactured footballs the NFL is using this season, according to the PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS.

The same complaint can be heard in almost every locker room. Quarterbacks and team equipment managers have been voicing their displeasure to Wilson and the league since the first shipment of footballs, with new commissioner Roger Goodell's signature on them, arrived just before the season.

"The ball definitely is slicker than what it used to be," Eagles equipment manager John Hatfield said. "There's still a problem with them."

Hatfield and three other NFL equipment managers that the Daily News spoke with all said the quarterbacks' complaints are justified. "They had a problem this summer up in Ohio where they make the balls," Hatfield said. "They had a humidity problem in the curing process [of the leather]."

Wilson, which has been the exclusive provider of footballs for the NFL since 1941, usually produces most of its footballs earlier in the year, when the Ohio weather is cooler and they have a bigger batch of balls from which to select the 720 "NFL-worthy" balls they send to each team. But after Goodell was named commissioner on Aug. 8, the league informed Wilson it wanted a whole new supply of Goodell-signature balls delivered to teams in time for the start of the regular season.

Doug Wisner, a marketing analyst for Wilson footballs, acknowledged that a summer heat wave in Ohio affected the production of the Goodell footballs.

"When there's a humidity problem, what happens is the pebble definition [on the ball] isn't as great," he said. "That did occur this summer. There was a big heat wave right when we were producing the footballs. It's not that it made the balls slick. But the pebble definition wasn't as great, which makes the ball slicker. Basically, after they brushed them down, they did have a slicker ball. But after Week 3 or 4, we didn't hear many complaints."

Wilson initially thought the NFL would use the old Paul Tagliabue-signature balls for much, if not all, of this season. But the league made it clear both to Wilson and its teams that that wasn't an option. They had a new commissioner and they would open the season with Goodell footballs, even if they were slicker than a greased pig.

Surprisingly, the slick ball hasn't seemed to have hurt player performance this season. Through 15 weeks, average completion percentage actually is up slightly over last year at this time (from 59.5 to 60.0). Fumbles have dropped from 709 after 15 weeks last season to 676 this year. Same with dropped passes. According to STATS, there were 820 drops last season. Through 15 weeks this season, there have been only 661, which projects to 755 for the season."