I’m not sure Belichick will have to do much of anything to use Deflategate to motivate the players. First, it’s the Super Bowl, so they’re going to be hyped REGARDLESS. But as we saw in 2007, controversies like this have a way of igniting a fire in a team to not only win, but to prove a point.
The thing with Spygate was that they were guilty. They broke the rules and paid a stiff price for it. Even then it filled the team with rage to prove everyone calling for asterisks and such wrong.
Now I don’t even know what Deflategate is. We’re waiting on the NFL to decide that, but as of this moment, it seems like this is a controversy whipped out of something so minute that it can’t help but make the Patriots team feel like they’re in the middle of a witch hunt.
The “us against the world” theme often feels manufactured, but in this case the Patriots have a every right to feel that way and I expect an impressive performance from them.