“Saturday Night Live” went balls to the wall with a “Deflategate” spoof this weekend during the show’s cold open.
The NBC sketch comedy show poked fun at the National Football League’s latest controversy with an “Inside The NFL” segment. The skit featured Patriots head coach Bill Belichick (played by Beck Bennett) denying any knowledge of under-inflated footballs at the AFC championship game, before throwing the team’s quarterback Tom Brady under the bus.
“I love him like a son, just more of an estranged son that I wouldn’t trust around footballs,” fake Belichick said.
Brady (portrayed by Taran Killam) appeared perplexed in the skit, saying the issue was “above his pay grade.”
“Look, all I know is that a football is a pigskin, so I just assumed that the air in the football is how much air was inside the pig when it died,” he said.
The spoof followed Saturday’s real-life news conference at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., where Belichick insisted there was no wrongdoing.
“At no time was there any intent whatsoever to try to compromise the integrity of
Two days earlier Brady also denied involvement in under-inflating the team’s footballs — which would make them easier to catch — at another strange press briefing, where he made constant “balls” references.
“SNL” tackled both news conferences in an episode hosted by country music star and “The Voice” judge Blake Shelton.
By the way, the Patriots will battle the Seattle Seahawks at Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday, Feb. 1.