There are many crazy theories on this situation, and here is an interesting one- If footballs were warmed up and filled with air in a very hot room, such as a sauna, wouldn't you initially get a high PSI reading if they were tested right away? Once they are back in colder temperatures, the pressure would slowly go down to the point where Brady likes by game time (11 PSI or so), but would still pass the ref's initial inspection 2.5 hrs before the game?
Maybe getting a little carried away here with crazy ideas, but the consensus seems to be that it would be near impossible to tamper with the footballs after submitting them to the ref. This would be a clever way of deflating the balls in a way that could arguably not be called tampering after the inspection?
Brief article on this idea-
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...ing-footballs/