The Patriots’ “Deflategate” controversy won’t keep New Englanders from turning out to cheer for their team Monday morning at the Super Bowl send-off rally planned for City Hall Plaza, according to host Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who says the brouhaha seems blown out of proportion.
“People in Boston and New England are so excited about the Patriots, I think that on Monday, [even] if we have a blizzard, we’re going to have people excited about sending the Patriots off, hopefully coming back with a fourth Super Bowl trophy,” said Walsh, who spoke Saturday after an appearance at the Massachusetts Municipal Association Annual Meeting in Hynes Convention Center.
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As for the controversy, which erupted after reports that footballs used by the Patriots for their AFC Championship game with the Indianapolis Colts were underinflated, the mayor — like many others — was unimpressed.
“As soon as I heard about it in the beginning, I said, ‘Something doesn’t seem right here,’ ” Walsh said. “I haven’t seen any facts that say that there’s any wrongdoing.”
The controversy left Patriots fans and foes alike rolling their eyes Saturday at the Cask ‘n Flagon near Fenway Park.
“I think they did it, but it’s not a big deal because they crushed the Colts,” said Alain Amazan, 29, who lives in Somerville but cheers for the Philadelphia Eagles. The Patriots won the game, 45-7.
“I think it’s silly,” said Patriots fan Matthew Allen, 51, of Wareham, “It doesn’t affect the game.”
On Friday, the National Football League confirmed that the balls used by the Patriots last Sunday did not comply with the rules, which require that balls be inflated to between 12.5 and 13.5 pounds of air pressure per square inch.
The NFL has been investigating the incident since last Monday, but it has not placed blame on any team for intentionally violating the rule. Underinflated balls would likely have been easier for quarterback Tom Brady to grip.
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Both Brady and head coach Bill Belichick have denied knowing anything about how the balls became deflated. On Saturday, Belichick held a press conference where he said his team had conducted its own study of some footballs, and he was certain that the Pats followed all the rules.
While opinions inside the Cask ‘n Flagon were split about whether Brady and Belichick truly were innocent of football-tampering, football fans were unanimous that it just did not matter.
“Having a deflated ball means nothing; if you have talent you have talent,” said Steve Maguschak, 30, a Patriots fan who lives in Natick.
Walsh said that in 30 years as a football fan, he has never even heard of footballs being underinflated. And, he said, it doesn’t seem like there is a proper investigation going on.
“I think they’re making a big issue out of nothing,” he said. “As we get focused on what’s happening, there’s a football game going to be played next Sunday. I think that the team is going to focus on the game, they’re not going focus on all the controversy around it.”
Ben Volin of the Globe staff contri-buted to this report. Evan Allen can be reached at evan.allen@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @evanmallen. Mario Vasquez can be reached at mario.vasquez@globe.com.