Ravens coach John Harbaugh denies calling Colts about Patriots' footballs

"I heard all that, I couldn't believe it when I heard it," Harbaugh said Sunday afternoon on NBC during a Super Bowl pregame show when asked about the reports that the Ravens called the Colts. "It's ridiculous. It never happened. I never made any call. Nobody in our organization made any call.

"Just to make sure I had all the facts, I called [Colts coach] Chuck Pagano this week and asked him, 'Did anybody else in our organization tip you off about any deflated footballs?' And he said, 'No way.'"

There have been reports that the Colts first noticed the deflated footballs when former Maryland linebacker D'Qwell Jackson intercepted a pass by Tom Brady and handed it to an equipment manager.

Harbaugh reiterated that the Ravens had no problems with the footballs during their AFC divisional-round loss to the Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

"It never came up," Harbaugh said. "It never crossed my mind. It wasn't even an issue during the game. I didn't even think about it until I read about it later."

awilson@baltsun.com

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