Civil engineer here.

So the league that did nothing but accuse the Patriots of stuff all summer, suddenly decides to release a statement blaming last night’s incident as a routine, plausible mechanical error, because...for the lulz?

If I remember correctly, the Wells report had texts between the attendants talking about that game. Basically, Brady was pissed because the football was quite obviously different than he normally likes it. When the attendants measured the balls after the game, it turned out the refs had apparently inflated the balls…