All of the NFL sucks in this thread is hilarious. As noted, it’s the rule, “always” has been.
Why?
Fights/injuries in the stands.
Finite # of balls/team/game. I’d have to go back to deflategate to get the number of balls each team prepares before a game. 7? 10? Might seem like a lot, but not in a bad weather game.
Because of deflategate I believe that the balls need to be made available to the refs post game.
Maybe Josh tossed an under inflated ball into the stands?