On January 18, 2015, with 9:21 left in the second quarter of the AFC Championship Game, Indianapolis Colts linebacker D’Qwell Jackson intercepted Tom Brady’s intended pass for Rob Gronkowski.
Though at the time the turnover had implications in a game deciding which team would represent the AFC in the Super Bowl, its short term ramifications paled in comparison to the long term chain of events it inadvertently set off.
Jackson took the ball to the sideline, where he gave it to the Colts’ equipment staff. From there, the story took a life of its own. The Colts used the football, which they found to be under-inflated, to start the “Deflategate” saga.