Obama: NFL should consider officials controlling game balls

Washington: President Barack Obama is weighing into the controversy over deflated footballs and says the National Football League should be considering how officials can control game balls.

Obama says until the New England Patriots used deflated footballs in the AFC championship game, he didn't realize each team prepares its own footballs and brings them to the game.

He says he's assuming the league is going to figure out how officials will be in charge of the footballs from start to finish.

Obama made the remarks yesterday in an interview during NBC's Super Bowl pregame show.

Obama says the Patriots would have won the game with the Indianapolis Colts regardless of how much the footballs were inflated.

Asked if it was cheating, the president said: "If you break the rules then you break the rules.