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Yes, each team gets to prep its own balls.
Here's an interesting article from 2013, about all the detailed prep that goes into making Eli Manning's balls just the way he like them.
Here's an interesting article from 2013, about all the detailed prep that goes into making Eli Manning's balls just the way he like them.
Eli Manning’s Footballs Are Months in Making
By BILL PENNINGTON - NOV. 23, 2013
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — When Eli Manning drops back to throw his first pass Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys, the football in his hands will be as familiar as an old friend.
That is because the ball has been scoured, scrubbed, soaked and seasoned, a breaking-in process that takes months and ensures that every ball used by the Giants in a game will meet Manning’s exact preferences. The leather will have been softened, the grip enhanced and the overall feel painstakingly assessed.
There are no new balls thrown around in an N.F.L. game. A new ball, despised for its sheen and waxy gloss, is as popular as a late hit.
For every N.F.L. game, each team has 12 to 20 balls that it has meticulously groomed and prepared according to the needs of its starting quarterback. The balls, brushed and primed using various obvious and semisecret techniques, bear the team logo and are switched out from sideline to sideline depending on which team is on offense.
That means that from series to series, the ball in play can feel wholly different, but each team’s quarterback always has a ball prepped by his equipment staff the way he likes it.
Nothing is left to chance. The Giants, for example, have a special set of a dozen pregame practice balls so Manning can warm up with footballs that will feel exactly the same as the game balls, which are inspected and approved by the game officials before play starts.
In all, there are always about 36 specially marked Eli Manning balls sequestered and protected in four large ball bags. If a coach looking for a ball at practice should unwittingly approach one of the bags, the team’s equipment director, Joe Skiba, will pounce: “Get away, those are Eli’s game balls.”
Skiba added: “No one is allowed to touch those balls. They’re precious jewels. Too much work has gone into them.”
When the Giants play away games, the balls are kept in a special trunk, although it is not labeled “Game Balls.” That might lead to sabotage.
There are all kinds of peculiar rituals and routines before an N.F.L. game — carried out by pregame pad inspectors, the uniform police, sideline communications system overseers — but perhaps no piece of the game within the game receives as much attention as the football.
In the case of the Giants, preparing the game balls used from September to December begins in summer training camp.
The Giants will start with six to seven dozen new footballs. Sorting through them, Skiba and his brother, Ed, the assistant equipment director, will give each ball a once-over.
“I’ll know as soon as I pick up a ball whether it could be a ball that Eli might like some day or whether it’s a ball he’ll never like,” Ed Skiba said.
The Skibas, who grew up in Paramus, N.J., have been with the Giants since the 1990s, serving myriad quarterbacks. Manning, like most, knows what he wants in a football.
“I want a brand new ball that feels like it’s 10 years old,” Manning said Wednesday. “You want it to feel like it’s been in your house for 10 years, where you’ve been playing Saturday afternoon games with it for a long time.
“I want it broken in but it should still have nubs on it. The process has gotten better as we’ve changed some schemes and techniques. We’ve honed in what works.”
The Skibas explained the Giants’ procedure.
■ The new ball is rubbed vigorously for 45 minutes with a dark brush, which removes the wax and darkens the leather.
■ Next, a wet towel is used to scour the ball until the ball’s outer surface is soaked through.
“You’re not done until the ball is waterlogged and water will no longer bead on it,” Ed Skiba said.
■ While the ball is wet, it is brushed again.
■ Then the ball is taken over to an electric spin wheel, where it undergoes another high-speed scrubbing.
At this point, the ball is put aside overnight. Then the process is repeated twice over the next couple of days.
About five days after it was removed from its box, the ball might go into the rotation of footballs used in a Giants practice. The goal is to get the new balls banged around, thrown and dropped in the grass and dirt. The players rough up the ball and sweat on it, which helps the aging.
In practice, various balls are in varying stages of being broken in — curing like a pigskin — and all the while, the Skibas are feeling the footballs, waiting to see if one might qualify for Manning’s special bag of footballs.
“You’re always looking for pearls, chasing after the perfect one,” Joe Skiba said. “Meanwhile, every ball Eli is practicing with feels very much like the game balls. So they’re candidates, too. Sometimes he’ll turn around and flip one to me and say, ‘That’s a good one.’ Sometimes, he wants me to throw a ball away, too.
“And we never let him throw a ball in a game that he hasn’t already thrown in practice and liked.”
The rate of attrition in the prized collection of game balls is significant. Receivers catch touchdown passes and keep the balls for souvenirs. Balls are intercepted and taken to the opposing sideline. And the system is not perfect. Ball boys are supposed to make sure the balls are properly rotated during changes of possession, but there are glitches.
When the Giants were at Kansas City earlier this year, safety Antrel Rolle picked off a pass and took the ball to the bench as a souvenir. It had a Giants logo on it. The Chiefs had apparently not substituted their ball when their offense came onto the field. No wonder it was intercepted.
Manning said he has never gotten the wrong ball in a game.
“I would know,” he said.
There are also balls used exclusively by the kickers. By league mandate, these balls can be rubbed and prepped for 45 minutes as the game referees watch before the game.
The Skibas have nothing to do with those balls. They are too busy hoarding their specially marked Eli footballs.
“We have people come down from the front office wanting a football to get autographed for a charity,” Joe Skiba said. “And they’ll say, ‘I’ll just take one of the used ones.’ And we’ll say: ‘Are you crazy? Take a new one. The used ones are too valuable.’ ”
By BILL PENNINGTON - NOV. 23, 2013
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — When Eli Manning drops back to throw his first pass Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys, the football in his hands will be as familiar as an old friend.
That is because the ball has been scoured, scrubbed, soaked and seasoned, a breaking-in process that takes months and ensures that every ball used by the Giants in a game will meet Manning’s exact preferences. The leather will have been softened, the grip enhanced and the overall feel painstakingly assessed.
There are no new balls thrown around in an N.F.L. game. A new ball, despised for its sheen and waxy gloss, is as popular as a late hit.
For every N.F.L. game, each team has 12 to 20 balls that it has meticulously groomed and prepared according to the needs of its starting quarterback. The balls, brushed and primed using various obvious and semisecret techniques, bear the team logo and are switched out from sideline to sideline depending on which team is on offense.
That means that from series to series, the ball in play can feel wholly different, but each team’s quarterback always has a ball prepped by his equipment staff the way he likes it.
Nothing is left to chance. The Giants, for example, have a special set of a dozen pregame practice balls so Manning can warm up with footballs that will feel exactly the same as the game balls, which are inspected and approved by the game officials before play starts.
In all, there are always about 36 specially marked Eli Manning balls sequestered and protected in four large ball bags. If a coach looking for a ball at practice should unwittingly approach one of the bags, the team’s equipment director, Joe Skiba, will pounce: “Get away, those are Eli’s game balls.”
Skiba added: “No one is allowed to touch those balls. They’re precious jewels. Too much work has gone into them.”
When the Giants play away games, the balls are kept in a special trunk, although it is not labeled “Game Balls.” That might lead to sabotage.
There are all kinds of peculiar rituals and routines before an N.F.L. game — carried out by pregame pad inspectors, the uniform police, sideline communications system overseers — but perhaps no piece of the game within the game receives as much attention as the football.
In the case of the Giants, preparing the game balls used from September to December begins in summer training camp.
The Giants will start with six to seven dozen new footballs. Sorting through them, Skiba and his brother, Ed, the assistant equipment director, will give each ball a once-over.
“I’ll know as soon as I pick up a ball whether it could be a ball that Eli might like some day or whether it’s a ball he’ll never like,” Ed Skiba said.
The Skibas, who grew up in Paramus, N.J., have been with the Giants since the 1990s, serving myriad quarterbacks. Manning, like most, knows what he wants in a football.
“I want a brand new ball that feels like it’s 10 years old,” Manning said Wednesday. “You want it to feel like it’s been in your house for 10 years, where you’ve been playing Saturday afternoon games with it for a long time.
“I want it broken in but it should still have nubs on it. The process has gotten better as we’ve changed some schemes and techniques. We’ve honed in what works.”
The Skibas explained the Giants’ procedure.
■ The new ball is rubbed vigorously for 45 minutes with a dark brush, which removes the wax and darkens the leather.
■ Next, a wet towel is used to scour the ball until the ball’s outer surface is soaked through.
“You’re not done until the ball is waterlogged and water will no longer bead on it,” Ed Skiba said.
■ While the ball is wet, it is brushed again.
■ Then the ball is taken over to an electric spin wheel, where it undergoes another high-speed scrubbing.
At this point, the ball is put aside overnight. Then the process is repeated twice over the next couple of days.
About five days after it was removed from its box, the ball might go into the rotation of footballs used in a Giants practice. The goal is to get the new balls banged around, thrown and dropped in the grass and dirt. The players rough up the ball and sweat on it, which helps the aging.
In practice, various balls are in varying stages of being broken in — curing like a pigskin — and all the while, the Skibas are feeling the footballs, waiting to see if one might qualify for Manning’s special bag of footballs.
“You’re always looking for pearls, chasing after the perfect one,” Joe Skiba said. “Meanwhile, every ball Eli is practicing with feels very much like the game balls. So they’re candidates, too. Sometimes he’ll turn around and flip one to me and say, ‘That’s a good one.’ Sometimes, he wants me to throw a ball away, too.
“And we never let him throw a ball in a game that he hasn’t already thrown in practice and liked.”
The rate of attrition in the prized collection of game balls is significant. Receivers catch touchdown passes and keep the balls for souvenirs. Balls are intercepted and taken to the opposing sideline. And the system is not perfect. Ball boys are supposed to make sure the balls are properly rotated during changes of possession, but there are glitches.
When the Giants were at Kansas City earlier this year, safety Antrel Rolle picked off a pass and took the ball to the bench as a souvenir. It had a Giants logo on it. The Chiefs had apparently not substituted their ball when their offense came onto the field. No wonder it was intercepted.
Manning said he has never gotten the wrong ball in a game.
“I would know,” he said.
There are also balls used exclusively by the kickers. By league mandate, these balls can be rubbed and prepped for 45 minutes as the game referees watch before the game.
The Skibas have nothing to do with those balls. They are too busy hoarding their specially marked Eli footballs.
“We have people come down from the front office wanting a football to get autographed for a charity,” Joe Skiba said. “And they’ll say, ‘I’ll just take one of the used ones.’ And we’ll say: ‘Are you crazy? Take a new one. The used ones are too valuable.’ ”
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