Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh has denied that he played a role in the 'deflategate' scandal that has dominated the build-up to this year's Super Bowl.

Reports have claimed that Harbaugh suggested that the Indianapolis Colts should complain to the league about the New England Patriots using under-inflated balls in the AFC championship game.

Harbaugh told NBC: "I heard all that, I couldn't believe it when I heard it. It's ridiculous, it never happened, I've been, I never made any call, nobody in our organisation made any call.

"As a matter of fact, just to make sure I had all the facts, I called up Chuck Pagano and asked him, 'Did anybody else in our organisation tip you off about deflated footballs?' and he said, 'No way.'

"It never came up, it never crossed my mind, it wasn't even an issue in the [Colts-Patriots] game. I didn't even think about it until I read about it later."

Colts head coach Chuck Pagano is a former assistant coach with the Ravens.