“That was the first time we’ve done the victory formation, I believe this year, to take a knee to end it, and I wanted to keep that. There’s a little boy that's been very sick that has been on my website, and has been checking in…and I want to send that to him.†-- Ben, post-game when asked why he kept the game ball. October 21, 2012.
You can see how tightly Ben held on to that football after the game -