Two, four, six, eight. Who gets a pass on DeflateGate?
Two, four, six, eight. Who gets a pass on DeflateGate?
Tom Brady.
On Thursday, a federal judge spiked the NFL’s four-game suspension against New England Patriots quarterback for his role in the ball-tampering scheme that came to light in this year’s AFC title game.
That means Brady is eligible to play in next week’s season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Social media quickly changed his nickname from “Tom Terrific” to “Teflon Tom.”
A four-month investigation commissioned by the NFL concluded in May that two Patriots equipment handlers deliberately and routinely deflated game balls to make them easier to throw and catch, and that Brady was “at least generally aware” of it.
Brady said no, he wasn’t.
U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman didn’t take sides in that argument.
He vacated the penalty, he said, because the NFL has no policy or precedent that suggests a player could be hit with a four-game suspension for participating in a scheme to deflate footballs — or for looking the other way when others did it.
There’s no precedent for suspending a player for obstructing an investigation, either, the judge ruled. That lets Brady off the hook for having an assistant destroy his cellphone before meeting with investigators.
The Patriots were fined $1 million and lost two draft picks because of the scandal, but the real losers here are the game and its fans.
This wasn’t some playground dust-up about whether the blue team’s player laid both hands on the red team’s player in two-hand touch, after all. This was about which NFL team would advance to Super Bowl XLIX. The team with the underinflated balls won, 45-7.
During the second quarter of that AFC title game, though, an Indianapolis Colts player intercepted a squishy ball thrown by Brady, and DeflateGate was born.
Three months after Brady was named Super Bowl MVP, the NFL’s investigation put a big, fat asterisk next to that win. Its report suggests Brady was far more than “generally aware” of the cheating. In text messages turned over to investigators, locker room attendant Jim McNally and equipment assistant John Jastremski discussed the routine for deflating the balls, groused about the quarterback’s nitpicking and negotiated about the delivery of autographed swag.
Brady made sure investigators didn’t see what was on his phone. Draw your own conclusions about that.
Judge Berman had other reasons to spike the league’s case. He agreed with Brady’s lawyers, who argued they should have been allowed to cross-examine the NFL’s general counsel — one of the lead investigators — and that they weren’t given adequate access to the league’s files. That’s just outright bungling by the NFL. It was enough to kill the case by itself.
As for that business about Brady being blindsided by the possibility he’d be punished, well, you can blame the NFL for that, too. The league has a well-earned reputation for slapping the wrists of players for much worse behavior. It’s no wonder the judge’s search for precedent came up empty.
So, Brady gets the victory. But talk about winning ugly.
— Chicago Tribune