Patriots QB Tom Brady's DeflateGate Appeal Looms
After over five months and a multi-million dollar investigation, Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will meet as the Patriots quarterback starts the process of appealing his four-game suspension.
Brady will reportedly be in New York for the appeal, which is scheduled for 9:30am on Tuesday and will likely challenge the Wells Report, which most feel failed to provide any significant evidence to prove Brady knowingly asked for the footballs to be inflated below the legal limit, or that anything illegal was done at all after a flawed analysis as it pertains the Ideal Gas Law.
A recent report by AEI took it even a step further, which concluded that it is "unlikely that the Patriots deflated the footballs," pointing out the difference between how much time had passed as the Colts footballs warmed while the officials were testing the Patriots' footballs, which seemingly explained why the ones from Indianapolis were within the limits, while New England's were below.
For the most part the Wells report deals with assumptions and throughout the 243-page report, it fails to come up with any real damning evidence aside from a few cryptic text messages between two Patriots employees who complained about the stringent standards Brady has when it comes to the preparations of the footballs, yet never discusses any real illegal activity or that Brady had any request for them to do anything outside the NFL rule book.
 Brady will finally sit down with Goodell on Tuesday. (USA TODAY Images) |
The penalty seemed to hinge on the 90 seconds spent in the bathroom by Jim McNally and that with two bags of footballs, McNally had the time to take air out of them before putting them all back in the bag and exiting on his way to the field.
In a report released by the team last month, they claim video footage shows that at no time did McNally act out of the ordinary on his way into the bathroom, or when he exited. With so much at stake, one would believe that he would have shown more haste and intent on trying to get a job like that done, yet that wasn't the case.
But for now Goodell isn't backing down and the two will finally face off Tuesday morning as the process begins to hopefully overturn Brady's suspension. Reports have said the veteran quarterback is looking to not only have the penalty removed, but that he's not accepting any less than full "exoneration". When this whole debacle began Patriots owner Robert Kraft said he'd be looking for an apology if the team was found to be cleared of any wrongdoing. After later backing down to "end the rhetoric", it's now in Brady's hands as he takes on Goodell in what will likely be one of the most significant moments during this process.
Everything seems to indicate he's prepared to see it through. Brady's a guy who hates to lose, and hopefully this is a challenge he's able to win after an investigation that hasn't proven anything, other than the fact the league needs to acknowledge that they failed to gather all the facts before damaging the legacy of one of the greatest players that represents it.
Let's face it, Goodell should have done the right thing and looked at the Wells report and realized he needed more than "more probable than not" before imposing this type of penalty. Instead, he took what Wells gave him and ran with it, which now has the NFLPA and Brady's lawyers hell-bent on taking him on and potentially bringing a situation that he's essentially created to the point of no return, and now it may reach a level he's not going to like.
Hopefully for Brady's sake, they know what they're doing. He seems adamant that he did nothing wrong, and accusing an innocent person is never a good thing, especially when there certainly doesn't seem to be enough in terms of facts to back up what he's been charged with.
Fortunately, he'll finally get his first chance to defend himself Tuesday.
