Congratulations Commissioner - You Got Him
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell finally got his man on Tuesday, opting to let Tom Brady's suspension stand at four games despite Brady's appeal last month, hanging guilt on the veteran quarterback for reportedly destroying his cell phone shortly after the investigation into this whole entire ridiculous mess began earlier this year.
In Goodell's ruling, which spans 20 similarly glorious pages filled with all kinds of fun facts just like the Wells Report (and an astonishing amount of footnotes to try and combat almost every argument made against him during this debacle), the NFL commissioner seemingly ignored the 10 hours of testimony and evidence that was given during last month's appeal on June 23rd, which he said resulted in a transcript that spanned more than 450 pages long. Instead he fixated on what he felt was "the most significant new information that emerged in connection with the appeal evidence."
According to Goodell, Brady instructed his assistant to destroy the cellphone that he had been using since early November 2014, which was "a period that included the AFC Championship Game and the initial weeks of the subsequent investigation." The report states, "Mr. Brady knew that Mr. Wells and his team had requested information from that cellphone in connection with their investigation," and the fact that his cellphone was destroyed wasn't disclosed until months later during the hearing appears to be the deciding factor.
So at the end of the day, much like how this all started, Goodell and Ted Wells were hung up on the contents of what might have been on the quarterback's phone. This despite the fact they got everything they wanted in the early part of the investigation from both Patriots employees John Jastremski and James McNally and the fact that none of the messages mentioned in the report ever deliberately talked about breaking league rules.
Brady has remained quiet throughout this entire process, only stating during an appearance at Salem State that he would say something "soon." But following the announcement by the NFL on Tuesday, his agent, Don Yee, had some scathing words about how this has been handled.
"The appeal process was a sham, resulting in the Commissioner rubber-stamping his own decision," said Yee in his statement via ESPN Boston. "For example, the Wells investigative team was given over 100 days to conduct its investigation. Just days prior to the appeal hearing, we were notified that we would only have four hours to present a defense; therefore, we didn’t have enough time to examine important witnesses. Likewise, it was represented to the public that the Wells team was 'independent'; however, when we requested documents from Wells, our request was rejected on the basis of privilege. We therefore had no idea as to what Wells found from other witnesses, nor did we know what those other witnesses said. These are just two examples of how the Commissioner failed to ensure a fair process."
But the other issue of cooperation and being transparent, which seems to be the basket Goodell is placing all his eggs in as he continues working to bring down the guy he handed the Lombardi Trophy to just a few months ago, is what he's seemingly deeming to be the biggest problem he had with Brady and gives that as his reason in being able to impose the suspension. Yee appears to vehemently disagree, pointing out it's a fact which seems to make little sense as he said they turned over an "unprecedented amount of electronic data".
"Finally, as to the issue of cooperation, we presented the Commissioner with an unprecedented amount of electronic data, all of which is incontrovertible," said Yee. "I do not think that any private citizen would have agreed to provide anyone with the amount of information that Tom was willing to reveal to the Commissioner. Tom was completely transparent. All of the electronic information was ignored; we don’t know why. "
However, it appears there will be a response coming, with Yee saying, "The extent to which Tom opened up his private life to the Commissioner will become clear in the coming days."
The fact Brady destroyed his cell phone may appear damning on the outside, but Brady admitted that anytime he gets a new phone it's a common practice for him to request an assistant to destroy the phone and SIM card. Given what celebrities and public figures can be subjected to, it seems fairly logical.
But if you want to look at it the other way and question the validity of that argument, you can, but given everything that's already transpired, this was simply a no-win situation. After all, look at the seemingly harmless information and texts that have already been misconstrued to this point that have put Brady in this situation, and the league already had access to those through Jastremski and McNally's phones. They didn't need Brady's phone for that.
Yet that's what seems to have made up Goodell's mind when he oversaw the appeal and he wasted no time in making sure the NFLPA will have a rough road ahead in overturning the decision in federal court. According to Scott Soshnick of Bloomberg, the league struck fast after the announcement, filing a preemptive lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan, trying to solidify the outcome of the appeal and effectively slam the door on getting it overturned.
In the ruling Goodell said that his findings "more than satisfy" the "more probable than not" standard needed to suspend the Patriots QB, "especially taking into account the credibility of the witnesses, including Mr. Brady, which I had ample opportunity to evaluate at the hearing."
So there you go. He thinks Brady is a liar and for now he's nailed him, unless the NFLPA can overturn it.
"I find that with respect to the game balls used in the AFC Championship Game and the subsequent investigation, Mr. Brady engaged in conduct detrimental to the integrity of, and public confidence in, the game of professional football," said Goodell in the ruling.
In Goodell's mind, he views the discipline imposed as "not excessive or without precedent", comparing it to New Orleans Saints Joe Vitt's six-game suspension during BountyGate and saying it helps "reinforce my conclusion" when it comes to Brady's four-game ban.
Somewhere he's likely sitting there feeling pretty good about how this all played out. After all, he didn't fare well in those recent appeal cases against players involving domestic violence of women and children or guys within the game who were physically trying to injure other players, so he made sure he didn't make that same mistake this time.
Instead, he was thorough, took over a month to make sure he got everything absolutely perfect, and then showed the world how in charge he is by nailing a guy he thinks might have "been generally aware" of someone potentially letting 1 psi out of a football without any concrete evidence that it actually occurred.
Well done, Commissioner.
So for now, he got his man, while proving even further that it's "more probable than not" his priorities are too far gone to try and make sense of any of anything he does any more.
And for Brady, it looks like it's on to federal court.
