Though the Wells Report said it was just more likely than not, or was “generally aware” that Brady was a participant in the deflating of the football, Goodell went much further. “Mr. Brady knew about, approved of, consented to, and provided inducements and rewards” supporting a system of tampering with the game balls, Goodell wrote.
So many questions are left this morning. The biggest: What are Brady’s chances in court? It's a fool's exercise to try to predict what will happen when the case goes before a judge, of course, but two points to consider here. The NFL is seeking to have Goodell’s appeal upheld in federal court in New York—friendlier than it would be, say, in New England if that’s where Brady’s side intends to seek relief for the quarterback. This is precedent-setting, the NFL seeking a favorable venue to simply rule the league has done the right thing. Two league people could not remember that ever happening before, and certainly not in Goodell’s nine-year tenure. “The league’s playing offense now, not defense, the way it was with the Rice case,” one club official said Tuesday night.
One legal expert suggested Tuesday night that Brady should be careful what he wishes for. If he barges ahead with the case in a venue such as New York—where a judge might not be inclined to enjoin the league, period, but likely wouldn’t agree to push a hearing back by six months, until the end of the NFL season—he would risk losing and being suspended for four games late in the season. Or even having the ban leak into January.
For now, Brady has to face the real possibility of something that’s happened roughly two games out of every 10 in his illustrious career.
Losing.
