There is no way I see Brady being suspended, for even one game. Costas articulated that very well. Plus, there's no way the League is going to give up the ratings from the Season opener and the other prime or feature-time games the Pats are playing; in fact, no one is going to convince me that the League didn't know the direction in which the report was heading when they set the schedule a little while back. So, I really don't think a suspension is in the picture.
So, what's fair when even the 103 day report couldn't find anything more than "more probable than not?"
I think anything more than a fine is unfair. The League can't let it go because some of the texts, etc., are pretty hard to get past if you're not a member of Patriots Nation. Brady's phone calls to what will now almost certainly be the fall guys would also be hard to get past.
The League really has no grounds to penalize the team draft picks for what it is claiming are the actions of an individual player in leading what it claims is a rogue operation when the report exonerated Belichick and his staff and therefore the organization.
So, the only reasonable penalty, in a context where a penalty is inevitable, is a fine payable by Brady.
But, rationality is not something we can safely assume in this case with the media frenzy that starting to build. The sooner the League hands down the penalty, the better. If this drags into next week, Goodell might cave to the feeding frenzy.
