The reality is, this could someday happen to them and the precedent has now been set.<\/p>\n
When it comes to the players and owners, the owners may be the ones with the money and the power, but the players seem to be the ones with the most leverage when it comes right down to protecting themselves from unfair treatment. \u00a0Watching the\u00a0NFLPA \u00a0step in and seeing Jeffrey Kessler’s\u00a0job representing Brady during his time in court has been masterful, with Kessler doing a great job pointing out the unfairness in the process by the league toward one of their biggest stars and getting the judge to take notice. \u00a0Most seemed to be split when it came to predicting the eventual\u00a0outcome of\u00a0the case, but it doesn’t change the fact that the odds were enough in Brady’s favor where he\u00a0had\u00a0a shot at winning, although it’s not completely over just yet. \u00a0However, it’s a quiet reminder that the owners don’t seem to have the luxury to fight back as easily.<\/p>\n
\n![](\"http:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/images\/us-presswire\/600w\/2014-Super-Bowl-Robert-Kraft-Press-Conference-600w.jpg\") The Patriots punishment regarding DeflateGate could prove problematic someday for other owners.<\/strong><\/font>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n Most fans hit the ceiling the day Robert Kraft stood in front of the cameras and “reluctantly” accepted the punishment of losing two draft picks by Goodell, as he tried to\u00a0do the right thing by accepting the loss of their 1st and 4th round picks for the good of the league. \u00a0That set off a firestorm locally that didn’t sit well, and one would guess there were plenty of owners out there who dislike the sustained success this team has had and were pleased with the outcome. \u00a0After all, it didn’t happen to them, so it has no effect on their immediate future.<\/p>\n But now that it’s happened, the door has been opened for it to happen again. \u00a0This is a league that loves precedents, especially when it works in their favor. \u00a0Unlike the players, if an owner wants to go to court, which is something that past history has shown they tend to be very reluctant to do, there doesn’t seem to be much\u00a0of an option should their team ever get hit with a similar penalty.<\/p>\n Let’s be honest, there’s enough reason to believe nothing happened at all on that night back in January, and being punished for something that didn’t happen is completely unfair and unreasonable. \u00a0But fair and just are long gone and don’t seem to be factors any more. Brady beat Goodell in court and was out on the field to start the season,\u00a0but the draft picks for the Patriots in 2016 are gone. \u00a0That’s a sad fact considering they were potentially taken away without cause, especially considering the lack of proof of any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n But that’s going to be something that could happen to any other team going forward. \u00a0The other owners can smile all they want and take glee seeing the misery that continues in Foxboro. \u00a0But it’s all fun and games until the day comes and suddenly it’s their team possibly being penalized for something one of their players may or may not have been “generally aware of.”<\/p>\n Then we’ll see how much they’re smiling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s been surprising to see just how many owners around the league seem to be hoping the Patriots are dealt the blow of having to open the 2015 season without their star quarterback, but looking closer it appears many of them don’t realize the damage this whole mess has already done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patriots-commentary"],"yoast_head":"\n |