SIDELINED
In suspending Brady for 4 games and punishing the Patriots over ‘Deflategate,’ the NFL got it right
Justice isn’t always served in the NFL, a league that’s been known to waffle, windsock and occasionally look the other way. This time, Commissioner Roger Goodell got it right. The four-game suspension of Tom Brady as punishment for the New England Patriots’ “Deflategate” scandal feels like justice. It’s serious enough to brand the league’s golden boy as a cheater, complicit in deflating game balls and thereby breaking rules before the AFC Championship Game in January. And that’s what Brady did.
He tried to rig the game leading to the Super Bowl to his advantage. Not cool.
The NFL hit the Patriots organization even harder, treating it as a repeat offender. New England must pay a record $1 million fine and forfeit two valuable draft picks: a first-round selection in 2016 and a fourth-round pick in 2017.
This is an organization that was previously fined $250,000 in 2007 for the “Spygate” scandal, in which the team was found to have illegally videotaped an opponent’s defensive signals during a game. Its coach, Bill Belichick, was also fined $500,000. In a published letter sent to Brady on Monday, the NFL actually cited “the club’s prior record.” It also scolded Brady for actions that “clearly constitute conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the game of football.”
Heavy stuff. And shortly after the announcement, Cardinals star Patrick Peterson tweeted, “Well done @nfl.”
Yet the Brady penalty is not absurdly long, either. Some believe
the suspension will be reduced on appeal. Meanwhile, the Patriots always flourish in these situations, when the resourcefulness of Belichick seems to regularly supplement the loss of individual talent.
The Patriots went 11-5 without an injured Brady in 2008. That season, with Matt Cassel at quarterback, they beat Arizona 47-7. That Cardinals team ended up in the Super Bowl.
At worst, Brady returns to face his accusers in time for a Sunday night showdown against the Colts, the Patriots’ opponent in the AFC title game. History strongly suggests the Patriots will rally around this setback, just as they routinely ran up the score on opponents following the Spygate sanctions eight years ago.
Ultimately, this penalty will be viewed as harsh but fair, and a victory for sportsmanship. And the Patriots will use it to their advantage, as they do with every edge and loophole.
The lingering questions will take months to answer. How will Brady be perceived? Will he come clean? Will he mount a vigorous defense to clear his name? Will his demeanor change? Can he perform as a villain? In the coming years, will Hall of Fame voters look at him the same way?
In 1963, the NFL suspended Alex Karras and Paul Hornung a full season for betting on games. The league banned Michael Vick two seasons for his involvement in a dog-fighting ring. They suspended Ben Roethlisberger six games (reduced to four) for conduct detrimental to the league.
Brady is bigger than all of them. He’s won four Super Bowls. He’s a cornerstone player in the NFL. His performance in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLIX, when he rallied the Patriots from a 10-point deficit at University of Phoenix Stadium, seemed to reinforce his gridiron royalty.
But there is new turbulence ahead. He’s the highest-profile player to be suspended by the league. He can practice with the team and play in preseason games, but he will begin serving his suspension in Week 1, a Thursday-night game against the Steelers that kicks off the 2015 season.
The attention and scrutiny will make for a contentious season. Brady will be heckled and jeered on the road, brutally deconstructed on social media. Once again, football fans are wondering how many of the Patriots’ title runs are tainted by unethical behavior.
Meanwhile, Brady’s dumbfounded claims of innocence leading up to the Super Bowl have made the apparent coverup seem worse than the actual crime.
Back then, Brady said, “I have no knowledge of anything. I have no knowledge of any wrongdoing. I’m very comfortable saying that.” He said he “wouldn’t do anything to break the rules.” He also mocked the ongoing debate, saying, “This isn’t ISIS … no one’s dying.”
The NFL isn’t buying any of it, displaying far more common sense than it did in reacting to the video showing Ray Rice slugging his then-fiancee in an elevator. Here’s the sorry part: Once, Patriots owner Robert Kraft famously asked Belichick how much illegally taping an opponent helped the cause. He asked to the coach to rank the advantage on a scale from one to 100.
Belichick responded with a one. Kraft then called him a schmuck. I’m sure he feels the same about Brady and his strange, unnecessary need for deflated footballs.
But as Kurt Warner points out, it’s not how much the cheating helped. It’s the intent that matters, and what the cheating says about the team that got busted.
“I hear Coach Belichick say it helped1 percent of the time,” Warner said. “OK, but what if it’s one play in a three-point game that makes the difference, and that one play helps you advance to the Super Bowl? If it helps you one iota and you’re doing something outside the rules, that’s not what the spirit of competition is supposed to be about.”
So, after careful pondering and gauging of public reaction, Goodell aced the toughest test of his tenure. But the fun is only beginning. Deflategate has polarized Patriots fans, rugged Northeasterners who are loud, proud and currently rallying around their team. They feel persecuted, defending their star player the way San Francisco Giants fans once defended Barry Bonds.
And if the Patriots somehow get back to the Super Bowl, you better bring the earplugs.