Brady’s case is inflated
Judge pokes holes in NFL probe
It sure seemed like a good day in federal court for Tom Brady. On one hand, Judge Richard Berman really made Roger Goodell and his team of NFL lawyers squirm, challenging the findings of the Wells Report and wondering where the direct evidence was in finding Brady guilty of the rules infraction that has been alleged.
Berman asked the type of questions Patriots fans have been dying to ask of those who have acted as judge and jurors and penalized the Patriots quarterback for his alleged role in the Deflategate scandal.
Chief among them: “What is the evidence of a scheme or a conspiracy?”
NFL attorney Daniel Nash couldn’t provide a sufficient answer to that query, saying there was no direct evidence linking Brady.
That ultimately led Berman to conclude: “There is no finding in this case that there was anything done by Mr. Brady (in the AFC Championship Game).”
Well, Roger, if multiple reports out are true the only way you’ll settle is if Brady admits guilt, or agrees to the validity of the Wells Report, that just went out the window. Poof!
After Berman undressed your lawyer and blew up the Wells Report, it’s doubtful Brady will admit to anything, not that he was going to cop to any wrongdoing in the first place. So that was clearly a favorable outcome from the mediation session for the Brady side.
But let’s not start the party and think Brady’s in the clear and will have the four-game suspension completely wiped out and all will be well in Patriot world. There’s certainly reason for optimism, but let’s be cautious. To this point, every time you think one side has the clear advantage, something crazy happens to shift it in the other direction.
As it is, Berman grilled both sides, and hit on some issues on the Brady argument, even while his gavel seemed to come down much harder on the NFL.
NFLPA attorney Jeffrey Kessler, representing Brady, had to answer for the destruction of Brady’s cellphone and initial lack of cooperation. Nor did Kessler have an answer for the actions of equipment men John Jastremski and Jim McNally, whom the judge did seem to believe deflated the footballs prior to the AFC Championship Game. Or at least, that’s how it played yesterday.
During the questioning, Berman stated it matter-offactly about the balls being deflated. As if they were, in his mind, tampered with.
So forget the Ideal Gas Law.
Kessler, in turn, said if the balls were illegally deflated, Jastremski and McNally were “freelancing” and not doing so under Brady’s orders. It’s the first time we’ve heard a tacit acknowledgement of the team breaking the rules. Kessler even admitted it “makes a certain logical sense” that McNally wanted to do something to help Brady. So while there might be merit to a rule being broken, as Berman pointed out, it made absolutely no difference in the game.
“Turns out, Mr. Brady did better with higher inflated balls than underinflated balls,” the judge said. “You might say he got no competitive advantage.”
As for the cellphone, Kessler acknowledged Brady could have handled the matter better. So in the final analysis, we’ve got Brady’s side making a few admissions.
What does this all mean? Will the NFL cave now? Probably not, even though the judge blew holes in its primary ammunition. The league still has the lack of cooperation charges to argue.
Brady can stand firm, and hold out for no suspension, or merely a fine, but ultimately, he still doesn’t have much control over how this settles, if it settles. It’s not a 10-point fourth quarter deficit in the Super Bowl he can fight back from. The judge is in control here, and said judge just exposed weaknesses on both sides.
We’ll see how the dust settles and if either side is willing to come to some middle ground. But it sure looks like a better outcome for No. 12, whether that comes down sooner or later.