Judges Grill Tom Brady’s Lawyer in Appeal of Deflategate Suspension

There was even questioning on National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell’s claim that Brady and equipment manager Jon Jastremski never discussed the controversy swirling around them as the scandal broke in the days after the game.

“I’ve said it publicly many times, that is not an individual player issue”, Goodell said on February 5 at his annual Super Bowl news conference two days before Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, Calif. “This is about the rights we negotiated in our Collective Bargaining Agreement”.

Thursday didn’t seem to go well for Brady, but, as with any court case, this ruling could go either way.

The judges also questioned why deflating footballs would warrant a severe suspension. He ruled the NFL failed to inform Brady he would face a four-game suspension for being involved in football deflation, the NFL didn’t allow Brady to cross-examine NFL general counsel Jeffrey Pash, and the NFL refused to allow Brady to access witness interview notes and other investigative materials, as McCann pointed out earlier this week.

That win took the Patriots to the Super Bowl, where they defeated defending champions the Seattle Seahawks, giving Brady his fourth championship title. “Reporters on the scene in NY say two judges, Barrington Parker and Denny Chin, appeared to favor the National Football League, while Robert Katzmann leaned toward Brady and the NFLPA’s side”.

He said it could seem like a “draconian penalty for a few pounds of square inch of air”.

Kessler countered, saying that the Patriots quarterback had a routine of destroying old cell phones out of privacy concerns. After an offseason report the league fined the Patriots $1 million and docked them a first-round draft pick, then handed Brady the four-game suspension that was later overturned.

Brady is accused of being involved in a plan to deflate footballs used in the game against the Colts, potentially causing the Colts to fall to the Patriots 45-7.

“Anyone within 100 yards of this would have realized that the cell phone issue raised the stakes in this thing”, Parker said (via the Boston Herald), adding that Brady’s explanation that he routinely destroyed old cell phones “made no sense whatsoever“.

In a story published to ESPN.com on Thursday morning, Jim Brady, ESPN’s public editor and self-noted Jets fan, addressed the network’s coverage of Deflategate, noting there have been aspects that have been “mismanaged”. Their decision will not be known for several months and could affirm Berman’s decision, send it back to Berman’s court, back to an arbitrator or find for the league.