Brady, 38, had been suspended in May 2015, four months after under-inflated footballs were used in the Patriots’ 45-7 victory over Indianapolis in January 2015’s AFC championship game.
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The court announced the decision on its website Monday to reverse the decision by a U.S. District Judge, and reinstate Brady’s four-game suspension.
The NFL released its statement on the US Court of Appeals’ decision to enforce the four-game suspension NFL commissioner Roger Goodell tried to enact at the start of the 2015 NFL season.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell insisted that the suspension was deserved and the court sided with him in the opinion issued Monday.
While the National Football League hopes the latest decision is the last chapter of deflategate, Brady can actually request a re-hearing in front of the panel who came to today’s decision.
“Given that both the use of stickum and the deflation of footballs involve attempts at improving one’s grip and evading the referees” enforcement of the rules, this would seem a natural starting point for assessing Brady’s penalty”, Katzmann wrote.
The NFL welcomed the ruling, but there was no immediate response from Brady.
The NFL Players Association said that it was disappointed in the ruling and will review its options. Goodell insisted the suspension was deserved.
The league argued that it was fair for Goodell to severely penalize Brady after he concluded the prize quarterback tarnished the game by impeding the NFL’s investigation by destroying a cellphone containing almost 10,000 messages. Beating Brady is a feather in anyone’s cap – especially for the Cardinals, a franchise that has 34 wins since Arians took over in 2013, compared to New England’s 36 over that span. This was supposed to be a benchmark game for Arizona.
It’s also possible that Brady, the NFLPA and National Football League officials can work out a settlement, though Brady has been unwilling so far to accept anything less than full exoneration from any wrongdoing.
But if the appeal is delayed and a ruling to uphold the suspension comes down later, then the four-game ban could come midseason – perhaps even during the game against the Seahawks.
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“So why couldn’t the commissioner suspend Mr. Brady for that conduct alone?” he asked. Said Judge Parker: “Mr. Brady’s explanation of that made no sense whatsoever”.
