“It has been a challenging 18 months and I have made the hard decision to no longer proceed with the legal process”, Brady wrote.
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What began as an accusation of cheating in the AFC Championship Game has grown into a multimillion-dollar legal battle over three National Football League seasons involving not just an MVP quarterback but also some of the elite lawyers and scientists in the country.
Would the average NFL quarterback be suspended for four games over deflating a football? The NFLPA might still appeal to the Supreme Court on his behalf, but Brady is done.
Tom Brady will not appeal the ruling of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after it rejected his attempt to overturn his “Deflategate” suspension. That decision backed a three-judge panel’s ruling to reinstate the suspension in April after it was originally overturned by Judge Richard Berman in federal court on September 3, 2015.
January 18, 2015: Patriots beat Colts 45-7 in AFC Championship game.
The win propelled the Patriots to Super Bowl XLIX, where they beat the Seattle Seahawks, giving Brady his fourth Super Bowl title.
Tom Brady has called off the dogs, a fairly surprising development.
Brady announced the news on Friday on his Facebook page.
“We will continue to review all of our options and we reserve our rights to petition for cert to the Supreme Court”, The NFL Players’ Association said. The AFC East is full of teams that aren’t offensively polished, but there’s no doubt that the Jets, Bills and Dolphins all pose big defensive threats to New England, whose own defense is still suspect. And then he proceeded to tear into the league, expressing his frustration that “Tom was denied his right to a fair and impartial process” and calling the NFL’s four-game suspension “unprecedented, unjust and unreasonable”.
The Patriots also were fined $1 million and two draft picks as punishment for the scandal.
Brady’s only other recourse at this point would have been to appeal to the Supreme Court.
In a statement, Patriots owner Robert Kraft showed his support for his star quarterback.
July 30: Training camp opens with thousands of fans coming out to support Brady, who is allowed to practice with the team and play in exhibition games despite the pending suspension.
August 11-13: Brady and Goodell appear in federal district court as Judge Richard Berman tells them to negotiate a solution. Remember, the Patriots were in this same situation in 2008 after Brady suffered a season-ending injury in Week 1 and finished 11-5 with Matt Cassel, who, like Garoppolo, had never started in the NFL.
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May 23: Brady’s lawyers appeal the decision, asking for a rehearing before the three-judge panel or one in front of the entire 2nd Circuit bench. “It is more probable than not that Tom Brady was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities of McNally and Jastremski involving the release of air from Patriots game balls”. The NFL files its final appeals brief in response.
