Even the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which most recently reinstated Brady’s suspension, seemingly highlighted the need for a more neutral arbiter when it comes to player discipline, per Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio.
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The ruling overturned a previous decision by a lower judge who had ruled in Brady’s favor to avoid the suspension. Our staff worked very hard on it, and I think that we have given that full consideration.
Brady’s four game suspension for his part in the New England Patriots’ Deflategate case from a year ago was reinstated by a United States appeals court Monday.
The decision has nothing to do with whether Brady’s footballs were under-inflated, rather if NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was within his rights to suspend Brady.
It’s not immediately clear what the National Football League will do next.
Goodell, speaking to reporters Wednesday in Chicago on the eve of the NFL draft, said the league would like to move forward. “That is why we appealed it”. “Unless somebody else from that ownership group, from that management council, steps up and shows some necessary leadership here, again, I don’t really see how that’s going to happen”.
New England Patriots’ golden boy, Tom Brady, will more than likely ride the bench this season-for four games. The Patriots have played at the stadium twice before with both games having been neutral-site Super Bowl games. Brady has denied knowing about any plan to deflate footballs.
In the AFC championship game back in January 2015, the Patriots were accused of using balls that were underinflated, resulting in them beating the Indianapolis Colts 45-7.
At oral arguments in March, appeals judges seemed skeptical of arguments on Brady’s behalf by the NFL Players Association.
Brees told SI.com he thinks the commissioner has too much power and he doesn’t trust any investigation led by the league.
Brady had said that it was his practice to destroy his phone and SIM cards whenever he got a replacement phone.
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Goodell was also asked if this experience has made him think that either himself or the next commissioner should have less authority, and Goodell trotted out his favorite word while giving a roundabout answer that amounted to “no”.
