Neither Brady nor Goodell attended the hearing.
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More than a year after officials found numerous footballs used by New England Patriots in the 2015 AFC Championship Game to be underinflated, lawyers for the NFL and Tom Brady were back in court Thursday, this time for the league’s appeal of a lower court’s decision to vacate the four-game suspension NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell imposed on the Patriots quarterback.
It seemed that Brady had won.
A decision is not expected for several months.
During Thursday’s hearing, the appeals court gave a players’ union lawyer a tough time, saying evidence of ball tampering was overwhelming.
Brady claimed that he destroyed the phone, as he always does with old cellphones, because of his high-profile. But they also questioned Paul Clement, the attorney for the NFL, on why the simple act of deflating footballs warranted such a severe suspension.
Clement highlighted to the court that Goodell didn’t change Brady’s punishment after finding out about the cellphone, he only affirmed it.
Judges Robert Katzmann, Barrington Parker, Jr. and Denny Chin comprised the three-person panel overseeing the league’s appeal. Parker said to Kessler that “anybody within 100 yards of this proceeding knew that would raise the stakes”.
Many people in New England have already become afraid that the decision by Judge Berman to nullify Brady’s suspension could get overturned, but right now it is way too early to tell. Brady played the entire season, leading the Patriots to the AFC Championship Game, which they lost to the eventual Super Bowl champion Broncos. This “peppering” of Brady’s team on Thursday is the same thing that occurred with the National Football League when it went to court for Brady’s appeal last summer so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Brady’s team has quickly come under fire. He handed down a suspension, but Brady and the players’ union appealed against what they felt was a draconian punishment, and the ban was overturned in August.
Boston Globe beat writer Ben Volin tweeted that Kessler got “hammered” and “crushed” by the judges when he stepped onto the stand. ESPN said that “judging from the tea leaves”, the cross “seemed like a win” for the league. Four-time Pro Bowl RB Arian Foster, 29, was released by the Texans after a season in which he missed 12 games with groin and Achilles tendon injuries.
Parker and Chin, seated on the ends of the long bench in front of the room, were the most aggressive in questioning Kessler.
“With all due respect, Mr. Brady’s explanation of that made no sense at all”, Parker said.
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Parker said Kessler’s argument about “notice” – that Brady had no idea he could be suspended for his conduct – “strikes me as hyper-technical”. Two of the three judges ruling for one side is necessary to win the appeal.
