Goodell suspended Brady for the first four games of the 2015 season for his role in the incident, which Goodell said violated the integrity of the game.
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Now we await a potential sketch encore, as Brady & Co. will be back in court on August. 19. Lawyers will file more briefs by Friday.
Goodell and Brady arrived at the federal courthouse in New York on Wednesday morning to meet with U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman.
After the public hearing, both Brady and Goodell were detained for private settlement discussions.
It sure seemed like a good day in federal court for Tom Brady.
Berman asked the NFL whether it had clear, direct evidence for finding, in the Wells Report, that Brady was “generally aware” of the alleged scheme to deflate footballs.
Both sides thus far have refused to acquiesce.
Brady insists he did nothing wrong and continues to appeal. If the two sides can’t strike a deal then, Berman will be forced to make a ruling on whether Goodell can suspend Brady for four games given the current evidence.
Another important date is September 10.
Not only that, but the NFL also won’t want to lose all credibility by giving in completely to Brady while at the same time penalizing Bob Kraft and the Patriots a league-record $1 million fine and two high draft picks for the same allegation.
Tom Brady appeared in a Manhattan courtroom for the latest chapter of the Deflategate saga.
Article 46 is in regards to player conduct policy, and it allows commissioner Roger Goodell to punish players for any conduct that he deems detrimental to the league.
The AFC championship game is a stinging reminder of how bad Indianapolis’ run defense was last season – and why the Colts had a fix-it plan. There is no chance Brady at this point, after all that has been said on his behalf over the past six months, can turn around now and say Wells was on to something.
But let’s not start the party and think Brady’s in the clear and will have the four-game suspension completely wiped out and all will be well in Patriot world.
Armstrong also tweeted: “Even as Brady’s legal team chatted and joked when the judge was off the bench, he kept his head down, hands folded”.
But Tom Brady has remained steadfast denying that he knew anything about the under inflated footballs and will do just about anything to be awarded, no admission of guilt.
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Kessler admitted, however, that Brady could have done a better job of cooperating with Wells’ investigation by not directing his assistant to destroy the cellphone he had used from November 2014 until early March. And while 72% said they thought the Patriots had deliberately deflated footballs, only 16% said they were upset with the Super Bowl champions over the allegations.
