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Besieged Pats back Brady to hilt
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Tom Brady and the New England Patriots are preparing for a fight.
The reigning Super Bowl MVP will appeal his four-game suspension, his agent said, and the team threw its 鈥渦nconditional鈥 support behind its quarterback after the National Football League came down hard on its biggest star in the 鈥淒eflategate鈥 scandal.
鈥淭om Brady has our unconditional support,鈥 Patriots owner Bob Kraft said in a statement issued on Monday night. 鈥淥ur belief in him has not wavered.鈥
Five days after an NFL investigator reported that it was 鈥渕ore probable than not鈥 that the Patriots broke the rules, the league handed down its punishment: Brady was banished for four games, and the Patriots were penalized US$1 million 鈥 matching the largest fine in league history 鈥 and docked two draft picks for using improperly inflated footballs in the AFC Championship game.
NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent also indefinitely suspended the two equipment staffers who carried out the plan, including the one who referred to himself in text messages obtained by the league as 鈥淭he Deflator鈥.
In letters to the team and Brady, Vincent wrote that the league鈥檚 investigation found 鈥渟ubstantial and credible evidence鈥 that the quarterback knew the employees were deflating footballs. It also said he failed to cooperate with investigators.
The investigation by attorney Ted Wells found that Brady 鈥渨as at least generally aware鈥 of plans by two Patriots employees to prepare the balls to his liking, below the league-mandated minimum of 12.5 pounds per square inch.
Unless the suspension is overturned on appeal, Brady would miss the first four games of the season 鈥 including the league鈥檚 marquee September 10 opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers at which the Super Bowl championship banner would be traditionally raised. He would also miss games against Buffalo in Week 2, a home game against Jacksonville and a game at Dallas. Brady has three days to appeal the suspension to Commissioner Roger Goodell or his designee.
鈥淭he discipline is ridiculous and has no legitimate basis,鈥 Brady鈥檚 agent, Don Yee, said in a statement that questioned the NFL鈥檚 integrity and opened the still-raw wound of the league鈥檚 botched probe of the Ray Rice domestic abuse case.
鈥淭he NFL has a well-documented history of making poor disciplinary decisions that often are overturned when truly independent and neutral judges or arbitrators preside,鈥 Yee said. 鈥淪adly, today鈥檚 decision diminishes the NFL as it tells its fans, players and coaches that the games on the field don鈥檛 count as much as the games played on Park Avenue.鈥
It鈥檚 the second time in eight years the Patriots have been punished. In 2007, the team was fined US$500,000 and docked a first-round draft pick, and coach Bill Belichick was fined US$250,000 for videotaping opposing coaches as a way to decipher their play signals.
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