In a Feb. 1, 2015, file photo New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady holds up the Vince Lombardi Trophy after the Patriots defeated the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 in NFL Super Bowl XLIX in Glendale, Arizona. The NFL Monday suspended Super Bowl MVP Brady for the first four games of the season. — AP
NEW YORK — Overlooked as a college quarterback and a lowly sixth-round draft pick by the National Football League's New England Patriots in 2000, Tom Brady rose to become one of the game's greatest winners. Brady, married to supermodel Gisele Bundchen and nicknamed “Tom Terrific,” seemed to live a charmed life before being branded a cheater in the NFL scandal dubbed Deflategate. The NFL came down hard on the New England Patriots Monday for its role in the scandal, suspending star quarterback Brady for the first four games of next season and fining the franchise $1 million. The NFL also said the Patriots will forfeit their first-round selection in the 2016 draft and a fourth-round pick in 2017 for using under-inflated footballs in last season's AFC Championship game. Brady's agent and Patriots owner Robert Kraft both sharply criticized the punishment, prolonging a turbulent season for the most-profitable US sports league, which has already had to deal with scandals involving domestic violence and child abuse. “The discipline is ridiculous and has no legitimate basis,” said Brady's agent Don Yee, adding that the quarterback will appeal the suspension. Ted Wells, an attorney hired by the NFL to investigate the allegations, said in a 243-page report that it was “more probable than not” that Patriots personnel “were involved in a deliberate effort” to circumvent rules by using deflated footballs in the team's 45-7 win over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC championship game. An underinflated football would likely give Brady a better grip and allow him to throw longer and with more accuracy, especially in the chilly and wet conditions the Colts and Patriots played in to determine who would go to the Super Bowl. The $1 million fine ties the largest ever for a team in the NFL, equaling the amount the league ordered San Francisco 49ers owner Edward Debartolo, Jr. to pay in 1999 after he pleaded guilty to a felony for his role in a Louisiana gambling scandal. In a statement, Kraft, considered one of the league's most-powerful owners and an ally of Commissioner Roger Goodell, expressed his “disappointment in how this one-sided investigation was handled” and said Brady, who has led the Patriots to four championships, “has our unconditional support.” “Despite our conviction that there was no tampering with footballs, it was our intention to accept any discipline levied by the league,” Kraft said in a statement. “Today's punishment, however, far exceeded any reasonable expectation. It was based completely on circumstantial rather than hard or conclusive evidence.” Brady has a guaranteed base salary of $8 million for the 16-game 2015 NFL season. If the four-game suspension with no pay is upheld, Brady will miss games against Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Jacksonville and Dallas. Ironically, his first game back on Oct. 18 would be against the Colts. Vincent, the NFL's vice president of football operations who handed down the sanctions, said he was influenced by the Patriots' 2007 Spygate scandal and the lack of cooperation by Brady and the Patriots. “We relied on the critical importance of protecting the integrity of the game and the thoroughness and independence of the Wells report,” Goodell said in a statement. While the fine is large by NFL standards, it won't dent the bottom line of a team that was valued by Forbes at $2.6 billion in 2014. “The $1 million is in many respects a slap on the wrist, that's lunch money during the football season,” said Daniel Durbin, director of the Institute of Sports, Media and Society at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. “The larger issue is taking away their quarterback for four games, that has some impact on revenue because one of their star players is gone.” Although there was no smoking gun, the Wells report, which took nearly four months to complete, found Brady and two members of the Patriots' equipment staff were all likely culpable. — Reuters
