Deflategate: Is Tom Brady Responsible?

Instead of focusing solely on the preparation of next week’s game against the Seahawks, Patriots QB, Tom Brady, took a grilling on the fiasco revolving underinflated balls, known as “Deflategate.”

Having first laughed at the accusation of deflated balls, Brady says he had nothing to do with it and “obviously” wants know what happened. Ironically, all fingers seem to be pointing in his direction. Even head coach, Bill Belichick, averted blame saying “Tom’s personal preferences on his footballs is something he can talk about…” Football analysts, former players and fans say they aren’t buying his story. And ESPN’s, Ian Connor, went as far as saying that if found guilty, Brady should be benched for the Super Bowl.

Regardless of deflated balls or not, the Indianapolis Colts would have lost Sunday’s game, (the score was 45-7, C’mon). No rematch needed. However, the integrity of the game is still at risk. Some deflation happened and someone needs to be disciplined. But who?

It was evident that Brady was unsuspecting of the difficult questions. It’s even more obvious no one from the Patriots’ PR team trained him on how to respond to a media-craved debacle. Immediately following Thursday’s press conference, ESPN gathered Mark Brunell, Jerome Betis and Brian Dawkins (retired players) to panel their reactions. Brunell, a retired QB himself, said – in an emotional declare – the he didn’t believe Brady’s innocence. “…I don’t believe there’s an equipment manager in the NFL who would…deflate a ball without the starting quarterback’s approval.” Brunell continued by recalling his rituals with equipment leading up to a game. Betis and Dawkins both agreed there’s no way the QB was oblivious to the balls being significantly less in weight than that of NFL requirements.

Colts linebacker, D’Qwell Jackson, who some say was the person that began the controversy after his interception in the second quarter, says he has “no idea how it got to this point.” Jackson says he never noticed the pressure of the ball and that he’s a defensive player, implying it’s almost silly to think the inquiry would have come from him. Andrew Luck said earlier in the week that things “tend to be blown out of proportion.” And they do. But at some point questions need to be answered with or without the media.

Just how long has this been going on? How many people knew about this? Were officials aware? I have so many questions. In my opinion, the fair punishment would be a fine, sitting out of the Super Bowl – as he watches, idly, his team be demolished – and a couple of games during next season. He’ll bounce back. They say he’s the best, right? The equipment managers should also be fined and/or terminated. Let’s just hope NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell, doesn’t make an example out of Tom like he did Ray Rice last year.

Sources Cited:

Bill Belichick ‘Shocked’ to Learn of Football Controversy: Marc Sessler, Around the NFL

O’Connor: Tom Brady’s tale doesn’t hold weight: Ian Connor, ESPN.com

Belichick ‘Shocked’ Shifts Attention to Brady: Mike Reiss, ESPN.com

Mark Brunel and Other Ex-players Crushed Tom Brady on ESPN: Des Bieler, The Washington Post