After a year long battle against National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady decided to drop the appeal of his four-game suspension for being found “more likely than not” to have tampered with footballs in order to gain a competitive advantage.
The science behind deflategate is, of course, highly dubious. In order to back up their case, the NFL hired a firm called Exponent, which has historically produced favorable results for those who have hired them. This included one investigation in which Exponent concluded that secondhand smoke and asbestos does not necessarily cause cancer.
When hired by the NFL, Exponent concluded that the low air pressure of the footballs used by Brady in the 2015 AFC Championship Game was deliberate and not the result of atmospheric conditions.
Scientists from schools across the country, such as MIT, Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Chicago, all countered this claim, providing Brady and the Patriots with ample ammunition to appeal the suspension, even challenging it in federal court.
The Patriots initially succeeded in holding the suspension off for a year, but a federal appeals court ultimately sided with the NFL, thanks to the terms of the collective bargaining agreement which allows Roger Goodell to be judge, jury and executioner. Seeing no path to overturning the suspension other than a long shot challenge in front of the Supreme Court, Brady decided to sit out the first four games of the year.
The suspension represented more than just missing games. It was a direct attack on the reputation of a sixth-round pick who has developed into arguably the greatest quarterback to ever play in the NFL. Stripping the team of a first round pick in this year’s NFL draft not only inflicted a punishment with lasting consequences but also belittled and diminished the accomplishments of a team that has been the model of excellence since the turn of the century.
While last year’s Patriots team started strong, the team’s lack of depth left the offense weak at times towards the end of the season. With key offensive cogs such as Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola all missing significant time, the Patriots’ once promising 2015 season came to a frustrating end in Denver during the AFC Championship Game. Even before this loss, the Patriots limped through the last few games of the year, losing the home field advantage in the playoffs as a result.
Now, with the punishment largely in the rear view mirror, the Patriots have one method of vindicating Goodell’s tyranny: winning. This year, the Patriots built a team, particularly on offense, that will be able to withstand injuries to important players like Gronkowski and Edelman.
Unproductive backups such as Aaron Dobson, Scott Chandler and Keshawn Martin were jettisoned. To replace them, the team brought in players such as former Pro Bowl TE Martellus Bennett, who was traded in from the Chicago Bears and young free agent WR Chris Hogan of the division rival Buffalo Bills.
They used a fourth round pick on the promising Malcolm Mitchell, a WR from Georgia who was thought to be a future first round pick if not for injuries throughout his college career.
The team returned Gronkowski, Edelman, Amendola and running back LeGarrette Blount, giving Brady arguably the deepest group of offensive weapons he has had in his 16 years as the Patriots starting quarterback. Only the 2007 team, with players such as Randy Moss and Wes Welker, potentially exceed the current talent on the team.
Despite Brady’s absence, and the lack of a healthy Gronkowski, the Patriots opened the season 3-1 with Jimmy Garoppolo and rookie Jacoby Brissett playing QB. Prior to his injury, the Garoppolo-led Patriots looked strong on offense. And even with Brissett at the helm, the team was able to pull out a convincing shutout win against the Houston Texans before being shutout by the Bills. In that contest, Brissett played despite having an injured thumb on his throwing hand that would require surgery.
Nothing, however, could have prepared the league for the aerial attack that Tom Brady has led since his return from suspension. In his two games back, Brady has thrown for six touchdowns, zero interceptions and is averaging just under 400 yards per game with a percentage completion of 76.
Brady has been doing a great job distributing the ball amongst all his weapons, with eight different players totaling at least one reception since Brady’s return. Perhaps most notable is the return of the two-tight-end offense.
With Gronkowski now healthy and Bennett proving to be a tremendous addition, the Patriots have been exploiting mismatches all over the field. Gronkowski and Bennett have combined for a total of 386 yards and four TDs over the past two games.
At 39 years old, one would expect Tom Brady to be heading toward the final games of his career. Nonetheless, in an appearance on the Kirk & Callahan Radio Show, he said that he feels better now than he did 10 years ago.
With a passionate fan base behind him, one that came out in full force for Brady’s season debut in Cleveland, the best could be yet to come. Barring any significant injuries, Tom Brady and the Patriots are in a prime position to enact the sweetest revenge against the NFL — winning the Super Bowl.
No discussion of Brady would be complete without mentioning his fellow future hall-of-famer, head coach Bill Belichick. A Super Bowl win this year would give the duo a total of five rings together.
There has been no more successful quarterback-coach duo in history, and adding another ring to the total further decreases the likelihood of their accomplishments ever being matched again.
There are likely many fans who will never forgive Brady and Belichick for their transgressions during deflategate and spygate. They will say that they can never be all-time greats because they violated the integrity of the game.
But to suggest that Brady, Belichick and the New England Patriots’ unprecedented success in a salary cap era is due to taping some signs and alledgedly deflating footballs is ludicrous. For someone to suggest as such is either a sign of complete ignorance about the game or jealousy stemming from supporting a losing team.
