The New England Patriots are rumored to be losing Tom Brady — at least if the NFL has its way.
After Brady defeated the NFL in court just before the start of the season, the league has reportedly doubled down in its efforts to keep the Patriots quarterback off the field. Sources say the league plans to appeal Brady’s win, and confidence is high inside league offices that Brady will be taken off the field to serve the penalty at some point during the year.
Brady was identified in a report from investigator Ted Wells in the team’s DeflateGate scandal. The report claimed that Brady more than likely knew about plans to deflate balls to below league standards. Though many expected the league to pass down punishment only to the team, the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell handed Brady a surprising four-game suspension.
It did not stick. Brady appealed to a federal court, with Judge Richard Berman ruling that the league stepped beyond its authority in handing down Brady’s punishment.
Now the league could be trying again to get Tom Brady off the field. A report this week claimed that the NFL is pushing forward with an appeal of Berman’s ruling, and sources claim that the league is confident it will win.
CBS New York explains.
“On Friday’s ‘Boomer and Carton’ program, WFAN host Craig Carton said that he was with a ‘very influential person in the NFL’ on Thursday. Carton said the person told him ‘there’s no doubt in his mind’ that Brady will serve a four-game suspension this season after the NFL’s appeal is heard.”
But there could be a big hitch in the rumors. As Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk reported, there is no briefing set for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which is where the appeal would need to go through. So to set the wheels in motion, it would take a decision overturning the original ruling that favored Tom Brady, which if it does come would not happen soon.
And the news could be good for the New England Patriots. Even if the court does decide to hear the case, and if the NFL is able to expedite the process, it’s likely that Judge Berman would let Tom Brady continue to play while the case is being heard.
If those rumors are true, it would be a boon to the New England Patriots. Tom Brady has started the season on fire, leading the Patriots to wins over the Pittsburgh Steelers and Buffalo Bills, and looking excellent in doing so. In those games Brady is a combined 63 of 91 for 754 yards, with seven touchdowns and no interceptions.
[Image via Getty Images/ Mike Ehrmann]
