Tom Brady was handed down a 4-game suspension in the summer of 2016, but that very season, he would win the Super Bowl and diss Roger Goodell, the man who suspended him, in the process. After the 2015 AFC Conference Championship Game, Brady and the Pats were slapped with another controversy. “Deflategate.” 11 out of the 12 game balls were found to be under-inflated, and there was pressure from the league to punish the Patriots. It marked their second major controversy following “Spygate”, but this one seemed to have far less basis.
Advertisement
Tom Brady and his legal team didn’t take Goodell’s suspension right away though. The two sides went back and forth for some time, with Brady first winning, overturning the initial suspension which was supposed to take place in the 2015-16 season. However, Roger Goodell would have the final word. Brady’s suspension was reinstated, and the only way he could win out now was to go to the Supreme Court. He didn’t, taking the suspension in July 2016 while the Patriots were fined $1 million.
Tom Brady had a pre-recorded diss ready for Roger Goodell
At the start of the 2016-17 season, Brady was a four-time Super Bowl champion. He had ended his decade-long drought without a Super Bowl in 2015, and things were looking up.
That is, of course, without the 4-game suspension in mind. However, Brady was still doing his usual thing, and he also appeared in a commercial for Shields Health Care. Brady was asked to remove his jewelry, and so he takes off his four Super Bowl rings to keep in a safe. When he’s asked if he has any more he says that’s all for now.
Flash forward to February 2017 when the Patriots won the Super Bowl, that same night, the same commercial was played. Except this time, Brady remembers he has another ring to pull out and place in the safe. After he does so, he’s told that he’ll need a bigger locker to which Brady goes, “Roger that.”
It’s the perfect diss, Brady showing that not even a suspension can bother him. The diss was also amplified by the fact that not only did Brady win the Super Bowl, but he did so by completing the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history.
Tom Brady’s pace didn’t slow down after his suspension
After coming back from his suspension, many people expected Brady to be a little rusty and not have the greatest year. That was expected. Four games off with no practice with the team before can be tough.
However, Brady was simply unfazed. He set the record for TD-INT ratio at 28-2 (14-1), and he was fighting Matt Ryan right till the end for the MVP award. In the end, it was the fact that he missed 4 games that made the difference. It goes to show, Brady can’t be stopped by external forces.
