For all of the controversies and scandals that have emerged from the NFL throughout the course of its 105-year history, it’s hard to find one that is more perplexing than the infamous Deflategate scandal. After the New England Patriots turned in a 45-7 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in the 2014 AFC Championship, an official investigation was opened.
Advertisement
While the findings from said investigation were mostly circumstantial, the end result proved to be a four-game suspension for Tom Brady, while the Patriots received a $1-million fine and were forced to forfeit two of their selections from the 2016 NFL Draft. According to the veteran reporter, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, it was the strangest story that he ever covered.
During a recent appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, the long-tenured analyst reflected on what he recalled as being a “crazy” football scenario.
“I was really down on Brady for that, everybody else was down on Goodell for giving him the four-game suspension.”
In referencing a conversation that he had with the former running back of the Buffalo Bills, Fred Jackson, Russo explained that playing with a deflated football provides a definitive advantage in terms of ball security. Nevertheless, he insisted that the future first-ballot Hall of Famer didn’t do himself any favors by reacting to the scandal the way in which he did.
Considering the number of scandals that the Patriots were involved in throughout their various championship runs, Russo couldn’t help but to think that, perhaps if Brady was a bit more cooperative, then things may have turned out more favorably for New England.
“Brady got himself an undue advantage. If he would have handled that differently, it wouldn’t have been a big deal. They would have given him a fine and that would’ve been the end of it. I think the Spygate thing made it difficult for the commissioner because of all the juice with the owners giving him grief that the Patriots got off scot-free. But that Deflategate thing, on top of Spygate, Brady, Belichick, the Patriots organization, they always win, that was the strangest story that I ever had to cover.”
As far as the members of the Patriots’ 2015 roster are concerned, they remain adamant that nothing nefarious happened on the field or prior to the game that day. In fact, the team’s former tight end, Rob Gronkowski, continues to insist that the result of the contest was a fair one.
During a recent conversation with Julian Edelman on their Dudes on Dudes podcast, Gronk credited the rushing prowess of LeGarrette Blount as being the true reason for the lopsided victory that day.
“He was the guy… That’s why Deflategate is still so silly to me. He went for like 150-200 yards, three or four touchdowns in that playoff game alone. LG was just dominating that year.”
New England’s 17-7 lead at the half was headline worthy itself, it wouldn’t be the most interesting thing to come out of the championship break that day. The NFL infamously discovered that 11 of the 12 game balls were notably short of their regulated PSI requirements, suggesting that someone had tampered with them.
When asked about his potential role in how the balls were handled prior to the start of the game that day, Brady claimed ignorance.
“I get the snap, I drop back, I throw the ball. I grip it and I try to throw the ball, that’s the extent of me touching the football. I don’t sit there and squeeze it and try to determine anything, if that’s what the Colts want to do then that’s what they want to do.”
Considering that Brady’s cell phone would later be smashed and reported as missing, it’s safe to say that the majority of fans do not trust his official statement. For better or worse, the scandal remains a part of the NFL’s storied history.
Given the amount of time that has passed, it’s unlikely that any new details will ever come out, making it one of the most strangely unsatisfying narratives to ever be recorded.
