Tom Brady has been suspended for four games following the report that determined that New England Patriot’s personnel intentionally deflated footballs before the AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts in January. The suspension will take effect Week 1 of the 2015 NFL season.
In addition, the Patriots will also lose a 2016 first round pick in the NFL draft, a 2017 fourth round pick, and also be fined $1 million.
The before mentioned report of an investigation conducted by attorney Ted Wells stated that it was “more probable than not” that Tom Brady was aware of the football deflation. All regulation NFL footballs must be inflated to a minimum of 12.5 pounds per square inch and each team’s footballs are inspected by the NFL before the start of each game.
Tom Brady has stated on multiple occasions that he did not tamper with and was unaware of any tampering with the team’s footballs.
The New England Patriots would go on to defeat the Seattle Seahawks in Superbowl 49; a close game determined by an interception that Russell Wilson threw on the 1 yard line. Despite the victory, thanks to a defensive stop, the Patriots have not escaped the scrutiny of “Deflategate” since January. The team was also caught video tapping the New York Jet’s defensive coaches signals in 2007 in the scandal dubbed “Spygate”.
The New England Patriots are not the only team being penalized for alleged cheating. The Atlanta Falcons have been fined $350,000 and their fifth round selection in the 2016 NFL draft for pumping fake crowd noise through their speaker system.
