Patriots QB Tom Brady "intends to challenge his four-game suspension in federal court if NFL commissioner Roger Goodell doesn’t completely wipe out the punishment," according to a report and sources cited by Ben Volin of the BOSTON GLOBE. Goodell is "expected to announce the outcome of the appeal before the Patriots begin training camp" on July 30, although "exactly when remains murky." Brady declining to "hand over electronic communications" from his cellphone during attorney Ted Wells’ investigation of the Deflategate scandal "factored significantly into his punishment." The popular sentiment around the NFL is that Goodell "will most likely reduce Brady’s suspension from four to two games, especially since the league recently reduced the suspension" of Cowboys DE Greg Hardy "for domestic violence from 10 to four games." It is "unclear what Brady plans to do if Goodell reduces the penalty to a four-game fine but no suspension, an unlikely but plausible scenario." Brady in federal court "likely would have to prove that the NFL’s disciplinary system is inherently unfair and violates the 'law of shop'" (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/16). In Boston, Christopher Gasper writes Hardy's case "has no direct correlation to Brady’s." If Goodell, who heard Brady’s appeal on June 23, "reduces Brady’s suspension it won’t be because of Hardy." It is "logical to declare that a heinous act of violence against a woman warrants a more severe punishment than someone who may or may not have been aware of footballs being tampered with after being inspected." But there is "nothing logical or consistent about Goodell’s dartboard discipline" (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/16).
PERCEIVED INVINCIBILITY? BLEACHER REPORT's Mike Freeman wrote the arrest of Bills assistant coach Aaron Kromer on a battery charge is "another highly disturbing story in what seems to be a never-ending stretch of highly disturbing NFL news." Everyone in the sport is "talking about this," and there is a "sense of amazement and weariness that this kind of news keeps coming." Teams across the league are "watching all" of the league's off-field issues "closely, and the conclusions drawn depend on whom you speak to." Some team officials "blame the media, saying all of the coverage of the NFL leads to a warped perception that there's a problem when there isn't." Freeman: "But I did hear another explanation, which might also be partly true, and that theory was about arrogance." Some GMs and assistant coaches "believe that the NFL has become so flush with cash, power and ratings that everyone from the commissioner and owners to the coaches and players have a sense of invulnerability." The sport is "in some ways so full of itself that almost everyone in it has succumbed to the belief that it's bulletproof." Freeman: "I've had people tell me that these incidents, all of them, are just a blip on the NFL's timeline." But others "think this is the beginning of the fall of Rome." Observers have "heard the Rome analogy before," and the league has "gone on to make more money than ever before." So far, all of the off-field issues "haven't touched the sport." Freeman: "But how long will that last?" (BLEACHERREPORT.com, 7/15).
