It's a professional sports league, not a court of law! Brady's conduct was deemed to be detrimental to the NFL, in the eyes of those who are vested with the power to make such determinations. That's that.
I'm sure Brady's total lack of cooperation with the investigation had something to do with the severity of the penalty as well.
The Patriots have been cheating since at least the "snow plow" incident. Then there was the stealing of signals a few years back, and now this. Who knows what else they've gotten away with?
But, hey, at least they're the Super Bowl champions. That's something. "There's cheaters and there's losers" and "win at any cost" are perfectly valid strategies, as long as you don't mind tarnishing your legacy a bit. The NFL champion Patriots are OK with that, and the chips fell were they fell.
I'm so glad that the only NFL team with a perfect season is the Miami Dolphins, and I think it was poetic justice that it's the Patriots that went 18-0 and then lost the Super Bowl.
Don Shula was correct to dub the Patriots head coach "Belli-cheat" the other day. Rules are rules, and the Patriots franchise has shown that they don't think the rules apply to them...
That is not that. Brady has the right of appeal and I would wager the punishment is cut down to a max one game. And why didn’t the league investigate the Colts for having 4 deflated balls - the only balls they even bothered checking. Why do they get a pass? The NFL was out to nail the Patriots, the lack of evidence (their own words) be damned.
“I’m sure Brady’s total lack of cooperation with the investigation had something to do with the severity of the penalty as well.”
That little fact seems to be lost on these Pats fans here. They sound like a bunch of whiny liberals. Shameful really.