Tom Brady has been the New England Patriots’ trusty quarterback since 2000. Over the years, he and his head coach Bill Belichick have led the team to six Super Bowl appearances, resulting in four Lombardi trophies. 

At last season’s Super Bowl XLIX game, New England proudly celebrated their 28-24 victory against the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 1. Fittingly so, the team’s MVP was the center of attention … for all the wrong reasons.

After conflicting reports surfaced about the Patriots allegedly using deflated footballs in their 45-7 victory in the American Football Conference (AFC) Championship game on Jan. 18, the Patriots’s most recent championship win was somewhat tarnished and “The DeflateGate” scandal was born.

Since then, the National Football League (NFL) has tried to get all the facts straight. In doing so, they’ve formed more questions than answers. 

So what exactly happened as a result of the DeflateGate?

At the end of the season, the NFL launched a full-blown investigation turned into the Wells Report, which claims that Brady was likely aware of the deflated footballs during the AFC Championship and could’ve even encouraged his team employees to deflate the footballs. As a result, Brady was suspended for the first four games on May 11.

The Patriots rebutted multiple flaws in the Wells Report. They argued that there was no scientific or physical evidence that Brady or any of the Patriots did anything wrong. Brady’s lawyers then announced on May 12 that they planned to appeal the NFL’s suspension. 

Brady’s 10-hour appeal began on June 23, and on July 28, the NFL announced they stood by their original four-game suspension ruling. 

On Sept. 3, U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman said the NFL “went too far in affirming punishment of Tom Brady, erasing the quarterback’s four-game suspension,” as reiterated by ESPN.

How do football fans feel about Brady?

By the middle of the summer, the nation was divided on their feelings. Some felt the quarterback with the most total Super Bowl touchdown passes was receiving too harsh of a penalty for something that could not be proven. Others felt it was about time New England was punished, referencing a previous scandal from 2007 known as the SpyGate, involving a Patriots video assistant caught illegally videotaping another team’s coaches’ defensive signals from the sidelines. 

We agree with the first group of people.

Brady won the case, but the 38-year-old quarterback could now have an even bigger target on his back from angry teams’ defenses. This could even affect his Hall of Fame selection in the future.

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