Today the Judge handling Tom Brady’s case has nullified the four game suspension Brady received for his suspected involvement in “deflategate.”
Brady will now be able to play in Thursday’s matchup between the Patriots and Steelers. The game will be the 2015-2016 NFL regular season opener. The Patriots will also be hanging their Super Bowl 49 Championship banner that night.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated within hours of the decision that the NFL will appeal the decision
.
“We respectfully disagree with the decision,” said Goodell.
This only proves what many football fans think and that is that this story may never end.
What does the court decision mean for the NFL? Well for one thing it does not look good for Roger Goodell who has been under scrutiny since the leagues mishandling of Ray Rice’s case, and the load of domestic abuse cases surrounding NFL players.
The leniency in which the league handles off the field problems has had a lot of fans confused as to why the league is being so harsh in the case of deflatgate in which there is no hard evidence.
How can one defend the decision to reduce a four game suspension for a banned substance, and then try to up hold a suspension for the same amount of games, for something that a player may have been involved in?
Regardless of the NFL’s appeal of the Judge’s decision, Brady will be opening the season at Gillette Stadium against one of the Patriot’s biggest rivals in the AFC, and a potential playoff opponent in the Steelers.
Patriot’s players have already taken to twitter and other social media sites to express their feelings about the return of their field general.
“Let’s Go! This season to be one heck of another ride,” said Gronkowski.
Patriot’s fans have high expectations of the team this year especially now that Brady can start the season. The Patriots may have one of their lightest schedules to date, especially for a team that is the defending Super Bowl champions.
If the 2007 season, that followed the spygate case is any indication of how this season will go, then Patriots fans will be pretty happy with the outcome, and if the team goes 16-0 again, Pats fans will be hoping this time they don’t have to play the Giants in Super Bowl 50.