Robert Kraft and the New England Patriots did something Wednesday that hasn’t been done in years when they filed an amicus brief in support of Tom Brady against the NFL in his Deflategate appeal.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter first reported on this. He also provided an interesting bit of information to show just how contentious things are right now between the Patriots and the NFL as it pertains to this ordeal.
Look at footnote 2 in the Amicus brief the Patriots filed today: pic.twitter.com/VFFvXVXQoZ
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) May 25, 2016
The footnote Schefter is referring to above contains some bold language.
“…at the very outset of the investigation the League leaked materially incorrect PSI information and refused to correct if for months, allowing public misconceptions to fester. At the AFC Championship Game itself, and despite having no knowledge of the impact of weather on PSI (as admitted under oath, JA1007 at 231:6), League personnel were already accusing the Patriots of cheating.”
This is absolutely, 100 percent correct, and the Patriots might be on solid ground. The feds aren’t going to be taking into account the facts of the argument. Rather, they should only look at the relationship between the appeals and collective bargaining processes.
Keep in mind what U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman said originally when he overturned the suspension.
“Because there was no notice of a four-game suspension in the circumstances presented here, Commissioner Goodell may be said to have ‘dispensed his own brand of industrial justice,”’ Berman wrote, partially citing wording from a previous case. He said a player’s right to notice was “at the heart” of the collective bargaining agreement “and, for that matter, of our criminal and civil justice systems,” via ESPN.
The fact remains that previous appeals in the Second Circuit haven’t done well historically.
https://twitter.com/BartHubbuch/status/734867029375766528
Regardless of how it turns out in the end, one wonders if Kraft’s buddy-buddy relationship with NFL commissioner is officially in the dumpster. He’s been cordial publicly to Goodell since the Deflategate mess started, but the action to file the amicus brief, and the language in it, indicates that things aren’t as friendly behind closed doors.