Deflategate Pnuishments For Patriots

We all knew this was going to be coming, just didn't expect it to be this large. After the Patriots were accused of Deflating footballs in their 45-7 blowout victory over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game. The official rules of the National Football League require footballs to be inflated to a gauge pressure between 12.5 and 13.5 pounds, but upon further testing, some footballs used in the game were found to be under inflated. This lead to an investigation by the NFL. When all was said and done, the punishment handed down to New England was a little on the stiff side.

The NFL has suspended Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady without pay for the first four games of the season, fined the New England Patriots $1 million and taken away two draft picks, a first round pick in 2016 and a 4th round pick in 2017. Some think that the punishment was too harsh, while others think that this was a fair deal. This was a statement. Brady has repeatedly stated that he did not know about the efforts to deflate the game balls, but Wells' report found those claims "not plausible and contradicted by other evidence." (ESPN). In this case there is reasoning to do something to Brady. Had Brady just come out and said straight out that he either knew or didn't know, then I think the result would have changed. Brady, from what I could tell, danced around the issue, seemed like he never gave a straight up answer. That's something I would have liked to see.

I still think the punishment was a little stiff on all accounts. Four games for Brady for deflating footballs is a bit much. It's not like he's taking steroids to stay the best in the game. I think it was an offense worth a suspension, because he was involved in the altering of a football for possible gain. It does bend/break the rules playing with footballs that aren't up to standards. What the Patriots did were wrong, there's no dispute of that. But I do feel that a four game suspension for this is a bit much. I say going two to three would have been more acceptable. Two games seems like a fair number for their transgressions. At least as far as Brady goes. The fine was a bit stiff, $1 million for deflating footballs? It seems like its pocket change for NFL owners and teams. Quarter million would have been more acceptable for a punishment than what was given out. As for the draft picks, that was over the top. New England should have been able to keep their picks.

Having said that, this was a statement made by the National Football League. After the year that the NFL went through last year in terms of discipline, see Ray Rice, Greg Hardy and Adrian Petterson, the League needed to make a statement. This was it. It was a statement from the Commissioners office that the NFL, saying to the rest of the league that they aren't a pushover anymore. If somebody does something wrong in the league, they will be punished. The NFL wanted to show that even the defending world champions aren't immune from this kind of punishment. Roger Goodell's office made it clear that they will put the hammer down, so to speak, when it comes to punishment this year. If you bend or break the rules in the NFL, you will be punished in due process and to the fullest extent.

Was it the right punishment? To a degree yes. Was this  a statement by the NFL? Of course.