How the New England Patriots can put Deflategate to rest

The New England Patriots and Tom Brady would love to put Deflategate to rest. Here is how they can do it once and for all.

Allegations that the New England Patriots were victims of a secret National Football League plot to entrap them in the Deflate Gate scandal are ludicrous.
This is the same league office that totally botched the Ray Rice situation. Roger Goodell and his team do not have the foresight or initiative to pull off such a caper. It´s that simple.

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“Listen, it has been a tough year,” Goodell said at a pre Super Bowl press conference, according to Yahoo.com. “It has been a tough year on me personally. It’s been a year of what I would say humility and learning. We obviously as an organization have gone through adversity, but more importantly it has been adversity for me. That is something where, we take that seriously. It’s an opportunity for us to get better. We’ve all done a lot of soul searching, starting with yours truly. And we have taken action.”

But Goodell´s actions always seem to be reactions. Inevitably, the questions at the conference turned to Deflate Gate. “This is my job,” Goodell said. “This is my responsibility to protect the integrity of the game. All of us want to make sure the rules are being followed. If there’s information the rules are being violated, I have to pursue that and I have to pursue that aggressively.¨

So how can a commissioner be accused of plotting a conspiracy, if he is once again leading from behind? And especially this time, it´s not like there wasn´t reason for suspicion. The Patriots have been accused of trying to bend the rules before. Their every movement should have been scrutinized.

We found out all we needed to know when Tom Brady grinned and dismissed the importance of the issue. Sure, it was only a little bit of air in the balls. But that´s not the point. That little bit of air is enough to make some fans question how Brady went from being a not so highly regarded draft choice to an All Pro. They will wonder if Brady has been cutting corners on a lot of little things all along? They will suggest that it could be that the sum of all of those little things are the real secret to his success.

That is the real tragedy. A great career will always be riddled with suspicion. Patriot haters will use Deflate Gate as an excuse for not beating them. There will always be an invisible asterisk. And with Goodell leading the investigation, Brady and the Pats will never truly be vindicated. All Goodell could say at the conference is that so far there is no information yet to show that the Patriots broke the rules.

Sadly, he speaks as if any advantage that New England may have gained is not his primary concern. “Whether a competitive advantage was actually gained or not is secondary in my mind to whether that rule was violated,” Goodell said. “That’s the integrity of our game. When those rules are violated, we will take that seriously.¨

In other words, Goodell is not focusing primarily on whether New England gained an advantage. What he is steamed about most is whether the whole fiasco has made him and his inept office look like a fool.

And that puts Brady in a predicament. “I don’t know what happened over the course of the process with the footballs,” Brady said according to ABC News. “I was preparing for my own job.” But if Brady can not count on Goodell to help him win in the court of public opinion, what can he do?

First, let the Seahawks assume total control over the footballs used in the game. Then, beat the pants off of them. Score fifty points against that vaunted defense. Show the world that the Patriots are the best team in football no matter what footballs are used. Finally, at the presentation of the Vince Lombardi Trophy, declare that they will surrender the title to Seattle if they are found guilty at the conclusion of Goodell´s investigation.

They´ve got nothing to lose by doing that. Nothing at all. That is because Goodell will find a way to botch the investigation even if New England is guilty.

Next: Are Tom Brady and Bill Belichick the greatest QB/head coach combo in NFL history?

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How the New England Patriots and Tom Brady can put Deflategate to rest

By Dan Dechenaux | Feb 1, 2015

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