Tom Brady ripped by Jim Kelly over DeFlateGate

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has been taking heat from all corners following the four-game suspension handed down by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in connection with DeFlateGate. On Tuesday, former Buffalo Bills quarterback and Hall of Famer Jim Kelly went on CBS’ We Need To Talk and was asked by Andrea Kremer his thoughts on if he believes Brady was aware of the deflating. Per Daniel Kaplan of the Sports Business Journal:

"“There is no doubt. There’s no way that an equipment manager of the National Football League is going to do something to the football without the greatest quarterback ever to play (knowing about it)… He knows. But the thing is, if you do something like that you are going to get caught. Tom didn’t need to do it. He’s a good friend of mine. But why? He could throw a football if it was over-inflated or deflated”"

In reality, any rational person would agree that Brady at least knew the balls was under-inflated. Brady, along with Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, went to the NFL and lobbied for each team to be allowed to bring their own footballs to games. The league granted this request.

Due to this, it stands to reason Brady is very aware of what is and isn’t illegal when it comes to getting footballs ready for games. At the very least, the Patriots equipment managers surely know what the rules are when it comes to air pressure. If Brady went to throw a football while warming up and it was anything out of the ordinary, especially before an AFC Championship game, it’s hard to imagine he wouldn’t know.

Brady is a great quarterback and a smart guy. How he can deny all of this with a straight face is borderline incredible. At some point, it just becomes a really bad look. Take the punishment (or the appealed punishment), apologize for your error in judgment and go win the AFC East.

Ultimately, even if the ban stays at four games, the Patriots are still rolling to another division title. For all the talk of the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills improving, the quarterbacks on those rosters are EJ Manuel, Matt Cassel, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Geno Smith. Really believe one of those guys are beating out Brady?

Hopefully this whole thing dies down soon enough, so we can talk about Brady for all his great qualities instead of his darkest football moment.