Tom Brady’s suspension and the harshest all-time NFL penalties

New England Patriots, “Spygate”

The years go on, and scandals change, but no one can come up with anything better to call them than simply adding -gate to the end, even after all this time.

Anyway, the first Patriots punishment was a bit lighter. It came out early in the 2007 season that the team was videotaping the signals of opposing coaches (possibly including the 2000 Super Bowl against the St. Louis Rams). For that, the league fined Belichick $500,000, the largest penalty ever levied against a coach in the league’s 87 years. The Patriots were also fined $250,000 and had to give up a first-round draft pick.

As with “Deflategate,” this was something that may have been going on for years, but the NFL really only had one game’s worth of proof – the Pats’ 2007 opener against the Jets. A former video assistant later claimed he taped the Rams’ walkthrough before the Super Bowl in 2001, but since he did not have the tape, no charges were added. And, of course, the Patriots went on to complete the league’s only 16-0 regular season. It doesn’t seem as though they needed much help to be successful.

This is probably one of the NFL’s biggest reasons for doling out a huge punishment to the Patriots this time around; the sort of “you guys are troublemakers” attitude, like they’re an eighth grader on his fifth detention. The thing is, why does that affect Brady? Brady himself was not suspended or implicated in the 2007 scandal, but he’s the one getting the biggest punishment here. Like so much about this situation, it doesn’t add up.

Next: 1963 Gambling Suspension