Jan. 18, 2015. My friends and I had a "Catalina wine-mixer" for the AFC and NFC Championship games that day. We gathered and dressed in some of our nicest clothes and sat down and ate wine and cheese all day, with the very occasional beer mixed in between. We sat down and watched the Seattle Seahawks narrowly beat the Green Bay Packers, and the New England Patriots beat the Indianapolis Colts handily. In full disclosure, we didn't watch much of that game because it was over from the start. I would go out that night and meet my beautiful girlfriend and the rest is history. We would think nothing of those games, especially the AFC Championship game, until a few days later when a report came out that the New England Patriots had used footballs that were illegally under the minimum PSi pressure for a football in the NFL. That would begin the saga. An investigation by the NFL led to a four-game suspension for Tom Brady and the quarterback was not pleased with the decision.
For almost a year and a half, Tom Brady and the NFL (Roger Goodell), would be in courts fighting this ruling and the commissioner's power in this situation. It would go back and forth to the point where we had all got bored of it and wished it would just end soon. We had heard enough of "Deflategate" and never wanted to hear that word ever again. Luckily for us, that day came last week. Now, Patriots fans may not be too happy about this, but on July 13, the United States Second Circuit Court of Appeals denied Brady's appeal and upheld the four-game suspension ruling. The quarterback had the chance to appeal to the Supreme Court, but he opted not to. And now, the Patriots will be without their lead man for the first four games of the season.
Finally, the saga is over and while it may or may not be the right decision, the NFL won this one. Tom Brady is suspended, Patriots fans are pissed off, and the NFLPA's decision in favor of to the collective bargaining agreement signed a few years ago has cost them once again.
In my opinion, this is all the fault of the NFLPA due to them signing that agreement. The agreement gave Goodell and the higher-ups of the NFL too much power and excessive leeway to do whatever they want in any situation involving the league. The NFLPA put themselves in a terrible spot and now they have to deal with it. I don't think people should be mad at Roger Goodell or the league because they operated in their own rights and did not overstep what the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) allows them to do, which has now been held up by multiple courts. The leaders of the NFLPA put themselves in this situation and no matter what they say, it is their own fault. Now, to make this clear, I do not agree with Roger Goodell's power to do pretty much whatever he wants, but it is completely allowed because of the NFLPA's agreement to sign the CBA. Now, we are missing one of the game's best players for the first four games of the season and it will certainly make things less interesting, but that does not mean the Patriots are in trouble.
As we look forward to the 2016 season, we try to figure out what will happen to the Patriots in those first four games. They will start third-year Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, who has not had many regular season reps coming into this year, but I believe that there is no reason to panic. The Pats play the Cardinals, Dolphins, Texans, and Bills, in that order. I think that we can all agree that the Dolphins and Bills should be easy wins, which already puts them at least .500 after those four games. In my opinion, they have no shot at beating the Cardinals because the defense is too good and the offense will come out firing. The Texans, now, will be a toss up. It could go either way because the Texans have a lot of new pieces that they need to work in and I think that benefits the Patriots, especially in Week 3. I think if we were looking at these four games at the end of the season, the Texans win, but, because it is in the beginning, I think the Patriots win this one and come out of the four game suspension 3-1, which is not bad at all. It also helps the Patriots if this happens, because they only record one loss and a solid Garoppolo will give the Patriots some trade bait down the road.
Is it the perfect situation or the situation anyone really wanted? Probably not. But in the end, I do not think this affects them as much as people expect it to, and I think the Patriots end up benefiting from this. Unfortunately, Patriots fans will probably not agree with this. But hey, I do not expect them to. With that all being said, it now just remains to be seen if this Patriots team will actually thrive in this situation, or if they will suffer under a Tom Brady-less team.
