Tom Brady will play the entire 2015 season and postseason with the virtual certainty that he will not face any suspension this year from the NFL for his role in the ongoing deflate-gate drama.
The matter is now in the hands of a federal appeals court, which approved the request of both the NFL and the NFL Players' Association for an expedited ruling. "Expedited," in this instance, means no earlier than Feb. 1, 2016. The NFL's postseason begins on January 9, 2016, and the Super Bowl will be on Feb. 7 in Santa Clara, Calif.
Brady was suspended for four games and the Patriots were fined $1 million and docked two draft picks following an incident at the AFC Championship Game earlier this year in which the team apparently provided improperly inflated footballs for use in the game. Brady appealed his suspension, but NFL commissioner Roger Goodell upheld the suspension in July. A subsequent appeal to federal court resulted in the overturning of the suspension; the NFL, determined to fight on, appealed that decision, which brings us to the present day.
The NFL must prepare its appeal by Oct. 26. Brady and the NFLPA will have until Dec. 7 to prepare a response, and the NFL will have until Dec. 21 for a reply.
The court date could in theory come during the week of Super Bowl, which means that an already chaotic week for the NFL will ratchet up to ridiculous levels of hype. Prepare yourselves now. And it would be just like Brady to whip the NFL in federal court and the Packers on the field within hours of each other, wouldn't it?
No comments:
Post a Comment