Patriots and Tom Brady's agent not happy with Roger Goodell

The New England Patriots, who easily gave in and accepted their punishment in deflate-gate for the good of the NFL as a whole, aren't happy that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell didn't reduce or vacate Tom Brady's four-game suspension.

The Patriots released this statement a few hours after Goodell's ruling:

"We are extremely disappointed in today's ruling by Commissioner Goodell. We cannot comprehend the league's position on this matter. Most would agree that the penalties levied originally were excessive and unprecedented, especially in light of the fact that the league has no hard evidence of wrongdoing. We continue to unequivocally believe in and support Tom Brady. We also believe that the laws of science continue to underscore the folly of this entire ordeal. Given all of this, it is incomprehensible as to why the league is attempting to destroy the reputation of one of its greatest players and representatives."

It makes owner Robert Kraft's easy concession look even worse to Patriots fans, I'm sure.

The Patriots' statement is part of the public-relations battle started when the NFL focused its media statement on Brady destroying his cell phone.

The fact that he destroyed his phone is meaningless. The NFL had no power to get his private communication. The union can't be happy the NFL thinks it has no limits when it comes to investigating its players. But the destroyed cell phone is an easy talking point, and the NFL knows that. It obscured that the NFL upheld a four-game suspension for Brady and still hasn't stated what he did. They gave the public something else to parrot instead.

Now Brady's side is getting into the PR spin. Brady's agent Don Yee released a statement (you can read it all here at CSNNE) in which he calls Goodell's decision a sham, says investigator Ted Wells was not independent and showed it when he refused to share documents based on "privilege" and pointed out that the NFL "has no evidence that anything inappropriate occurred." He also calls the science in Wells' report "junk."

That's fine, it's a public relations war, but one thing Yee did say needs to be figured out. Yee said that provided an "unprecedented amount of electronic data." That could change the entire argument that Brady was uncooperative because he destroyed his phone. This is from Yee's statement, via CSNNE:

"Finally, as to the issue of cooperation, we presented the Commissioner with an unprecedented amount of electronic data, all of which is incontrovertible. I do not think that any private citizen would have agreed to provide anyone with the amount of information that Tom was willing to reveal to the Commissioner. Tom was completely transparent. All of the electronic information was ignored; we don’t know why. The extent to which Tom opened up his private life to the Commissioner will become clear in the coming days."

Yee needs to provide that evidence if he wants to be taken seriously. If Brady turned over that much electronic data, which again would be strictly voluntary because nowhere in the collective-bargaining agreement does it hint that he has to do so, then it would bring about a new set of questions for the NFL.

There will be a battle in the courts. There will be a battle through the media, as well. It started the moment the NFL announced Goodell's decision.