The other NFL owners wanted their pound of flesh (still) from Spygate and told Goodell to nail the Patriots to the cross if they had the opportunity. Goodell told Wells what the conclusion of the report had to be and told him to write something up that could fit the narrative to punish the team. It's pretty clear that the league had a predetermined outcome in mind, because the Wells report came up with very little evidence from the day of the AFCCG. At best, what they had was flimsy (texts from attendants from months and months earlier . . . and isolated texts at that, an attendant going to the bathroom with the ball bag, and air pressure readings that were not exceedingly out of phase at halftime).
Then they started going after Brady AFTER the fact . . . citing phone calls to the ball attendants before the Super Bowl and later for destroying his cell phone months and months after the game had been played. Had this case gone to a criminal court, the court would have refused to even hear it.
The league then played the P.R. game by leaking false information to the press and making the Patriots look bad in the media. They hung NE out to dry on a global scale, as Deflategate was the lead news story and the lead story on websites and newspapers worldwide. They got even non football fans wanting a stiff penalty to be levied against NE . . . BASED ON FALSE INFORMATION. At no point did the league make any effort to correct what had gotten out, they never acknowledged that maybe they had it wrong on the Ideal Gas Law, they never admitted that Wells in his report said Brady had been very cooperative and that he did not need his phone. The league later admitted to not having any evidence in the first court case. Yet here we are, 15 months later STILL debating it.
I will be the first to admit that the Patriots are no angels and have likely done far worse than (allegedly) letting some air out of the football. But in this case, despite what one of the judge cites as overwhelmingly convincing evidence against New England, I don't think the league proved much of anything.
Had I been one of Brady's of the NFLPA's lawyers, I would have gotten on my soap box and demanding that the only relevant issues had to do with the night of the AFCCG and moved to have everything else before and after be thrown out. Let's say the Pats even did what they are accused of . . . the penalty does not fit the crime.
That being said, Patriots fans are kidding themselves if they thing they will get their coveted draft picks back. That boat sailed long, long ago. Even if the Pats had tried to do something about it a year ago, they would not ever see those picks again. Petitions and court filings just makes all of the NE fan base look bad.
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