New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft testifies during the murder trial of former Patriots football player Aaron Hernandez, Tuesday, March 31, 2015, at Bristol County Superior Court in Fall River, Mass. Hernandez is accused of killing Odin Lloyd in June 2013. (AP Photo/The Boston Globe, Aram Boghosian, Pool) The words uttered by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft regarding Deflategate during the days leading up to the team’s Feb. 1 Super Bowl win over Seattle haven’t gotten much attention of late.
Hard news has topped harsh words ever since Ted Wells released his somewhat ambiguous 243-page report on whether New England purposely deflated footballs below NFL guidelines during the team’s AFC title game win over Indianapolis – especially with Wells’ conclusion that it was “more probable than not” that Kraft’s club altered footballs in a “deliberate effort to circumvent the rules.”
And with that, Kraft’s words from late January got lost in the NFL’s decision to suspend quarterback Tom Brady for four games, fine the Pats $1 million and strip them of a first-round draft pick.
But all that symbolic finger wagging and arrogance might be worth revisiting now that Kraft has told the world he’ll accept the league’s punishments, though Brady still plans to sue individually with the help of the NFL Players Association.
Said the owner with a billionaire’s bluster before the Super Bowl: “If the Wells investigation is not able to definitively determine that our organization tampered with the air pressure in the footballs, I would expect and hope that the league would apologize to our entire team and in particular, Coach Belichick and Tom Brady for what they have had to endure this past week.”