First it was the spygate scandal of 2007 and now it’s the deflategate scandal.  The New England Patriots have been harshly penalized for the deflation of footballs during the AFC championship game against the Indianapolis Colts.  The advantages of under deflated footballs are that the ball can be thrown faster and the ball is easier to catch and hold on to.  The consequences have been announced after a long investigation and a 234 page report.  The Patriots have been fined one million dollars and stripped of their 2016 first round draft pick and 2017 fourth round draft pick.  Their biggest loss is that starting quarterback, Tom Brady, has been suspended for the first four regular season games of the 2015-2016 season.

Roger Goodell just made a loud statement with these harsh punishments.  Let’s get this straight.  Ray Rice assaulted his wife in an elevator and dragged her unconscious body around in public, however only got a two game suspension.  Tom Brady supposedly had an equipment manager slightly deflate the game balls and he is going to miss a quarter of the season.  I’m not saying that Brady shouldn’t be punished, but four games is excessive.  Brady will appeal the case and try to get the suspension down to two games.  Two games seems reasonable for cheating the way he did.  This shows how inconsistent Roger Goodell and the NFL are with their punishments.

Why is the NFL punishing the entire organization?  The report shows that head coach Bill Belichick or any other team executives had no affiliation with the incident.  How much did the slightly under inflated balls really help them?  They won 45-7, and a deflated ball isn’t going to make a thirty-eight point difference.  The million dollar charge isn’t going to matter due to the fact that owner, Robert Kraft, has a net worth of 4.3 billion dollars.  What will hurt them are the draft picks they will lose, especially the first round pick.  Now, the patriots will most likely start the unproven young quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo.  All in all, the NFL has successfully screwed up another punishment.