Felger: Can Judge Berman Force A DeflateGate Settlement On Wednesday?
BOSTON (CBS) -- We're just three weeks away from the start of the 2015 NFL season, and we still don't know if Tom Brady will be under center for the New England Patriots.
The NFL and NFLPA will be back in federal court in New York on Wednesday for their second settlement hearing with Judge Richard Berman, who grilled the NFL on the findings in the Wells Report last week. But that still didn't get the two sides any closer to a settlement, and it looks like September 4, the day both sides wanted a Berman ruling, will not be an actual finish line for all this nonsense.
But Berman can change that if he really hammers both sides on Wednesday, which is what Michael Felger wants to see the judge do.
"Did he really embarrass the NFL where they had to settle before doing that again? I want to see if Berman has something up his sleeve," Felger said Monday. "Not a grilling of the NFL on the basics of the Wells Report; he hit the NFL on those things and they were mildly embarrassing. But did it cripple them or really hit them to the point where they have to be forced to the table? That's what I want to see. I want to see Berman do that to one side or the other, or both."
"I want to see Berman throw some grenades out there," added Felger. "Does he still have something up his sleeve to compel these sides [into a settlement]?"
Berman has excused Brady and Goodell from attending Wednesday's settlement hearing, which Adam Jones (filling in for Tony Massarotti) sees as a sign the two sides are not close to a settlement.
"It's not good for settlement talks that the judge isn't forcing Goodell and Brady to be there," he said. "If the judge isn't going to make them go there, just reading it from the outside, I can't imagine he thinks they're all that close."
Felger says the fact we still don't know if Brady can suit up for Week 1 is insane.
"That's where we are," he said. "They want a judgement by September 4, the Friday before the opener. Now we're waiting for September 4 if they don't settle, but that's meaningless because the loser is going to the second circuit to appeal it."
That appeal could take up to two years, which would be great for Brady this season and potentially the two after. But if the NFL wins, things get much more difficult for the Patriots quarterback. He would have to seek an injunction in order to play while the appeal process drags on even longer, and there is no guarantee he'd get it if loses this round of appeals.
Both Felger & Jones place more blame on the NFL that no settlement has been reached this late in the game.
"Both sides deserve blame for how long this has dragged out, but the side that has to come down further and play ball is the NFL," said Jones.
"Seven months later and three weeks before the season, we still don't know," said Felger. "Can you handle this for three more years?"
Felger, of course, admitted he was game if this case does indeed drag on.