Report: Bill Belichick 'Never Believed' Tom Brady's DeflateGate Explanation
BOSTON (CBS) -- Earlier this week, Patriots owner Robert Kraft ended his public spat with Roger Goodell and the NFL, essentially leaving Tom Brady alone to fight his own battle.
Might the head coach also not be in the quarterback's corner?
According to the Boston Herald's Ron Borges, Bill Belichick was never there to begin with.
"Belichick never believed [Brady's] story, from what I was told. [Belichick] didn't tell it to me, but people who know him [told me]," Borges said this week on CSNNE.
Borges added that the fact that most every former quarterback who has commented on the matter has stated that nothing is ever done to footballs without the quarterback's knowledge. Borges said that's evidence that Brady's story is not believable.
Back in January, when Belichick first addressed the media about the underinflated football accusations, he denied any involvement in the preparation himself and instead shifted attention to quarterbacks and kickers.
"I think we all know that quarterbacks, kickers, specialists have certain preferences on footballs. They know a lot more about it than I do. They're a lot more sensitive to it than I am," Belichick said on Jan. 22. "Tom's personal preferences on his footballs are something he can take about in much better detail and information than I could possibly provide. I could tell you that in my entire coaching career I have never talked to any player, staff member about football air pressure. That is not a subject that I have ever brought up."
That same day, Brady denied having anything to do with any potential deflation of footballs.
"I have no knowledge of anything. I have no knowledge of any wrongdoing," he said. "Yeah, I'm very comfortable saying that. I'm very comfortable saying that nobody did it, as far as I know. I don't know everything. I also understand that I was in the locker room preparing for a game. I don't know what happened over the course of the process with the footballs. I was preparing for my own job, doing what I needed to do."
Brady's camp has been silent in the past week, a sharp change of course after agent Don Yee made media rounds to steadfastly defend his client in the wake of the Wells report's release and then the four-game punishment handed down by the NFL.