Former NFL QB: Brady Was Using 'Beat-Up,' Illegal Footballs Back In 2004
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- As far as former NFL quarterback A.J. Feeley is concerned, Tom Brady started running afoul of league rules long ago.
Feeley, who played for five different teams during an 11-year career that ended in 2011, told a radio station on Wednesday that prior to the league first permitting teams to supply their own balls for games in 2006, Brady and the Patriots were using "beat-up" balls in games, instead of league-mandated new ones.
Feeley spoke specifically of a game two years earlier, when he was playing for the Miami Dolphins.
"Somehow this beat-up ball from the ball boy was getting thrown in on offense for New England, yet when we were on offense this orange brand new ball was getting thrown in," Feeley told 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia.
Why Feeley waited until now to speak up was not explained, but he said he did not appreciate Brady and the Pats playing by a different set of rules.
"He's getting his own balls thrown in on offense," Feeley said. "That was an issue to me at the time. ...We saw it then."
Earlier this week, the NFL punished Brady for his role in the "deflategate" scandal, suspending the three-time Super Bowl MVP for the first four games of the 2015 season, while fining the Patriots $1 million and stripping them of their first round draft pick in 2016 and a fourth-rounder in 2017.
Brady is expected to appeal the suspension.
Feeley's comments came a day after former NFL quarterback Chris Simms ripped Brady on WFAN, calling the 10-time Pro Bowler "a cheater."