Felger: 5 Reasons Why Appeal Will Not End Well For Tom Brady
BOSTON (CBS) - Brace yourselves: 98.5 The Sports Hub's Michael Felger has a developing opinion on Tom Brady and his suspension appeal, and it's not a favorable one if you're a Patriots fan.
"I don't think it's going [Brady's] way, and I don't think it's going to go his way," he said to start off Tuesday's show.
From Day 1, Felger has suspected the Patriots of wrongdoing in this DeflateGate case, so his opinion on that has not changed. However, his view on the punishment and the ultimate outcome has fluctuated.
"I don't think it's going to end well for him. I don't think it's going to go his way. I think [Brady] is going to miss games," Felger said.
"There was a time here when I thought his suspension could get to zero [games], and I don't know if I believe that anymore. I think he will have to settle on some games. It's not going to play out the way I had been thinking, which is he's going to be there opening night and he's going to get off scot-free."
Felger's opinion has changed for a number of reasons:
1. Greg Bedard's Take On Zolak & Bertrand
"He agreed, at least starting this year and the following two years, to be paid at basically half the rate he should. That's so they can put the team around him that's needed to win at this point in his career. If he's done this his entire career, at this stage with what's going on, is he just going to chuck that and go to the courts? Once you go to the courts it's out of your hands, as far as when the suspension is going to be and how long it is going to be," said Bedard. "If they get to a place where Roger Goodell says the suspension is one or two games, I think Tom is going to have to think long and hard. 'Do I continue doing this?'"
"Brady's appetite to go to court is one of my reasons," said Felger. "Bedard said it, Tom Curran said it to me on TV last week sort of along these lines. You sort of hear these dribs and drabs about that, and I wonder if that's coming from some place."
2. Brady Did It
"He did it. The team did it. And I think the league caught them. Now, the case against the team may be weak in places. The Wells Report is not a complete report, for sure. There was shoddy police work related to that report. I'm not saying they have a strong case, but I still think they're guilty. I'm talking about what happened, not the court case. I think what happened is they were doing it and they got caught," said Felger. "If you're ultimately guilty, how far are you going to take it? I think [Robert] Kraft realized this a couple weeks ago, that you're just going to start doing more damage to yourself [if you continue]."
3. Ted Wells Challenges Brady's Agent, Who Has Yet To Respond
"[Brady's agent Don Yee], how come you haven't released the interview notes? Why didn't you? You complained about Tom Brady's answers not being in the Wells Report, and then Ted Wells said go ahead and release your transcripts. And you haven't done that," Felger said. "Were some of the questions embarrassing to Tom, even the discussion, even if Wells couldn't prove it, or didn't know it or couldn't put it in the report? Are there questions and answers in that transcript that are going to reflect badly on Brady? Do you want to go back there? I don't know if they do."
4. Going To Court Is No Slam Dunk
"[Brady's lawyer] Jeffrey Kessler has had some success in federal court, but a lot of it has come in front of this Judge [David] Doty out in Minnesota. Doty has hit the league on a lot of different things, but he's sort of stepped down from hearing these kinds of cases. He doesn't hear these kinds of cases anymore, so Kessler has to find another judge that is going to rule that Tom Brady's labor rights were infringed upon, even though his union collectively bargained the process that he was subject to. That's sort of going to be a tough trick. And once you get into court it's out of your hands," said Felger.
5. The Bad Trend Of This Story
"What has gone the Patriots' way this entire time? Has anything? In terms of the team's expectations with how this thing would play out, how many things have we been told [by the Patriots media] -- that I believed, by the way! -- that have gone wrong? The team felt the Wells Report would fully exonerate them. Just the opposite. The team felt the Wells Report would find more fault with the league than it would with the Patriots. Again, just the opposite," said Felger.
He continued, "The team felt Mike Kensil and Jeff Pash would get their comeuppance. Not a word on them in the Wells Report. The report did not exonerate [the Patriots], it did not come down on the league, and the report did not single out or take down [league employees]. The team felt referee Walt Anderson would be found incompetent. Again, just the opposite. He was praised in the report. We were told the Colts deflated the balls. Nope. Sorry. The team felt the report would be buried on a Friday, or a weekend, because it was embarrassing to the league. Errr. Wednesday at 1pm. Later on we were told Robert Kraft was gearing up for war, and was going to fight this to the wall. Nope. He got to the NFL owners meetings for about six hours and laid down."
