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The U.S. Appeals court has reinstated Tom Brady's suspension over Deflategate and the Patriots will now be without their starting quarterback for the first four games of the 2016 NFL season.
BREAKING: US Appeals court reinstates New England Patriots' Tom Brady's suspension over 'deflategate' - Reuters
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) April 25, 2016
Appeals court rules Goodell "properly exercised his broad discretion." Tom Brady is now suspended again for first four games of 2017 season
— Dan Wetzel (@DanWetzel) April 25, 2016
Decision of appeals court to rule with NFL can't be a surprise to anybody who was in the courtroom for the hearing.
— Judy Battista (@judybattista) April 25, 2016
#Deflategate will never die. pic.twitter.com/4jo3RXrXgx
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) April 25, 2016
Ruling: We hold that Commissioner properly exercised his broad discretion under" the CBA & did not deprive Brady of fundamental fairness."
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 25, 2016
NFL did a lot of favors for Bengals: start w/ at NYJ, at Pit, Den all w/o Burfict ... then trip to Foxboro to play PO'd Tom Brady in Week 6.
— Andrew Perloff (@andrewperloff) April 25, 2016
You didn't actually think Deflategate was over did you?
Today's decision was made by a three-judge panel and should (hopefully?) end the legal debate over air pressure in the Patriots' team footballs used by the Patriots and Colts in the AFC Championship Game on January 18, 2015, following the 2014 regular season.
You can read the legal documents here.
The Patriots' first four games of the 2016 NFL season are at Arizona, vs Miami, vs Houston and vs Buffalo. That includes two division games for the Patriots. The Bengals play the Patriots in Week 6 of the season. Remember the last time the Patriots were "on to Cincinnati"? Well, it doesn't look like the team will be any less angry this time around as the Patriots will play their first home game of the 2016 NFL season with Brady, against the Bengals.
There will likely be a lot more news to come from this, and who knows, maybe the suspension won't hold up... again. This feels like deja vu, doesn't it?