Joe Montana Says He Would Have Put DeflateGate 'Behind Me As Fast As I Could'
By Matt Dolloff, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- One former NFL player who has been asked a lot about DeflateGate is Joe Montana, Tom Brady's idol and the quarterback who many would deem the greatest of all time. In New England, Montana may be the only QB, if any, in the way of Brady staking his claim as the G.O.A.T.
The Hall-of-Fame former San Francisco 49ers QB spoke with Herald Radio Thursday, and DeflateGate inevitably came up. He said he would have handled the legal matters much differently from Brady or the NFLPA, who continue to fight Brady's four-game suspension.
"I think you'd want to get it behind you as fast as you can," he said. "You've just got to get it going. And the longer you drag it out the longer people think about it.
"There's just too many things that could come up from it that you don't know. I don't know all of the details of it, but I would want to get it past me and get it behind me as fast as I could."
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They also pressed him on how he would view Brady in a historical context if he wins a record fifth Super Bowl. While telling the hosts "You can say whatever you want," he commented on how hard it is to compare quarterbacks from different eras and that great QBs from the pre-Super Bowl era like Otto Graham don't get enough credit.
Montana's comments, to me, imply that he still believes Brady is guilty of some kind of wrongdoing - unless he is saying he would gladly accept a four-game suspension for something he didn't do (or in this case, something he wasn't generally aware of), and take the massive hit to his reputation in the process, just to get the whole thing over with.
It's fair to have the opinion that Brady was "generally aware" of a possible football deflation scheme, but there's just that whole hard evidence thing that made Brady's four-game suspension, at best, a gross over-punishment for a relatively minor violation - assuming such a thing even occurred. Montana is apparently satisfied enough with what he's read and heard on the matter. It's quite easy for him to say what he would do without ever being in Brady's or the NFLPA's position.
You can't expect Montana to bow at Brady's feet and kiss his rings here, but you can certainly taste a dash of salt wafting through the air with some of these answers. He knows Brady is, at the very least, knocking on his door to take the all-time title. He needs to defend the throne as long as he can.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Have a news tip or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.
