Complete Transcript From Tom Brady's Appeal Hearing Released
BOSTON (CBS) – The NFL Players Association has just filed their paperwork in U.S. District Court in New York, formally asking that the court vacate Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's 4-game suspension.
Included in the filings are 236 different exhibits which amount to more than 1,000 pages.
Among the documents is a complete transcript from Brady's appeal hearing, which took place on June 23 in front of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
The transcript can be found in its entirety on Pro Football Talk.
Michael McCann, a legal anaylst for Sports Illustrated, shared one portion of the transcript during which Brady flatly denies being involved in illegally deflating footballs.
Brady says, according to the transcript, that he had not thought about PSI levels until a 2014 game against the New York Jets when he complained that the footballs for the Oct. 16 contest were too hard.
According to the report by attorney Ted Wells, Brady "complained angrily" about the footballs.
"I didn't like that. That's the first time I ever complained," Brady said during his appeal hearing, according to the transcript released on Tuesday.
The Patriots quarterback continues to say that grip is more important to him than pressure when it comes to his footballs.
"Ball pressure has been so inconsequential, I haven't even thought about that," Brady said during the hearing, referring to why he picked 12.5 to be the level he wanted his footballs.
"I think at the end of the day, the only time I thought about it was after the Jet game and then after this was brought up, after the championship game. It's never something that has been on my radar, registered. I never said "psi." I don't think I even (knew) what that meant until after the championship game. It was never something that even crossed my mind."
When asked if he rejected Brady's assertion that the quarterback did not know anything about the team's footballs being deflated in the AFC Championship Game, Wells testified that was the case.
"I did reject it based on my assessment of his credibility and his refusal or decision not to give me what I requested in terms of responsive documents," Wells said, referring to Brady's decision not to provide evidence from his cell phone.
"And that decision, so we can all be clear and I will say it to Mr. Brady, in my almost 40 years of practice, I think that was one of the most ill-advised decisions I have ever seen because it hurt how I viewed his credibility."
Albret Breer of the NFL Network points out that Goodell asked Brady 11 questions as a part of his cross-examination.
Brady is asked about a text message in which game day employee Jim McNally calls himself "the deflator" and writes to equipment manager John Jastremski he "hasn't gone to ESPN yet."
"I'm not really sure what the context of those text messages were between those guys, so it's hard for me to speculate on what they talked about, the kind of language they use with one another," Brady testified. "So obviously, those text messages didn't involve me. I didn't know the spirit of their relationship, so I think it was kind of unfair for me to speculate that they did something wrong when they told me they didn't do anything wrong."
Also attached as a document in the paperwork filed on Tuesday is confirmation that the Baltimore Ravens alerted the Colts to potential Patriots football issues.
In a letter from Colts equipment manager Sean Sullivan to General Manager Ryan Grigson on January 17, Sullivan writes that the Ravens special teams coordinator called Colts head coach Chuck Pagano and said that Baltimore "had issues last week at the game."
The Ravens claimed, as Sullivan tells Grigson, that they were given new footballs to kick with instead of balls that "were prepared correctly."
Sullivan continues to write that it is "well known around the league that after the patriots gameballs are checked by officials and brought out for game usage the ballboys for the patriots will let out some air with a ball needle because their quarterback likes a small football so he can grip it better (sic)."
Grigson passes the information along to David Gardi, NFL Senior Vice President of Football Operations, saying all the Colts want is a "completely level playing field."
"Thank you for being vigilant stewards of that not only for use but for the shield and overall integrity of our game," Grigson writes.
One of the exhibits is an email from Brady to former Michigan teammate Pat Kratus about Mark Brunell, an ESPN analyst who was nearly in tears as he discussed Brady's alleged role in DeflateGate.
"He's a Patriot hater. They all are!!!" Brady wrote.
