Tom Brady misses Patriots practice, but will he attend deflate-gate hearing?
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has missed practice twice the past two Tuesdays, but is he planning to attend Wednesday’s hearing in New York over the lingering deflate-gate case?
Initially, USA Today’s Tom Pelissero reported that Brady would, but Pelissero later indicated that Brady — believing that settlement talks between the NFLPA and the NFL — are going nowhere and that the QB has had a change of heart.
Brady was told — as was NFL commissioner Roger Goodell — that he was not required to attend Wednesday’s session. If you want to use a metaphor, the Wednesday hearing with Judge Richard Berman in the NFLPA’s fight against the league over Brady’s status is like a non-mandatory offseason workout … the kind of thing Brady normally might attend, especially as he’s fighting this thing to the end, trying to prove his innocence.
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A lot is at stake, of course, as Brady currently stands to miss the season’s first four games, and if Jimmy Garoppolo’s 2015 preseason debut is any indication, and of course Brady being Brady, the Patriots would of course welcome their star QB to attend if they or he felt it could positively sway the decision in their favor.
But with the outlook for a settlement prior to Berman’s decision is rendered, Brady might think: Why bother? If he skips, the Patriots are scheduled to arrive in West Virginia for their scheduled joint practices with the New Orleans Saints prior to the teams meeting in a preseason game this weekend.
Both the NFL and the union have written their final briefs for the case to Berman over why Brady should/should not have his suspension reduced, or even wiped out entirely. Reports indicated that the stone-faced Brady maintained a serious tone throughout last week’s hearing and that he never once looked in the direction of Goodell, the man who posed for smiling photos with the quarterback the day after the Super Bowl and then proceded to throw the book at him over his role in deflated footballs.
You get the feeling, though, that no matter how this case ends up, it has had an effect on the Patriots. As masterful as Bill Belichick and his staff have been at turning the page over the years — through controversy, holdouts, injuries, players leaving and even, yes, following up their incredible success — Brady’s ongoing case and now his two missed sessions have not gone without an effect on last season’s Super Bowl champions.
Wednesday might not be the final chapter in the deflate-gate saga, but it could be an important one. Will Brady’s presence or absence have an effect on the outcome? It technically shouldn’t, as the arguments made and the facts presented in the case should be the prevailing conditions toward a decision. And even though Brady being there might send a message that he’s not hiding from anything, he also feels he has a job to prepare for as a football player.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
