NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has pounded his mighty gavel, and the New England Patriots and quarterback Tom Brady will have to “serve time” for their latest indiscretion from “Deflate-gate.”

Brady has been suspended four games by the NFL following Ted Wells report which stated that it was “more likely than not that Brady knew about the deflated footballs in the AFC Championship Game.”

In addition to Brady’s four-game suspension, the Patriots will have to forfeit a 2016 first-round draft pick along with a 2017 fourth-round pick.  The team has also been fined $1 million.

Was the punishment fair?

After seeing the evidence to Brady’s text message conversation with the “ball boy in question,” Brady certainly had knowledge of the deflated footballs and obviously orchestrated it.

Four games seems like a high price to pay and it also seems like a punishment that will be reduced upon appeal.

Did the deflated footballs help the Patriots?

Would the New England Patriots have defeated the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game with properly inflated footballs?

Yes.

The Patriots own the Colts and have for a long time.

The real question behind this is how long have Brady and the Pats been altering the footballs?  Were they guilty of it during the Divisional Round game with the Baltimore Ravens?

We’ll never know the answer to it, but it’s more likely than not that this game wasn’t the first time that Brady did this.  When a player gets busted for PED’s, we don’t usually assume that it’s his first time using them.

Why are the Patriots seemingly hellbent on tarnishing their legacy? 

That’s another question that we will never know the real answer to.  Whether it’s Spygate or Deflategate, the New England Patriots are always seemingly circumventing the rules.  This is the second time the team has lost a high draft pick and they seem to continue to play, “above the law.”

Did these indiscretions help the Patriots to win titles? 

You can minimize these issues all you want, but why would they do it if it didn’t help.

The Patriots have had an unparalleled run of success over the past 15 years and Tom Brady is one of, if not the greatest quarterback of all time.

When people diminish the Patriots accomplishments, they have nobody to blame but themselves.

As insane as it sounds, if this were baseball then Brady would never get elected into the Hall of Fame.