All Signs Point to Brady as the Culprit in Deflate-Gate

Tom Brady is one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game but his legacy will surely be tainted by the ongoing scandal involving the use of under-inflated footballs by his team, the New England Patriots, in their playoff victory over the Indianapolis Colts.

The evidence seems overwhelming that Brady is the key to the scandal in which 11 of the 12 footballs used by his team were short of air-- or softer--than the footballs used by the Colts.

While Brady said last week he prefers footballs inflated at 12.5 pounds per square inch, the minimum NFL standard, 11 of the 12 footballs supplied by the Patriots didn't meet that standard.

No less than Hall of Fame Coach John Madden and Troy Aikman, the three-time Super Bowl winning quarterback, point the finger of blame for the under-inflated balls straight at Brady and not controversial head coach Bill Belichick who has been fined for cheating in the past.

"That would have to be driven by the quarterback," Madden told the Sports Xchange. "That's something that wouldn't be driven by the coach or the equipment guy. Nobody, not even the head coach, would do anything to a football unilaterally, such as adjust the amount of pressure in a ball, without the quarterback not knowing. It would have to be the quarterback's idea."

Aikman told a Dallas radio station "it's obvious that Tom Brady had something to do with this. For the balls to be deflated, that doesn't happen unless the quarterback wants that to happen. I can assure you of that."

If you believe Madden and Aikman that means Bill Belichick was just covering up for Brady when he spouted about weather conditions being the reason for the deflated footballs, saying the weather outside was colder than in the locker room where the balls were pumped full of air before the game.

What? The weather deflated the footballs? That's just so much hot air from a coach known for looking for any edge he can get, legal or not, to win a football game. This is the same coach who was fined $500,000 by the NFL for videotaping New York Jets' defensive signals during a 2007 football game from the sidelines. The scandal was dubbed "Spygate," and was the first inkling that Belichick would break the rules to get an edge.

The NFL is taking its time investigating the latest scandal, and you can be sure there will be no action taken before the Super Bowl on Sunday. The Patriots eventually could well face another big fine and possibly other disciplinary action once the league decides that New England deflated the footballs to give Brady an edge. But nothing will happen before the big game as the NFL wouldn't dare suspend Belichick or Brady before the game and blow up the ratings which may be higher than ever because of the under-inflated footballs.

It seems everybody loves a scandal and not many people like the Patriots or Belichick. But like them or not, New England is a three-time Super Bowl winner and looks to win their fourth title on Sunday unless the wind has been taken out of them by Deflate-Gate as the scandal has come to be known.

Now Brady is still a great quarterback and I don't think it comes down to how much air he puts in his footballs. But he is tainted nonetheless by the scandal and many people will be rooting against him and the Patriots on Sunday because they don't like the idea that he may have cheated to get an edge, one he probably didn't need against the woefully undermanned Colts.

It may be several months before the league decides what--if any--punishment will be visited upon the Patriots for deflating their game balls, but you can be sure Belichick and Brady will be around again next year and looking for an edge against any and all challengers to their status as the best team in the NFL. Maybe Rex Ryan and the Buffalo Bills can find a way to deflate the Patriots next year and make a run for something other than the bus. Only time will tell.

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University of Phoenix stadium, where Super Bowl XLIX is being held. Wallett Hub, a statistical analysis company, estimates that 1.25 billion chicken wings will be consumed during the game, 7.5 million households will buy new TVs and fans are expected to gamble $115 million on the game.