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Brady gets four-game suspension for Deflategate Comment MailTribune.com Writer Posted May. 11, 2015 at 3:39 PM Posted May. 11, 2015 at 3:39 PM » Social News NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL suspended Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady for the first four games of the season, fined the New England Patriots $1 million and took away two draft picks Monday as punishment for deflating footballs used in the AFC title game. The league also indefinitely suspended the two equipment staffers believed to have carried out the plan, including one who called himself "The Deflator." Brady would miss the season's showcase kickoff game on Sept. 10 against Pittsburgh, then Week 2 at Buffalo, a home game against Jacksonville and a game at Dallas. He will return the week of a Patriots-Colts AFC championship rematch in Indianapolis. Brady has three days to appeal the suspension to Commissioner Roger Goodell or his designee. Troy Vincent, the NFL's executive vice president of football operations, wrote letters to the team and Brady saying a league-sponsored investigative report established "substantial and credible evidence" that the quarterback knew the employees were deflating footballs and failed to cooperate with investigators. "Each player, no matter how accomplished and otherwise respected, has an obligation to comply with the rules and must be held accountable for his actions when those rules are violated and the public's confidence in the game is called into question," Vincent wrote to Brady. The investigation by attorney Ted Wells found that Brady "was at least generally aware" of plans by two Patriots employees to prepare the balls to his liking, below the league-mandated minimum of 12.5 pounds per square inch. The Patriots defeated the Indianapolis Colts 45-7 and went on to beat the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl. The Patriots lose next year's first-round pick and a fourth-round choice in 2017. The fine matches the largest the NFL has handed out, to Ed DeBartolo Jr., then the San Francisco 49ers' owner, who pleaded guilty to a felony in his role in a Louisiana gambling scandal in 1999. Vincent told the Patriots the punishment was handed out regardless of whether the flatter footballs — which can be easier to grip and catch — affected the outcome of the blowout win over the Colts. Vincent said the flattening of balls probably began much earlier. "While we cannot be certain when the activity began, the evidence suggests that January 18th was not the first and only occasion when this occurred, particularly in light of the evidence referring to deflation of footballs going back to before the beginning of the 2014 season," he wrote. "It is impossible to determine whether this activity had an effect on the outcome of games or what that effect was." In his 243-page report released by the league last week, Wells found that the team broke the rules again, this time by deflating the game footballs after they had been checked by officials. Although the report did not conclusively link the four-time Super Bowl champion to the illegal activity, text messages between the equipment staffers indicated that Brady knew it was going on. Investigators said Brady's explanation for the messages was implausible. "It is unlikely that an equipment assistant and a locker room attendant would deflate game balls without Brady's knowledge and approval," the report said. Although Brady has issued only general statements in his defense, his agent, Don Yee, said the report omitted key facts and was "a significant and terrible disappointment." 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