Okay, we’re still talking Deflategate!
But it’s probably more relevant now than it has been throughout the entire process, as we approach the start of the real on-field consequences for New England. With Tom Brady suspended for the first four games of the season, it’s difficult to not bring up the storyline that ran through all of last year.
New England’s opening game is this Sunday night (or as Carrie Underwood would call it, “ooooooooo Sunday Night”) against Arizona, and the Cardinals will face backup Jimmy Garoppolo. So when Cards QB Carson Palmer should have been ready for questions about Brady’s suspension, since it’s all the visiting Boston media was likely to care about.
But when he got them, he seemed a bit surprised, and anything but sympathetic.
Via The Boston Herald:
“I tried not to follow it just because it was everywhere for so long,” Palmer said. “I go back, and you follow what the rulebook says. You go about your business and your work. If they tell you not to do it and then you get busted and what happens, happens, then you suffer the consequences. I’m sure you guys (in New England) look at it a lot differently, but I know a lot of players around the league, just looking at it, I don’t know if you can feel too strongly one way or the other.”
Palmer sounded like he believed Brady was guilty but just didn’t want to fully commit to saying that. He was asked point blank if those were his feelings, and he danced around it a bit again.
That’s not an unreasonable stance. It’s a lot to expect other players to publicly rip a legend like Tom Brady, but at the same time, they’re more aware than anyone of the rules Brady probably (okay, more than probably) broke, and the advantages that might present.
Plus, the Cardinals are one of the fortunate teams that gets to avoid the Brady-led Pats this year as well, so they’re probably not going to complain about the punishment.
