Tom Brady once recalled how Deflategate inspired Patriots' Super Bowl LI victory: "We're gonna f--k 'em all"
Tom Brady and the NFL Players Association could have brought the battle over Deflategate to the Supreme Court. After all, they won the first round when Judge Richard Berman overturned the suspension suggested by the league.
However, the former New England Patriots quarterback accepted the Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision to uphold his four-game suspension. Instead, he focused on performing at his best when he finally stepped onto the football field again.
As CBS Boston’s Michael Hurley wrote, Brady recalled in the 2021 documentary “Man In the Arena”:
“It was an FEA. FEA meant f--k ‘em all, man. They ain’t cheering for you anyway, so you may as well go out there and win. Because, you know, we’re gonna go try to please everybody and get everyone to like us by losing. You know, f--k that. We’re not doing that. We’re gonna f--k ‘em all.”
Nearly a decade after the scandal, Deflategate became one of the subjects during episodes 7 and 8 of the Apple TV+ documentary series, “The Dynasty: New England Patriots.” However, Tom Brady no longer commented, saying he had let go of the issue.
But Patriots owner Robert Kraft and former player Darelle Revis painted a picture of what transpired behind the scenes. The Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback described Brady’s reaction to the issue:
“You could tell he was distraught. He said, ‘This is something I would not do. I would not ruin the season for us. The allegations are false’ … he was actually bawling his eyes out in front of us.”
Meanwhile, Kraft believed that the fines and the suspensions from the league office were excessive.
“Once the NFL came out with their very harsh ruling, I realized that the league was not our ally. Because of the solid relationship I had with Commissioner Goodell, he probably had to go overboard to make sure no one could accuse him of equivocating or being soft.”
In addition to Tom Brady’s four-game suspension, the Patriots must pay a $1 million fine and forfeit their 2016 first-round pick and 2017 fourth-round pick.
What was Deflategate all about?
The Indianapolis Colts hinted about the Patriots underinflating balls before the 2014 American Football Conference Championship Game. When linebacker D’Qwell Jackson intercepted a Tom Brady pass, he handed the ball to an equipment manager for safekeeping.
That’s when Indianapolis suspected New England of doing something illegal. After the interception, the Colts notified Gameday Operations about the inflation level of the balls used by their opponent.
While the Patriots easily won the contest, 45-7, the investigation followed. Former NFL referee Gerry Austin initially reported that 11 of the 12 balls from the Patriots were below the minimum pressure of 12.5 pounds per square inch (psi).
However, succeeding reports contradicted his claim, saying that only one of the balls was two pounds below the minimum required psi, and the others were barely under the minimum.
The legal proceedings for Deflategate lasted over a year. The Court of Appeals upheld Tom Brady’s suspension and denied his motion for a rehearing. Therefore, he skipped the first four games of the Patriots’ 2016 regular season.
Tom Brady earned his payback via a Super Bowl victory
The Patriots went 3-1 in their games without Brady. When he returned, his “f--k ‘em all” mentality led to an 11-1 finish. He finished the regular season with 3,554 passing yards, 28 touchdowns, and only two interceptions.
He also completed a then-career-high 67.4 percent of his passes. Brady earned Second Team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors for these achievements.
After making quick work of the Houston Texans and the Pittsburgh Steelers in their first two playoff games, the Patriots faced the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI. It looked like New England was headed into a crushing defeat after the Falcons established a 28-3 lead with 8:31 left in the third quarter.
However, Tom Brady willed the Patriots to force overtime after scoring 25 unanswered points in 23 minutes, capped off by a James White touchdown run and a two-point conversion to Danny Amendola. White scored again in overtime to clinch the franchise’s fifth Super Bowl title.