New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is trying to move on from Deflategate, calling it a “personal decision” to accept his four-game suspension.
Brady talked to reporters Friday for the first time since deciding not to pursue further legal options in his fight with the NFL.
“I’ve just tried to move on from it,” Brady said Friday after practice. “I’ll be excited to be back when I’m back, and I’ll be cheering our team, and hopefully we’ll go out and win every game.”
The suspension was handed down by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on May 11, 2015, for Brady’s general knowledge of the Patriots’ actions to deflate footballs during the 2014 AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts on Jan. 18, 2015.
Brady decided to drop his legal fight last month — two days after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied an appeal to rehear his four-game suspension case.
Brady knows it won’t be easy to sit out the first four games to open the season.
“I’ve tried to be as positive as I can be,” Brady said. “I think that’s kind of always been my motto. Over the course of my career, I’ve been faced with different things and tried to overcome them the best way I could, or the best way I knew how. I’ll try to do the same thing.
“I just want our team to go out there and play really well. I think we’ve had really good competition, trying to push each other so that we’re ready to go. It’s tough competition, the NFL. Every team is working real hard this time of year and we can’t take any days off. We have to go out there and try to work on something every day. Everyone has to be ready to go.”
Brady was asked about making the difficult decision to end the legal fight.
“I think it’s just personal. I’ve tried to move on from it,” Brady told reporters. “I try to just, like I said, focus on the positive, being here with my teammates and getting better. You don’t want to go out and do anything but try to be a great example for your teammates. We’ve got a lot of competitive guys that have been out here on the practice field and I think that’s where the focus needs to be.”
The Patriots were docked $1 million and two draft picks for the scandal that has come to be known as Deflategate.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft did not appeal the $1 million fine and the loss of a first-round pick in the 2016 draft and a fourth-rounder in 2017 as part of the penalties.
Brady gives credit to his family to get him through the ordeal.
“My family’s been everything to me, and obviously, the support of my teammates and coaches, Mr. Kraft and Jonathan (Kraft), the whole team and all of our fans,” Brady said. “I said the other night, I think we’ve got the best fans in the world, and we do. Hopefully we give them a lot of reasons to cheer this year.”
With the suspension, Brady will miss New England’s season opener on the road against the Arizona Cardinals on “Sunday Night Football” on Sept. 11. He also will miss games against the Miami Dolphins, Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills. Backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo will take over in those games.
Brady will be eligible to return in Week 5 on Oct. 9 against the Cleveland Browns. The four-time Super Bowl winner signed a two-year contract extension during the offseason that dropped his 2016 salary from $9 million to $1 million to save himself almost $2 million in lost salary during the suspension. His renegotiated deal deferred $8 million of his 2016 salary. He will be docked four-17ths of his $1 million base salary, or a total $235,294.
Brady, who was still 25 of 25 in the intrasquad scrimmage with no live tackling Friday, deflected a question on whether he is angry about his suspension.
“I have a job to do, and I try to approach it the best way I can,” Brady said. “I’ve always tried to do things the same way. Every day is important to me. Certainly as someone who has been around here for a long time, I know I have to bring it every day. I think I just have to go out there and lead by example, and try to bring it, and show my teammates I’m ready to go mentally and physically every day.”