Does the NFL want to lose? After Wednesday's proceedings in New York, I'm beginning to wonder.
Reportedly, the league's last, "best" offer to the Tom Brady camp prior to the settlement conference included the demand that Brady accept the findings of the Wells Report. It was, by any measure, a ridiculous ask.
We all know the odds of that happening are exactly 0.0. There is no chance Brady at this point, after all that has been said on his behalf over the past six months, can turn around now and say Wells was on to something. To do so would be calling out his owner, his coach, his lawyer, his agent and his union as liars. Oh, it would also paint Brady as a liar himself, since he testified under oath at his appeal hearing that he had nothing to do with a ball-deflation scheme in the AFC title game. It would make a fool of Bill Belichick and his Mona Lisa Vito press conference, not to mention Robert Kraft and his demand for an apology at the Super Bowl. Accepting the Wells findings is a non-starter, an impossibility.
And the league knows it.
It knew it Wednesday morning, and it knows it now -- especially after Judge Richard Berman unexpectedly shredded portions of the report apart during his examination of NFL attorney Daniel Nash. Berman pointedly and repeatedly asked where the direct evidence was linking Brady to John Jastremski and Jim McNally. Interestingly, Berman seemed to treat as fact that the balls were under-inflated and Jastremski and McNally were apart of making them so, but he pushed back hard at the notion there was hard evidence connecting Brady to the above.
And in doing so Berman's message to the league was clear: Give it up. Brady shouldn't have to accept the findings of the report. It's not a strong enough document and it won't stand up in court. If that's what you're demanding, you will lose.
Which brings us back to Roger Goodell and the NFL. They have to know the score by now. Why they would invite another high-profile defeat like this is beyond me.
New England Patriots
Yes, it's a way for "everyone to win": Goodell gets to act the tough guy, someone who didn't give in and was ultimately done in by a federal judge on a technicality, and Brady gets to play every game.
But I just can't believe Goodell and the league want more egg on their face after all of their bungling over the past calendar year.
No, the league simply has to come off its demand that Brady accept the Wells findings. In fact, after hearing Berman on Wednesday, when he got NFLPA lawyer Jeffrey Kessler to admit Brady could have handled things better the first time around with Wells, it's becoming more and more obvious where the sweet spot for a settlement is. And there is only one pundit I know of who was on to it months ago. Read this . . . and tell me it's not exactly the blueprint staring us in the face today:
-- Exoneration for Brady on the ball deflation scheme, i.e., a tacit repudiation of the Wells Report. That's clearly where Berman seems to stand.
-- A one-game suspension for failure to cooperate only. Again, Kessler all but admitted to that end of it on Wednesday.
-- No admission of guilt from Brady. Because that is simply not happening.
If the league expects anything more than that, it will lose. Expecting Brady to accept guilt is a disaster waiting to happen. And Brady? If I were him, I'd take that deal. But as has been the case from the start, that's the hardest part to predict.
E-mail Felger at mfelger@comcastsportsnet.com. Listen to Felger and Mazz weekdays, 2-6 p.m. on 98.5 FM. The simulcast runs every day on Comcast SportsNet.