The exchange was brief, but if there's any more damage to be done to Roger Goodell's credibility in New England, this might have done it.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame dinner aired on NFL Network on Thursday night. As part of the event, new inductees were given their yellow jackets for the first time. Presenters helped the inductees don their coats, then the inductees were congratulated by Goodell.
When Ron Wolf, a former NFL executive who served as a Super Bowl-winning general manager for the Packers (1992-2000), was greeted by Goodell, Wolf shook his right hand and slapped Goodell's shoulder with his left.
"Way to go on that Brady thing," Wolf said, referring to Deflategate. Goodell reacted with a big laugh as he walked out of the camera shot.
Because there was music playing over the event, perhaps there was a chance that Goodell didn't hear Wolf. But if he did, he would have had to know what Wolf was talking about. Deflategate has been the biggest story in the NFL since the Super Bowl, hanging over the league for more than six months.
Given the seriousness with which the NFL has pursued Brady on an alleged ball-deflation violation, the money it spent on the investigation into Brady and the Patriots, and the vigor with which it has attacked Brady's character and reputation, odds are Patriots fans won't find Goodell's jovial reaction to Wolf's comments very funny.