Criticism mounted Thursday against New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady - arguably American football's biggest star - over his role in a cheating scandal that threatens to tarnish the league and his own legacy. The National Football League must decide whether and how harshly to punish Brady, after a league probe found he likely knew game day footballs were under-inflated, making them easier to grip and throw, in a key playoff contest.
After a year in which the NFL was pilloried for punishments deemed far too lenient in scandals involving its players, the league is facing calls to throw the book at Brady for his role in the so-called "Deflategate" scandal. "Go ahead, NFL. Suspend Tom Brady," wrote USA Today columnist Jarrett Bell. "Now is not the time to suddenly go soft and underinflated with discipline - even when it would mean sitting one of the league's icons," Bell said, writing that the very reputation of America's richest and most popular sport is at stake.
The NFL findings, released on Wednesday, said the loss in air pressure of balls used by the Patriots could not have been caused by weather conditions, concluding that it resulted from "human intervention." The league also released emails that seemed to show that Brady and team staff colluded in deflating the footballs.
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