Mike Ditka has a word of advice for Tom Brady — don’t settle with the NFL over Deflategate.
During an appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter Wednesday morning, Ditka said he believes Brady is innocent and should not even consider admitting guilt as part of a potential settlement with the league.
“If you’re innocent — I believe Tom Brady is innocent, I don’t believe he has to deflate a football to win a football game — then you don’t (settle),” the legendary coach said. “I understand the league’s position also. I understand you want the credibility of the game and the integrity of the game.”
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman urged the NFL and NFL Players Association to engage in settlement talks prior to Wednesday’s hearing, but the two sides got nowhere. That likely has a lot to do with the NFL’s insistence that Brady accept the findings in the Ted Wells report.
Ditka continued to defend Brady and the Patriots.
“Did the ball boys do it or someone? I don’t know who did it,” he said. “Tom Brady is one of the greatest football players to play in the league. I think he’s a great guy. Bill Belichick has coached well over the years. That organization has kind of been the showcase organization in the NFL for a lot of years. Why would they have to resort to cheating to win? They’ve never done it before.”
When Hannah Storm noted that some would argue Spygate was cheating, Ditka chalked that up to something teams had been doing for years. He said someone was always illegally spying on his teams during practice.
Whether Brady actually cheated or not is almost irrelevant at this point. He has come too far to all of a sudden admit that he had some awareness of game balls being deflated, just as Roger Goodell has worked too hard putting out information like this to wave the white flag.
Judge Berman will likely have the final say.
