Like most of his New England Patriots teammates, Tom Brady always does his best to steer clear of discussing controversial issues. But when he was asked about the latest domestic violence stain that Josh Brown has brought on the NFL, Brady was a bit more candid than usual.
In his weekly appearance on WEEI’s “Kirk & Callahan Show” Monday, Brady took a strong stance against domestic violence.
“I grew up with three sisters, I was very fortunate to learn from a loving father and a loving mother how to treat and respect women,” he said. “I have a daughter of my own and domestic violence is a horrible issue. It’s a tragedy when it happens. Any type of abuse or bullying of people who can’t defend or fight for themselves, I have no respect for that.
“Like I said, the NFL, they claim to take tough stances and this is their situation. This is their situation to deal with. I’ll let them deal with it.”
Brady in particular has been used as an example of how out of whack the NFL’s priorities are, as he was suspended four games for possibly being aware of a ball deflation scheme but Brown only received a one-game ban for a domestic violence arrest.
“I think it is the league’s issue,” Brady said. “Obviously, there is a lot of controversy with that. I’m trying to stay out of all that. I will let them handle it. I think that is their responsibility. I certainly don’t condone any part of domestic violence. I think it is a terrible, terrible thing. I think the league, they have to handle those types of things.”
After the Ray Rice disaster two years ago, the NFL instituted a zero-tolerance policy for domestic violence and vowed to suspend players six games for a first offense. The policy has yet to be used, despite the disturbing details that emerged with regard to Brown’s case last week.
Brown has been placed on the commissioner’s exempt list, which means he is still getting paid while being forced to stay away from the team. Any punishment the league hands out is already too late, especially when you take into account that NFL officials had an idea of what was going on and even tried to help Brown’s ex-wife.
