Patriots coach Bill Belichick had no role in the Patriots under-inflating the footballs they used in the AFC Championship Game.
That’s the word from the NFL, which said in its statement announcing the four-game suspension of Tom Brady that Belichick did nothing wrong. According to the league, Brady and Patriots employees John Jastremski and James McNally were the only ones found to break any rules.
“In accepting the findings of the report, we note that the report identified no evidence of wrongdoing or knowledge of wrongdoing on the part of any member of the coaching staff, including Head Coach Bill Belichick, or by any Patriots’ staff member other than Mr. Jastremski and Mr. McNally, including head equipment manager Dave Schoenfeld. Similarly, the Wells report is clear that Patriots ownership and executives did not participate in any way in the misconduct, or have knowledge of the misconduct,” the NFL’s statement said.
Belichick’s reputation took a huge hit in 2007, when it was revealed that his staff was taping opposing teams’ signals in violation of NFL rules. But while Belichick was cast as the villain in Spygate, he’s been exonerated in Deflategate.