Patriots owner Robert Kraft says that by standing up for his team and against the NFL in Deflategate, he’s standing up for his family.
“Well, everyone wants to protect their family,” Kraft said at Super Bowl Opening Night, when asked why he has continued to say the NFL got Deflategate wrong, even after the league ultimately won in its battle to suspend Tom Brady and dock the Patriots draft picks.
Although Kraft chose not to fight the NFL over the lost draft picks, he will never accept Commissioner Roger Goodell’s handling of the matter.
“I think our family was involved, or accused of being involved, in something that was mishandled and inappropriate, became a big distraction,” Kraft said. “Leadership is about stepping up when it’s the appropriate time and then making sure everyone knows that we’re all on the same page. Sometimes when you’re in complicated situations in a business, people start pointing fingers, and we want to assure everyone that we’re all together. When tough times come – actually, this is something in the Old Testament – there’s nothing bad that happens that doesn’t have good associated with it, if you manage it properly, and I think, in a way, that galvanized our whole team. We came very close last year, just at the end up in Denver, not getting to this game. We’re really pleased we were able to get to this game. It has been sort of a peaceful year, and we hope we have the privilege of winning on Sunday.”
Kraft would love nothing more than to stand with his family as he takes the Vince Lombardi Trophy from Goodell on Sunday night.