Deflategate: Ruling Coming Soon as Tom Brady, NFL Talks Fail

Will Tom Brady serve a four-game suspension or not?

With the two sides failing to come to a settlement, it looks like the final verdict will be one of the two.

The decision of U.S. District Court Judge Richard M. Berman could be out any time this week after announcing that a settlement concerning the controversial Deflategate involving the New England Patriots and the Indianapolis Colts back in January.

"It won't be today, but hopefully tomorrow or the day after," said Berman, who stated that he is putting the final touches on his decision in a report from ESPN.

The Patriots easily defeated the Colts for the AFC championship at that time but not without controversies surrounding the under-inflated game balls used at that time.

The apparent issue here seems to be more on whether Brady should be penalized for the scandal or not.

The NFL went as far as reducing the four-game suspension on Brady provided he admits guilt. The compromise apparently did not sit well with Brady who claims he is innocent.

However, the curious thing about it is that instead of a suspension, he was willing to pay a fine instead.

Under league rules, footballs had to be inflated to a gauge pressure between 12.5 to 13.5 pounds per square inch. Home teams were responsible for providing the balls to be used for games. The rules were appended a bit in 2006 where teams can use their own balls while on offense.

As far as the January meeting of the Patriots and the Colts is concerned, there were a lot of sides to the story.

One said that only one out of the twelve balls met the permissible pressure. There is another claim as well that the Patriots game balls substituted with backup footballs at halftime.

One thing lacking here is that the NFL does not log the pressure of the balls before the game. Such would have been a big help to the scandal.

Both Brady and NFL Commissioner Goodell were present in Monday’s hearing which last only five minutes. Berman added that a settlement would have been ideal.

The judge however added that the manner to which the NFL carried out the investigation was a bit vague and that Brady knew of the underinflated balls. Could he be more or less hinting at what the court’s decision would be?

If found guilty, Brady will likely serve the four game suspension which means that the Patriots will have to find someone else to quarterback temporarily.