‘Deflategate’ judge grills NFL; hopes to rule by Sept. 4

Berman also suggested that the league’s finding that Brady was generally aware that game balls were being deflated was too vague, noting that any reference to the January 18 game against the Colts was “conspicuously absent” in a report on an NFL investigation that the league used as a basis for the suspension.

Brady and Goodell were both in attendance for settlement talks on Tuesday, but given how far apart the sides were, the judge re-emphasized that neither party needed to attend Wednesday’s session.

“How are deflating footballs and not cooperating with the commissioner legally comparable to steroid use and a masking agent?”

As of now, there are no more settlement talks planned between the NFL and NFLPA until the August. 31 court appearance, sources told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

Berman has instructed both sides to attempt to reach a settlement, and to tone down rhetoric in the case.

Neither Brady nor Goodell was in court Wednesday. It’s very likely that the NFL Players Association offered some deal that included a suspension during settlement negotiation, and that’s what Schefter was reporting. “Brady is not preparing to accept a suspension as part of a settlement with the NFL, according to a source who refuted any reports suggesting otherwise”.

“I have a little trouble with (Goodell deciding on four games)”, Berman said, according to CSNNE.com’s Tom E. Curran.

With football season fast approaching, lawyers for Tom Brady and the NFL are under the gun to settle their dispute over how to punish Brady after the “Deflategate” scandal. Goodell upheld the suspension on July 29 when Brady appealed. He mentioned precedence of a case overturned by Berman “within the last four months” in which Berman ruled that the arbitrator “can not dispense his own brand of industrial justice”. Sounds like the two sides aren’t playing by the rules requested from Judge Richard Berman of the New York District Court.

If Brady were to win his case on September 9, that would mean he’d be allowed to play, but he’d be on the field after missing several key practices.