Tom Brady and NFLPA file appeal to his Deflategate suspension

Sorry, folks. Deflategate isn’t over yet.

Tom Brady and the NFL Players Assn. filed an appeal to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday to overturn the four-game suspension he received for his alleged role in the New England Patriots’ under-inflated ball scandal from nearly a year and a half ago.

Brady’s legal team is seeking first a panel appeal, which would require a two of three members of the panel that upheld the quarterback’s suspension last month to agree to hear the appeal again.

If that doesn’t work, Brady’s team would go for an en banc appeal, which would involve all 13 active members of the Second Circuit as well as a senior status judge who was part of the original panel.

“Our two primary arguments are that the commissioner in the first place conducted an investigation and then the commissioner imposed discipline,” NFLPA attorney Theodore B. Olson told ABC News earlier Monday morning. “Then the commissioner appointed himself as an appellate judge or an arbitrator and then decided something new in the appellate process, abandoning the grounds that were the original basis for the supposed discipline.

“That’s No. 1, and an appellate judge is supposed to look at the record and make a decision on the basis of what happened before. He departed from what happened before. Secondly he ignored important provisions of the CBA about discipline that might be imposed for equipment violations. He departed from that completely and went off the track.”

If the appeal is denied, Brady’s next option would be to take his case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Deflategate started on Jan. 18, 2015, when the Patriots were found to have used under-inflated balls during the first half of the AFC championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. The NFL investigated and determined that Brady was at least generally aware of that someone had tampered with the balls.

The star quarterback was suspended for the first four games of the 2015 season, a punishment upheld upon appeal by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. But just before the start of the season, Judge Richard Berman overturned that ruling in the U.S. District Court Southern District of New York, allowing Brady to play the entire season.

Last month, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision, putting Brady’s four-game suspension back in play for the start of the 2016 season.

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