New Jersey governor and possible Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie has come to the defense of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in light of the damning Deflategate report.
“I think it’s way, way overblown,” Christie said. “I think there’s a little too much attention on this. I don’t think anybody’s trying to say that Tom Brady won four Super Bowls or became a future hall-of-famer because the balls were a little under-inflated.”
“I think the media and others love for somebody who’s married to a beautiful model, who’s richer than you can imagine, and who is a future hall-of-famer–to take a couple shots at him,” Christie, an admitted Dallas Cowboys fan, said in an interview with IJReview. “People like that every once and a while.”
The report, released on Wednesday, concluded that “it is more probable than not” that Tom Brady knew the balls his team was using were under-inflated.
Investigator Tom Wells said in the report that two Patriots officials, Jim McNally and John Jastremski, “participated in a deliberate effort to release air from Patriots game balls.” The report also stated that quarterback Tom Brady likely knew of the plan.
“Based on the evidence, it also is our view that it is more probable than not that Tom Brady was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities of McNally and Jastremski involving the release of air from Patriots game balls,” the report reads.
The controversy began after the 2014 AFC Championship game in which the Patriots defeated the Indianapolis Colts. Reports indicated that the NFL was investigating the Patriots for using balls that were not fully inflated during the game.
Brady has made no comments on the report, saying during a planned appearance on Thursday, “I don’t really have any reaction yet [to the report]…I haven’t had time to digest it fully but when I do I will be sure to let you know how I feel about it.”