The 2015 scandal sees the Tampa Bay Buccaneers athlete being accused of ordering the deliberate deflation of footballs used in the AFC Championship Game, which was played in January of the year.
- Jan 21, 2022
AceShowbiz - Aaron Rodgers would seemingly clown his fellow NFL player Tom Brady at any given chance. That was exactly what happened in a new interview, in which the Green Bay Packers quarterback made comments on Tom.
During a chat with Canadian network Sportsnet on Wednesday, January 19, Aaron was handed a football by a journalist. After receiving that, the 38-year-old athlete joked, "This is too firm for the Patriots."
He was referring to Deflategate, a scandal engulfing the NFL in 2015. At the time, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers athlete was accused of ordering the deliberate deflation of footballs used in the AFC Championship Game, which was played in January of that year.
Tom served as the quarterback for the New England Patriots, who later won the championship against the Indianapolis Colts. The Patriots went on to win the Super Bowl in February 2015.
Following an investigation that was launched in early 2015, the Patriots was fined $1 million in addition to forfeiting two draft picks for 2016. The scandal also resulted in Tom being suspended for four games.
Before eventually serving the suspension in 2016 and missing the first four games of that season, Tom vehemently denied the accusations. "I didn't alter the ball in any way," he insisted during a January 2015 press conference. "I would never do anything outside of the rules of play."
Although Aaron shaded Tom in the new interview, the former showed respect for the latter for his ability to keep playing professionally well into his 40s. "We play at a high level. And 40 is an interesting number for quarterbacks," he said in the same interview.
He continued, "There haven't been a lot of guys that have gotten there. [Tom] was obviously incredible last year at 40, but there aren't a lot of guys who can do that."
