The NFL has suspended New England Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady four games without pay due to his connection to the “Deflategate” incident in which the team was found guilty of having used under-inflated footballs in the playoffs.

Brady will be suspended for the first four regular season games of 2015, but can participate in training camp and other activities including preseason games. The Patriots, as a team, were also fined $1 million and will be forced to forfeit both a first-round pick (2016 NFL Draft) and a fourth-round pick (2017 NFL Draft). Punishments as a result of “Deflategate” were announced on Monday, May 11, 2015.

The investigation was initiated to determine what was behind the Patriots’ use of under-inflated footballs during the AFC championship game against the Indianapolis Colts in January. The Patriots beat the Colts en route to a Super Bowl XLIX victory.
Attorney Ted Wells, who was hired by the league to investigate the incident, released his report on May 7, immediately drawing criticism from many. The report found that Brady was “at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities” being committed by locker room attendant Jim McNally and equipment assistant John Jastremski.

Brady, who answered questions from investigators over the course of one day, did not turn over personal information such as texts and emails. Furthermore, the report doubted the quarterback’s claim that he didn’t know the name of McNally, the part-time Patriots employee who investigators think most likely improperly deflated footballs just before the team played in the AFC championship game.

However, reactions were mixed on social media, most noting how the NFL took more action against Tom Brady than they did to Ray Rice, the former Baltimore Ravens running back who was seen on video punching his wife in an elevator and dragging her unconscious body out of an Atlantic City Casino. Rice was suspended for two games, two less than Brady’s four. Charges against Rice were dropped after he completed a pretrial intervention program, since he was a first time offender.

It is no surprise that Brady has already started the appeal process of his four-game suspension. On behalf of Brady, the NFL Players Association filed an appeal Thursday, arguing that a neutral party should hear the argument. “Given the NFL’s history of inconsistency and arbitrary decisions in disciplinary matters, it is only fair that a neutral arbitrator hear this appeal,” the Association said in a statement. However, it is being said that the appeal won’t be heard by the deadline, so football fans will have to hold their breath while this scandal continues.

Updates on “Deflategate” coming soon.