New England Patriots Rumors: Is Tom Brady Lawsuit Threat Causing Panic In Roger Goodell’s Office?

Even before sources inside the player’s union revealed that New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady will slap the National Football League with a costly lawsuit if NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell fails to eliminate his four game “Deflategate” suspension — a prospect that most experts feel is extremely unlikely — the NFL appeared to be gearing for PR war against the union.

Or perhaps the league is simply panicking, knowing that it must somehow break a lengthy losing streak of lawsuits and appeals that have thrown out or shaved back suspensions handed down by Goodell in previous cases.

Now, in the highest-profile case of the 56-year-old Goodell’s nine years on the job, a case in which Goodell’s target is the league’s most famous and, arguably, best player, the NFL commissioner faces the prospect of once again retreating with his tail between his legs after another humiliating rebuke from a federal court or outside arbiter.

Goodell has lost a string of highly-publicized cases, including perhaps most famously, the case of former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice who was banned for life by Goodell after a videotape of Rice knocking his then-fiancée unconscious surfaced.

Just a week ago, Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg Hardy celebrated the reduction of his Goodell-imposed 10-game ban for domestic violence, when an independent arbitrator lopped a whopping six games off that total.

As Boston.com site reports, since 2010 alone, “two indefinite suspensions have been overruled, a pair of one-game bans have been eliminated, two multi-game suspensions have been reduced, and all the players disciplined in the Bountygate scandal were able to overturn their suspensions.”

Goodell himself backtracked after hitting Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger with a six game suspension for rape accusations. The commissioner himself rolled that one back to four games after prosecutors failed to bring a case against Roethlisberger for the alleged sexual assaults.

But faced with the prospect of a lawsuit by Brady, a suit that experts say Brady is likely to win, the NFL appears be reacting in petulant fashion, with Goodell lieutenant Troy Vincent — the league official whose name appears on the official declaration of Brady’s suspension, (Goodell took pass on assuming responsibility for the ban) — lashing out at the Player’s Association for supposedly wasting money on the legal actions.

“Look at the amount of money being spent on legal fees for a handful of people. It’s millions and millions of dollars, and we’ve got players that are hurting. Men are in transition who aren’t doing well, and yet $8-10 million a year is spent in court fees about who should make a decision on someone, who in some cases has committed a crime,” Vincent said.

“Think about that logically,” he continued. “Wouldn’t it be better to spend our time and resources on the issues that are vital to our players — past, present and future — such as the players’ total wellness and growing the game together?”

Of course, it would be much more convenient for the NFL if players simply stopped protesting their often-baffling punishments through legal avenues. But in the case of Tom Brady, who even New England Patriots teammate Julian Edelman describes as “ticked off” over the “Deflategate” suspension, the NFL’s convenience appears unlikely to become an issue.

[Images: Fernanda Calfat/Mike Lawrie/Getty Images]