The Indianapolis Colts helped start this whole Deflategate mess. So when U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman ruled Thursday to nullify Tom Brady’s four-game suspension stemming from that incident, you’d forgive the Colts if they were a little ticked off.
If the Colts players held any resentment for Berman’s decision, though, they didn’t express it.
Indy’s locker room was relatively quiet on the subject Thursday night after the team’s 9-6 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals at Lucas Oil Stadium. In fact, the few players to comment on Brady’s ruling spoke favorably about what it means for NFL players going forward.
“As far as the players association is concerned,” Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri said, via the Indianapolis Star, “it was a big victory for the union and players in general in the sense that, the union has been looking for independent arbitration for a long time and looking to take a little bit of that control away from Mr. (Roger) Goodell and putting it in an independent set of hands.”
Vinatieri’s reaction isn’t surprising, given that the former New England Patriot is a member of the NFL Players Association executive committee. Aside from him, though, the team didn’t seem too interested in addressing the subject.
“I think there’s this exhaustion on the topic, whether media or fans,” Colts center Khaled Holmes told reporters. “I don’t think anyone enjoys talking about the topic anymore. There’s definitely exhaustion.”
Apparently Jim Irsay is in the same boat. The Colts owner — who reportedly was among the “influential owners” pushing Goodell to uphold Brady’s four-game suspension — joined the team’s preseason TV broadcast team for a lengthy conversation in the third quarter but made no mention at all of Brady or the Patriots.
The two teams will face off in Indy in Week 6.
Thumbnail photo via Derik Hamilton/USA TODAY Sports Images
