Tom Brady was suspended for the first four games of the 2016 NFL season stemming from the Deflategate scandal in the New England Patriots’ 2014 AFC Championship Game win over the Indianapolis Colts.
Brady appealed the suspension initially but eventually decided to end his fight and take the four-game ban.
In an interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired Sunday, the Patriots star discussed what he learned from the Deflategate saga and why he elected to end his appeal.
“I think it taught me a lot of things,” Brady said, via The Boston Globe. “It taught me about the people I could really count on, the people that really supported me, and it taught me a lot about life.
“Sometimes you do the best you can do, and it doesn’t work out. There were a lot of frustrations, and I tried to fight as hard as I could for what I believed in.”
As for the decision to take the suspension, Brady thought it would be nice to take September off for once.
“I realized I couldn’t win,” Brady said. “I just said, ‘You know what? I’m going to use this as an opportunity to have the month of September off for the first time in 21 years. I’m going to take advantage of this.'”
Brady and his wife Gisele Bundchen used the off time to take the honeymoon they never did when they got married in 2009, so perhaps some good came out of the ordeal.
“So I said, ‘Man, that was the best month off I think I ever had,'” Brady said. “In some ways, it was a great experience in my life, (even though) it was a really tough experience in my life.”
