Speaking to the media on Thursday afternoon, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady adamantly denied that he had any involvement in the deflating of footballs during New England’s victory over the Colts in Sunday’s AFC Championship game. “I didn’t alter the ball in any way,” said Brady. “…I was surprised as anyone on Monday morning when I heard what was happening…I have no knowledge of anything…I’m very comfortable saying that” (Twitter links via Albert Breer of NFL.com). Furthermore, Brady stated that NFL has not yet contacted him as part of their investigation, but allowed that they might do so, according to Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (Twitter link) — per Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link), Brady would be the last person the NFL speaks to, based on Rapoport’s knowledge of the how the league conducts its probes. Here’s more from the AFC East, including a little more on DeflateGate:
- Patriots head coach Bill Belichick also spoke to reporters earlier today, and one league source found it “shocking” that Belichick shifted the focus of the scandal to Brady, tweets Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Of course, Belichick didn’t accuse Brady of anything improper, but he did say that “quarterbacks…know a lot more than I do,” which struck many as odd.
- Some league insiders believe that ex-Bills coach (and current Jaguars OL coach) Doug Marrone and Jacksonville executive Chris Polian could be a head coach/general manager pairing in 2016, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN (Twitter link via Mike Rodak).
- Packers assistant offensive line coach Steve Marshall is expected to join the Jets, presumably continuing to work with the offensive line, a source tells Adam Caplan of ESPN (via Twitter).
- Kansas State receiver Tyler Lockett interviewed with the Dolphins on Wednesday, and the former Wildcat says the meeting went well, per James Walker of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
Zach Links contributed to this post.