(CNN) — Tom Brady has scored another big, resounding win — this time, over the NFL.
A federal judge on Thursday vacated the four-game suspension the NFL imposed on the New England Patriots quarterback in the “Deflategate” scandal.
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman issued a 40-page ruling Thursday morning, saying he found “several significant legal deficiencies” in how NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell investigated accusations the Patriots used footballs inflated below league-mandated levels.
The NFL failed to give Brady proper notice he could be suspended, didn’t provide him the opportunity to question one of the league’s investigators and denied him equal access to investigative files, Berman wrote in his ruling.
Shortly after Berman’s ruling came down, the NFL responded with an action that assure the story about underinflated footballs — which for weeks dominated sports radio and TV shows around the county — isn’t over quite yet. Nor is the legal wrangling.
The league filed a notice of appeal in the U.S. District Court for southern New York, where Berman serves, asking to vacate the decision.
“We are grateful to Judge Berman for hearing this matter, but respectfully disagree with today’s decision,” Goodell said in a statement. “… The commissioner’s responsibility to secure the competitive fairness of our game is a paramount principle, and the league and our 32 clubs will continue to pursue a path to that end.”
Goodell won’t attend season opener
However, the NFL isn’t asking for a stay — in other words, to reinstate the suspension immediately as the appeal goes forward.
That means Brady will be allowed to play in the Super Bowl-winning Patriots’ season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers next Thursday, something he couldn’t say just a few days ago.
Goodell often attends big games on the schedule, and the season’s first game featuring the reigning champ would typically qualify. But he won’t be at this game in Foxborough, Massachusetts, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said.
If he did, Goodell could expect a solid chorus of boos from Patriots’ fans who have railed against him while rallying around their quarterback. (Many in the rest of the country, however, quickly and enthusiastically branded Brady a cheater.)
“He believes that the focus should be on the game on the field and the festivities celebrating the Patriots’ Super Bowl championship,” McCarthy said of Goodell.
Player: “1st win of the year for #PatsNation”
Patriots fans, not to mention the team itself, are already celebrating.
No surprise, but Gronk — New England’s gregarious, Pro Bowl-caliber tight-end Rob Gronkowski — was quick to join in the fun by tweeting: “Let’s go! This season to be one heck of another ride!! #PatsNation.”
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Let's go! This season to be one heck of another ride!! #PatsNation pic.twitter.com/vFZ1vmBxAq
— Rob Gronkowski (@RobGronkowski) September 3, 2015
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Patriots running back LeGarrette Blount proclaimed the ruling the 1st win of the year for #PatsNation.”
“Let’s goooo TB12!!!” Blount added. “This is gonna be a fun season!!!
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Let's goooo TB12!!! This is gonna be a fun season!!! 1st win of the year for #PatsNation
— LeGarrette Blount (@LG_Blount) September 3, 2015
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Patriots owner: ‘Tom Brady is a classy person’
The NFL punished Brady with a four-game suspension, but Brady denied involvement and appealed the decision. Goodell upheld the suspension, and both the NFL and the players association filed to have the suspension’s validity decided in federal court.
Read the Wells Report.
The Patriots were punished, too.
The team was fined $1 million and will forfeit its first-round selection in the 2016 NFL draft and its fourth-round pick in the 2017 draft.
They didn’t fight that penalty, but Brady did by taking the NFL to court. There, Berman for weeks urged the four-time Super Bowl winner, the NFL and the NFL Players Association to reach a settlement. That didn’t happen.
Ultimately, Berman didn’t dwell on Brady’s involvement or not in deflating balls but on the process the NFL and Goodell used, CNN sports reporter Rachel Nichols said.
“This was not about whether Tom Brady deflated footballs or not,” she said. “This ruling today is saying … the NFL way overstepped, according to the judge, the way (it) punished Tom Brady, whether he did it or not. …”
Patriots owner Robert Kraft thanked the judge and praised his star quarterback.
“Tom Brady is a classy person of the highest integrity. He represents everything that is great about this game and this league,” Kraft said. “Yet, with absolutely no evidence of any actions of wrongdoing by Tom in the Wells report, the lawyers at the league still insisted on imposing and defending unwarranted and unprecedented discipline.”
